Charleston City Council passed a second reading of its new franchise agreement with Dominion Energy South Carolina this week, but held off on final approval so residents can get answers to lingering questions first. The council wants the public to weigh in on how the deal would fund burying power lines underground before members cast a final vote.
The city and Dominion are finalizing the new agreement, which would authorize Dominion to provide electric and gas service to Charleston residents and businesses and to do necessary work in public rights-of-way, according to the Post and Courier. Dominion already provides the city 5 percent of what it collects from customers each year, per the same report, and the new deal would not change that arrangement or raise customer rates. It would replace terms that have been in place for roughly 30 years, according to a separate Post and Courier report on the agreement's details.
Why the Council Hit Pause
Charleston City Council delayed final approval until the public can ask questions and receive answers, The Post and Courier reported. The city of Charleston will include a question form in its newsletter next week. Bay Sheehan described the newsletter plan and the routing of responses to Dominion for answers at the next City Council meeting, The Post and Courier reported on Oct. 29, 2026. At a meeting on Oct. 27, residents and council members raised questions about undergrounding funds, customer rates, outage duration and public engagement.
Final consideration is now set for a Charleston City Council meeting scheduled for 5 p.m. on Nov. 10. Under the proposed terms, the agreement would run for an initial 20-year term with a 10-year renewal option and would take effect July 1, 2027, if approved, per the earlier Post and Courier report on the agreement.
What the Money Would Buy
Dominion franchise agreements usually include funds dedicated to undergrounding efforts, the report notes. Under this proposal, Dominion would contribute 0.5 percent of its electric sales in Charleston annually to an undergrounding fund, with the city matching that amount — a structure the earlier report said could generate roughly $60 million over 20 years. Each entity contributed about $5.7 million to the fund over the previous five years, and could each put in $30 million over the next two decades.
Charleston expects to receive between $11 million and $14 million annually from the overall agreement. The franchise agreement would give City Council discretion to prioritize undergrounding projects and would set a six-month deadline for securing easements, allowing stalled projects to be removed from the top of the list; projects removed that way would have to reapply to council, according to ABC News 4. For bigger projects affecting more than 25 customers, the city could establish an underground utility district and use a referendum or petition to decide whether the work proceeds, per Live 5 News, which also reported that property owners could face a temporary undergrounding fee for up to 10 years — one that, combined with the franchise fee, cannot exceed 7 percent of a customer's electric bill.
There's a notable discrepancy in how tightly the agreement would limit simultaneous construction. The Post and Courier's agreement-details report states only two projects could be in the design and construction process at the same time, while SC Biz News reported that, subject to budget, there would be no numerical cap on projects moving into construction. Charleston focuses its undergrounding efforts on specific areas and neighborhood projects, and neighborhood projects require property owners to voluntarily approve the change, the Post and Courier's reporting states.
Underground Lines: Trade-Offs Charleston Is Weighing
Burying power lines can cost as much as $2,500 per linear foot, per Danny Kassis's reporting, and Dominion Energy South Carolina has buried about 30 percent of its lines statewide, with Mount Pleasant among the areas where lines have gone underground in public-interest corridors including Coleman Boulevard and Johnnie Dodds Boulevard. South Carolina mandates that utility companies provide adequate, reliable and affordable service, according to the same reporting, a backdrop that shapes how far cities can push undergrounding costs onto ratepayers.
Underground lines are protected from wind and trees but are more susceptible to water damage, and repairs tend to be more expensive and time-consuming because crews must locate and excavate damaged lines before fixing them. Studies in Florida and North Carolina concluded that burying every line would be too expensive to justify, the Post and Courier reported — a finding that echoes federal data showing underground systems can cost five to 10 times more than overhead lines to install, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Mount Pleasant's own undergrounding push illustrates both sides of that trade-off. The town says undergrounding can improve storm resilience, reduce outages and protect tree canopies, according to its own utility undergrounding program page, but officials there also acknowledge that even selected projects can take years to complete, and some stall entirely due to high costs, disagreement among neighbors, or trouble securing the needed easement space, per a separate ABC News 4 report. Mount Pleasant's Mathis Ferry Road project shows the timeline in practice: its first two phases are complete, but the town says it is still waiting on Dominion Energy for a start date on the third phase, which would underground lines from Muirhead Road to Wingo Way, according to the town's residential undergrounding page.
For Charleston, the coming weeks will determine whether residents' questions get resolved in time for the Nov. 10 vote, or whether more debate pushes the timeline further. Either way, the city's pause reflects an effort to avoid the kind of neighborhood friction that has slowed similar projects next door in Mount Pleasant.
