Santee Cooper Special Called Telephonic Board Meeting on Feb. 19

Santee Cooper Special Called Telephonic Board Meeting on Feb. 19

Proceeds will fund capital needs, yield $25 million in refinancing savings

Posted February 19, 2026 | Media Contact

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. - The Santee Cooper Board of Directors today approved unanimously the sale of approximately $460 million in bonds to fund capital improvement projects and refinance debt issued in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The refinancing portion of the transaction, the 2026 Tax-Exempt Refunding Series C, totals $145.4 million and refinances $166 million in higher-cost debt. The refunding transaction will save customers approximately $25 million in gross debt service, or roughly $19 million in net present value savings. for customers through 2038.

"Today's results are an absolute reflection of the market's confidence in Santee Cooper and our plan to modernize the generation and transmission grid in South Carolina," said Santee Cooper President and CEO Jimmy Staton. "The outstanding rates achieved will allow us to continue to improve our system to match growing demand and provide reliable service at affordable prices for all of our customers."

The transaction also includes approximately $208.6 million in tax-exempt bonds (2026 Tax-Exempt Improvement Series A) and $106 million in taxable bonds (2026 Taxable Improvement Series B). Proceeds from Series A and Series B will be used for certain capital costs necessary to help enhance and expand the utility's generation, transmission and distribution systems, to ensure compliance with environmental regulations, and to make other general improvements.

The transaction's all-in true interest cost is 4.35%. The improvement bonds fall within the approved parameters approved by the South Carolina Joint Bond Review Committee.

Strong investor demand produced total orders exceeding $2.3 billion, meaning the transaction was approximately 5 times oversubscribed. The significant response allowed Santee Cooper to lower interest rates on 99.9% of the bonds offered.

"This financing demonstrates continued investor confidence in Santee Cooper," said Tami Wilson, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. "Our entire team has worked hard on this transaction, and the resulting tremendous response by investors has provided clear, very favorable results for our customers."

"Today was a very positive day for Santee Cooper and its customers," said Michael Mace, senior director for financial manager PFM. He noted that reduced interest rates made possible by the significant oversubscription "millions of dollars for your customers" over the life of the bonds.

Underwriters credited representation from a wide variety of investors and Santee Cooper's strong fundamental credit profile as additional contributors to the transaction's overall success.

The transaction was led by J.P. Morgan. Senior managers were BofA Securities and Barclays Capital Inc. Co-managers included Academy Securities, Goldman Sachs & Co., Truist Securities, TD Financial Products, and Wells Fargo Securities. PFM served as financial advisor.