COLUMBIA -- The chairman of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee said Friday he would oppose a clause in a power disconnection bill that would limit utilities' liability.

Sen. David Thomas' opposition comes a day after a Columbia representative said the lawsuit cap is "overreaching" and may have escaped the attention of many House members when they voted to approve it on second reading this week.

The legislation is designed to protect the elderly and disabled from power disconnections during the extremes of winter or summer.

But the bill also would limit liability on the part of utilities that follow the bill's regulations to $200,000.

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Thomas, a Greenville Republican, said he believes the provision's liability cap will run into opposition in the Senate.

"I would have problems with that," he said. "You always have to balance any reform proposal that would limit liability with the consumer's right," he said. "It's always a balance of consumer rights versus special interest rights. I usually side with consumer rights."

Some House members want the clause removed and the issue has postponed a final vote on the bill until next week.

Sen. James Smith, a Columbia Democrat, said Thursday that the clause is in effect "limiting the civil justice rights of people who might be entitled to them."

However, Rep. Harry Cato, a Travelers Rest Republican who chairs the House Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee, which crafted the bill, said Thursday the clause is justified.

Cato said the utilities deserve the protection "if they go through all these hoops we're asking them to."

Smith said the utilities will get a better deal under the bill than the state, whose general lawsuit protection is limited to $300,000.

The bill also prevents customers from using rules in the bill as a basis of a lawsuit, which Smith says he has no problems with.

The House will take up the matter next week. Smith hopes the body will remove the clause before sending it to the Senate, which also must approve the legislation.