The South Carolina Public Service Commission on Dec. 14 voted unanimously to approve Dominion Energy Inc.’s proposed purchase of SCANA Corporation, settling a 17-month legal battle that began in July last year when SCANA subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas Company and state-owned Santee Cooper decided to abandon a $9 billion project to build two nuclear reactors.

The agency found that the abandonment of the nuclear construction was prudent due to the bankruptcy of the contractor Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC and subsequent withdrawal of SCE&G’s partner Santee Cooper from the project.

The commission-approved deal provides for Dominion to write down capital costs of $4.730 billion by about $1.962 billion, lowering the nuclear cost recovery to about $2.77 billion. The commission said the plan provides rate relief for customers without damaging the SCE&G’s creditworthiness, noting that the benefits are made possible because of infusions of capital that Dominion Energy will provide as merger benefits. The plan will lower the average residential monthly bill to $125.26 from $147.70 that customers paid in May. Currently, an average customer pays $125.34 per month under legislation enacted to temporarily slash the utility’s electric rates by 15 percent to lower customer payments made toward the failed nuclear project.

SCANA’s $180 million initial capital investment in the Columbia energy Center, a 540 megawatt natural gas-fired power plant, will be excluded from rate recovery. The agency found that securitization of unrecovered nuclear costs cannot be considered at this time because the state has not yet enacted a law for implementation of such a proposal.

The merger deal cleared federal regulators, as well as the Georgia and North Carolina utility commissions.

The commission will issue a written order that by Dec. 21, 2018.