Dominion Energy Inc. and SCANA Corporation on Oct. 4 submitted an agreement to the North Carolina Utilities Commission detailing customer protection measures to advance their merger deal. Under the settlement, SCANA-owned Public Service Company of North Carolina Inc., a gas distribution company, would refund $3.75 million of its 2017 revenues, raise its charitable contributions in 2019 over its 2017 level by $150,000, and agree to a rate moratorium until April 1, 2021. The companies would not include merger-related spending in regulated expenses for reporting and ratemaking purposes. The merger deal cleared the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in July and Georgia regulators in March. The deal still needs approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the South Carolina and North Carolina utility commissions. The companies announced the merger in January after SCANA subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. decided last year to abandon a $9-billion expansion of the V.C. Summer nuclear plant in South Carolina. In June, South Carolina enacted a law to temporarily slash the utility’s electric rates by 15 percent to lower customer payments made toward the failed nuclear project.