COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina lawmakers are working to make sure electrical substations are better protected months after a substation shooting knocked out power for more than 34,000 people in North Carolina.
Last week, South Carolina senators unanimously passed two bills -- one creates a punishment scale for attackers based on the amount of damage they cause.
If it costs more than $25,000 to fix equipment and cover losses, the perpetrator could face up to 20 years in prison, double the current 10-year maximum. A maximum 25-year penalty would apply if anyone died or their health was endangered by a resulting outage.
Another South Carolina bill seeks stiffer penalties for the destruction caused specifically by a gun or explosive. The legislation now goes to the House for consideration.
Dominion Energy South Carolina President Keller Kissam said the state saw at least 12 incidents of people intentionally damaging equipment last year.
“To demoralize the people, put them in the dark. To doubly demoralize them, put them in the dark and the cold," said Kissam.
For small business owners like Mary Catherine Kunze, electricity is vital for operations.
“I sew daily, so I have my sewing machine, I’ve got my iron going. I work on my computer, so I have to plug that in sometimes," said Kunze.
She said that if the power ever went out, so would her business.
“Every dollar counts. Every sale we’re thankful for; so, to not have that would be very bad," said Kunze.
“It raises awareness, number one, for how critical these assets are, number 2, it raises the awareness to the extent that you can really damage people’s lives," said Kissam.
“So that people will feel the repercussions if they choose to do something harmful to others is a good thing," said Kunze.
In the House, legislation has been introduced that would require electric utilities to have security cameras and would fine anyone found guilty of maliciously damaging utility systems.