Business

The Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSCSC) approved an average 5.98 percent rate increase for Duke Energy.
The increase is well below the originally proposed 15 percent average rate increase decried by most private Lancaster residents who spoke during a PSCSC hearing on the matter in November.
The new rates, approved by PSCSC commissioners during a meeting last week, increases residential rates by 7.1 percent, or roughly $6.25 on an average 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month home bill.

Second contract post office opens in IL
The U.S. Postal Service has opened a second contract postal unit in Indian Land. The new site is in Liberty Tax Service, 8441 Charlotte Highway, in the Commons at Doby’s Bridge. Customers can buy stamps and mail packages at the site.
The previous contract postal unit in the MJ Mart Gulf station at the corner of U.S. 521 and S.C. 160 is still open, too.

The Public Service Commission of South Carolina is scheduled to vote on Duke Energy’s request for a rate increase in coming weeks – a request now less than half the amount the company originally asked for.
In August, Duke Energy asked the commission for a rate increase of 15.2 percent, which included an average 17 percent increase for residential customers, 13 percent for industrial customers and 11 percent for commercial customers.
The commission, which must approve increases for the utility, held a public hearing on the matter in Lancaster in November.

A fresh coat of paint can liven up a building, so just think what a building-wide mural can do.
With scenes of green fields, apple trees, tractors and colorful vegetables, the county’s newly spruced-up Farmers Market at 1920 Pageland Highway, Lancaster, is attracting attention. And that’s the point, said Julie Walters, who represents the county’s second district on the Farmers Market Commission.