South Carolina utility Santee Cooper has received final approval for a $520 million settlement with ratepayers expected to resolve a class-action lawsuit tied to the abandonment of the V.C. Summer nuclear expansion.

Former South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal on July 20 signed off on the agreement reached between the government-owned utility, known legally as South Carolina Public Service Authority, and its ratepayers over the failed $9 billion nuclear project in Fairfield County, local media outlets reported.

The deal is expected to reimburse Santee Cooper's retail customers and South Carolina's 20 electric cooperatives for charges collected on the scrapped reactors, minus attorneys' fees. The agreement also requires the utility to lower and freeze its rates for four years.

Under the agreement, Richmond, Va.-headquartered Dominion Energy Inc. is on the hook for $320 million of the $520 million settlement.

Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric & Gas Co., now Dominion Energy subsidiary Dominion Energy South Carolina Inc., partnered on the unfinished units before pulling the plug four months after the bankruptcy of primary contractor Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC.

The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., reported that the settlement diminishes the chance that Santee Cooper will be sold, something state lawmakers had been considering.