(A) To further advance and expand upon Executive Order 2023-18 which established the PowerSC Energy Resources and Economic Development Interagency Working Group, the Office of Regulatory Staff, in consultation with a stakeholder group that includes representatives of consumer, environmental, manufacturing, forestry, and agricultural organizations, natural gas and electrical utilities, the South Carolina Public Service Authority, and other affected state agencies, shall prepare a comprehensive South Carolina energy assessment and action plan, hereinafter referred to as "the plan." This plan must identify recommended actions over a ten-year period to ensure the availability of adequate, reliable, and economical supply of electric power and natural gas to the people and economy of South Carolina. For purposes of this section, natural gas and electrical utilities also includes any investor-owned electrical utility, a public utility as defined in Section 58-5-10, electric cooperatives, and any consolidated political subdivision that owns or operates in this State equipment or facilities for generating, transmitting, delivering, or furnishing electricity, but does not include an entity that furnishes electricity only to itself, its residents, or tenants when such current is not resold or used by others.
(B) The Office of Regulatory Staff, in collaboration with the electrical utilities and the South Carolina Public Service Authority, shall aggregate data and analyses from their most recent integrated resource plans approved by the commission, and include any updates or associated filings and other available data in order to create a statewide comprehensive view of the availability of an adequate, reliable, and economical supply of energy resources to the people and economy of South Carolina.
(C) The plan must detail factors, and make recommendations, essential to adequate, reliable, and economical supply of energy resources for the people and economy of South Carolina including, but not limited to:
(1) projections of energy consumption in South Carolina, including the use of fuel resources and costs of electricity and generation resources across the electrical utilities' and the South Carolina Public Service Authority's balancing authority areas used to serve the State;
(2) the adequacy of electricity generation, transmission, and distribution resources in this State to meet projections of energy consumption;
(3) the adequacy of infrastructure utilized by natural gas industries in providing fuel supply to electric generation plants or otherwise for end-use customers;
(4) the overall needs of the South Carolina electric grid and transmission system and details from the plans of each electrical utility and the South Carolina Public Service Authority to meet current and future energy needs in a cost-effective, reliable, economic, and environmental manner;
(5) an assessment of state and local impediments to expanded use of generation or distributed resources and recommendations to reduce or eliminate such impediments;
(6) how energy efficiency, demand-side management programs, and conservation initiatives across the electrical utilities' and the South Carolina Public Service Authority's balancing authority areas may be expanded to lower bills and reduce electric consumption;
(7) details regarding potential siting of energy resource and transmission facilities in order to identify any disproportionate adverse impact of such activities on the environment, agricultural community, land use, and economically disadvantaged or minority communities;
(8) details regarding commercial and industrial consumer clean energy goals and options available to such customers to achieve these goals, including:
(a) an analysis of the barriers commercial and industrial consumers face in making such investments in this State;
(b) an analysis of any electric and natural gas regulatory barriers to the recruitment and retention of commercial and industrial customers in this State; and
(c) recommendations to address any barriers identified in items (a) and (b) in a manner that is consistent with the public interest and which is not duly impactful to nonparticipating customers as it pertains to rate and system impacts, and which is not unduly impactful to entities providing public utility services; and
(9) an analysis of the potential for the South Carolina Public Service Authority and the state's electric utilities to construct generation facilities utilizing domestic wood products from South Carolina as a primary or auxiliary fuel source.
(D) In preparing the plan the Office of Regulatory Staff may retain an outside expert to assist with compiling this report.
(E) In addition to the information required by this section, the plan must include recommendations for legislative, regulatory, or other public and private actions to best ensure a reliable and reasonably priced energy supply in South Carolina that supports the continued growth and success of this State. In forming these recommendations, the Office of Regulatory Staff must confer with the stakeholder group to ensure the recommendations would likely achieve the intended result for the electric grid, electric generation, and natural gas resources serving South Carolina customers.
(F) The plan must be submitted to the Public Utilities Review Committee for approval.
(G) The provisions of this section are subject to funding.