The Island Packet from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina • 17

THE6UKNDIWXET jX Business November 22 1985 SECTION Several factors contribute to 7 'A Mam 4 HMmBwOrc Components of I Central Electric Charges I to Palmetto Electric electric By NANCY RUTTER Packet business writer Nobody likes to pay his electric bill and few people have affection for electric utilities more most of us figure somebody is get ting rich every time we switch on a light or turn on the dishwasher But the next time you get an elec tric bill from Palmetto Electric Co operative Inc the island's retail power distributor remember this Palmetto Electric getting rich at expense and neither is anyone else To understand why you have to understand how electricity is deliv ered to island homes And you have to get to know all the players in volved in the process The Packet set out recently to meet the people behind our power The mission began at the Moncks Comer headquarters of the SC Public Service Authority informally known as Santee Cooper to find out how the power generating company determines the cost of power to the Columbia based Central Electric Power Cooperative Inc Central Electric is the power gen erating and transmission organiza tion for 15 SC electric cooperatives Central Electric buys power whole sale from Santee Cooper which sells it retail to Palmetto Electric and the 'In the case of Central and Palmetto Electric we work on a cooperative system That means our whole objective is to serve the people of South Carolina It means we sell electricity to our customers at what it costs us and nothing more' Pat Allen Central Electric 14 other local cooperatives around the state Palmetto Electric and Central Electric officials discussed their rate making procedures in an inter view this week PT Allen executive vice president and general manager for Central Electric said the first thing you have to look at is the electric generating and delivery system He said you look at it the conventional way operate the way a pri vate utility company Allen said begin with Santee Cooper Central and Palmetto Electric are all non profit organizations not the case with a Con Edison or any other private utility the case of Central and Palm etto Electric we work on a cooper ative Allen said means our whole objective is to serve the people of South Carolina It means we sell electricity to our cus tomers at what it costs us and noth ing urther Allen said even though power is generated by Santee Coo per transmitted by Central and dis tributed by Palmetto Electric wrong to view the system as one with middle men pushing up power costs are not talking about he said better to look at it as a consortium of three not a off the situation Everyone Packet fraphlc by Peggy Duaagaii brings a piece of the ball into the game and no one is adding signifi cant costs along the Beyond those facts Allen along with Santee Cooper officials and Jimmy Baker Hilton Head dis trict manager for Palmetto Electric said the several factors contribute to the costs of power on Hilton Head Santee Cooper generates power sold to Central Electric The power eventually ends up on Hilton Head through Palmetto Electric Santee charges to Cen tral are determined by production costs transmission costs and deliv ery costs Of those three the biggest component contributing to the rate structure is production (See POWER Page 3 B) leaders focus on community By LISA SCHOOLCRAT Packet staff writer The newly elected president of the Homebuilders Association of Hilton Head Island says island contractors should promote increased citizen un derstanding of the construction in role in island affairs association is not trying to build every square inch of this is said James A Buck 1986 president of the Homebuilders Asso ciation live here too The ma jority of our builders do residential work but can do commercial work In an interview he stressed the importance of his industry to the lo cal economy largest industry is Buck said more businesses are aided by the construction industry We need to have better credibility on the island so people understand what we are Buck said most homes on Hilton Head were designed by architects a whole lot of communities have homes built by he said Head was created to be a residential community especially the planned communities the planned communities that are still to be created will not detract from the beauty of the is Jim Buck 7 land because there is a concern for the island" Buck said live on the island and a lot of my builders live on the island I want to see the island overbuilt The 230 member Homebuilders Association last week elected Buck as president of the industry group Buck 38 president of Buck Builders Coastal Carolina Inc has been Homebuilders Association president (See BUCK Page 2 Inside Story SHOPPIM DAVS CHRISTMAS I Stores luring holiday shoppers NEW YORK (AP) aced with six fewer shopping days this Christmas season than last the retailers are stepping up promotions to lure shoppers into the stores before the crucial period formally starts the day after Thanksgiving Americans will need some prodding because they already have taken on unusually large amounts of debt particularly to buy cars in recent months analysts say But the optimists believe that when it comes to buying gifts consumers will pull out their charge cards once again Overall sales are expected to be modest rising between 5 percent and 8 percent over 1984 The Christmas season which begins this year on Nov 29 accounts for a big chunk of the annual sales and profits Jingle ready for holidays NEW YORK The computer commonly regarded as a soulless bundle of electronic parts is really a Christmas decoration in disguise according to a software manufacturer who plans to put elves into the microchips of 600000 computers by Christmas If Thoughtware Inc based in Coconut Grove la Jias its way Apples Commodores and are going to bleep Claus Is Coming to in tinny tones and display on their screens a Christmas tree covered with blinking lights beside a warm fireplace with a toy train circling amid piles of presents The computer is becomes a Christmas decoration with the a program that was the software gift to customers and suppliers last year and is available this year in bookstores and toy card and computer shops for $995 Insurance woes spark fear of lawsuits By ROBERT LINDSEY NY Times writer Charles Shultz creator of the com ic strip recently closed a public ice skating rink he owns inSanta Rdka CaliLdwing he coujd no longer obtain liability insurance to protect himself against possible lawsuits in case of accidents Don Oliver a New Orleans ar chitect says he and many other members of his profession now prac tice what he calls ar overdesigning build ings at extra expense in an attempt to pre empt possible lawsuits Vincent Catania who owns five restaurants on Cape Cod has begun giving classes to employees to help them recognize intoxicated custom ers who might later decide to sue him if their intoxication should lead to an automobile wreck be come our he says They were among many Ameri cans interviewed last week in cities around the nation who have begun to change the way they live and do business because they fear being caught up in a rising tide of litigation that is swamping the courts This litigation has been accompa nied by higher liability insurance rates People in many businesses and professions are having increas ing difficulty in getting liability in surance at any cost Physicians were the first to face the problem Small business owners accoun tants contractors architects real estate brokers police officers oper ators of child care centers and even lawyers are expressing anger over the rising rateMor liability insur ance andme steps they must take to avert being sued Legal specialists who represent plaintiffs in personal injury cases defend the rise in the number of large judgments Corporations and insurance companies they argue should be held responsible for ac tions that can leave innocent people injured or dead It can take millions of dollars they say to give lifetime support to a victim of serious medi cal malpractice Most of these lawyers reject the contention that insurance rates have skyrocketed because of excessive jury awards you have a good case you surely win it and some good ones you don't win ei said Bruce Walkup a San rancisco lawyer Experts estimate that by the end of the year more than 13 million civil lawsuits will have been filed in fed eral and state courts in 1985 Since the mid 1970s the number has in creased at a rate of five percent to 10 percent most years The number of judgments of $1 million or more awarded by juries and judges has soared at an even higher rate The amount of awards is bringing pres Liability Suits Number of Product Liabili Sorce: Administration Office of Courts ty Suits iled in ederal District Courts igures in thousands I II i i sure for laws to limit some jury awards After a proliferation of judgments of $1 million or more against physi cians a decade ago rates for medi cal liability insurance soared touch ing off what was called the malpractice Many physicians raised fees sharply to offset the higher premi ums Some gave up practicing medi cine because of what they called pro (See LAWSUITS Page 2 B) In South Carolina means big problems By WILL LESTER Associated Press writer COLUMBIA SC Insurance Commissioner John Richards IV minces no words when he discusses the dilemma of trying to regulate the insurance industry in South Carolina in recent months The insurance industry like the national insurance industry is caught in a so called Companies want to write certain kinds of high risk poli cies and are often tempted to cancel policies at mid term or with little no tice To make things worse doctors lawyers and the insurers have been pointing fingers and squabbling in recent weeks over the constant in crease in malpractice rates a paral lel but separate insurance crisis been the worst six months of my Richards said in an inter view solve the problem an international problem I want to go to war with the insurance But Richards has taken strong steps recently to make certain com mercial insurance companies get left in the lurch of the capacity crunch He issued an emergency regula tion in mid October banning mid term cancellations of property and casualty insurance An Ohio compa ny that insured 321 policies in the state including many churches had planned to cancel but has backed off after the announcement of the regulation The emergency order in effect un til Jan 17 will become law if Rich ards has his way He wants the SC General Assembly to enact the emergency provision permanently to protect property and casualty in surance customers One provision of the emergency regulation requires insurance com panies to give a policy holder 30 days (See CRUNCH Page 3 B) Island case helps spur look at TV rules By NANCY RUTTER Packet business writer The ederal Communications Commission is beginning proceed ings into the possibility of adopting new rules governing whether island television watchers may receive broadcasts from Hard eeville television station WTGS from Plantation Cablevision Inc Washington hearings and proceed ings often have much to do with Hilton Head but this time they do because the federal agen move at least in part re sults from the controversy between WTGS the three month old indepen dent station and the island's cable franchise Plantation Cablevision situation between Hilton cable company and WTGS is a significant piece of the picture in the move to consider new rul John Summers executive vice president of the Washington based National Association of Broadcast ers said in a telephone interview this week fact that John Bailie (gener al manager president and co owner of WTGS) went to Washington and talked with CC commissioners and with people like Hollings (Sen Er nest Hollings SC) did weigh in getting the CC back to the table on this Summers said The must carry rules have been at the heart of the dispute between WTGS broadcast on UH channel 28 and Plantation Cablevision since this past summer That was when a federal court struck down the ederal Communications Com original must carry The old rules required cable oper ators to carry all commercial tele vision stations within a 35 miles of the community served The court de cision freed cable companies nation wide of that obligation On Hilton Head WTGS locked horns with Plantation Cablevision because the cable franchise refused to pick up the station which signed on the air Sept 1 Over the next two months the is land dispute captured the attention of Washington lobbyists and law makers when WTGS head Bailie was invited by broadcasting special in terest groups to discuss the case on Capitol Hill Those Washington trips Summers says now played a role in the com decision last week to re consider the must carr situation Bailie is clearly pleased with the ac tion "The sooner they look at new rul es the sooner things will get better for Bailee said in an interview 'Our market share of advertising in the area continues to be hampered by cable companies' refusal to carry us So resolving this issue is very important to us The situation isn't funny anymore' John Bailee WTGS being carried on cable systems is hurting the station financially Our market share of advertising in the area continues to be hampered by cable companies' refusal to carry us So resolving this issue is very im portant to us The situation fun ny The federal proceedings are equally important to Charles Renwick vice president and general manager of Plantation Cablevision the CC adopts new must car ry rules very possible that we would have to carry Ren wick said have never said we would not carry the station but rath er that we were weighing many fac tors in programming changes since the rules were struck down we have to watch what de velops in Washington as well as con sider what our subscribers want to see Progamming changes will be guided by both Renwick said In October Plantation Cablevision sent its subscribers a questionnaire in an effort to measure what cable watchers like and don't like about the current system Renwick said then he hoped to make changes in programming late this month But developments in Washington may delay programming changes Renwick said this week "We want to avoid making changes that will have to be re changed if the CC goes ahead and adopts new he said want to confuse subscribers by juggling channels We are still studying our survey results But this development may delay our decision for new Renwick said he not let the decision making process drag on too long is so much happening in this industry in Washington that you could sit back forever and wait for someone to make a Renwick said William Johnson deputy chief of the CC's mass media bureau said in an interview Tuesday the must carry proceedings and subse quent new regulations will likely stretch over several months have a 40 day period where we accept new must carry propo sals" Johnson said the end of (See CABLE Page 2 B).