Newberry Electric Co-op CEO Dan Murphy says they “expect our board to fully approve and execute this agreement after the Town Council gives it second reading.“
That second reading was given Monday in a special meeting that followed a public hearing, that was not attended by anyone but town officials and the media.
“The Town Council’s adoption of this important settlement is key for the future of both Prosperity and the co-op. With this settlement, the co-op and the town can build on an already good working relationship and work together as friends as Prosperity grows,“ said Murphy.
On Oct. 27, 2008, Newberry Electric filed a $1.8 million lawsuit against the Town of Prosperity. The lawsuit centered around the co-op’s claim that previous Newberry Electric customers and areas with electric service had been annexed into the town, rendering the co-op’s infrastructure there useless as the customers were required to use the town’s electric service. The situation, and suit, is similar to one that the City of Newberry and the co-op settled three years ago. The city paid $3.85 million, after arbitration, for electric lines and other infrastructure the co-op owned that city annexation had rendered useless to the electric provider.
Prosperity’s settlement will divide electrical service at the Piggly Wiggly strip mall. The town is to serve the Piggly Wiggly store, but the co-op will serve the remaining stores in the complex and any new stores built in the shopping center. There will be no added cost to the customers or either utility for the transfer of services.
All of the merchants in the growing strip mall will be provided other utility services from the town.
The settlement also provides that the town and co-op will take “reasonable steps“ to determine the impact of annexation on co-op electric lines each time the town is considering annexation.
The monetary request by Newberry Electric from the town has been waived, and Prosperity will not pay the co-op any money if the settlement is approved.
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