GEORGETOWN - The chairman of Santee Cooper's board said Monday that concerns about a sale of the state-owned utility are unfounded, and that the current controversy will end with a savings to ratepayers.

Guerry Green of Pawleys Island, who was named interim chairman of the board by Gov. Mark Sanford, said a $150,000 contract with a major accounting firm for a study of the utility's value doesn't mean it will be acted on.

Green, a board member for almost two years, was named chairman, subject to state Senate approval, two weeks ago after Sanford fired Chairman Graham Edwards.

He said it's similar to someone who asks for a new valuation of his house but has no intentions of selling it.

"It's really nothing to be worried about," Green said.

Edwards, shortly before he was fired, asked the staff to arrange the study because privatizing Santee Cooper was one of several actions Sanford mentioned in talks on getting more value out of the utility.

Edwards said Monday he thinks the study will show Santee Cooper has more value the way it is than if it were sold.

Previous studies have said the state is losing as much as $52 million because Santee Cooper isn't paying the taxes that a private company pays, but Edwards and Green agreed that a study must take into account values beyond revenue.

The agency has a value in attracting business because of lower rates, and in addition, there is the economic worth of the recreation and development around Lakes Marion and Moultrie, Green said.

The lakes were formed after the agency was created by law in 1934 to make power for rural areas that private companies were not serving. Water spilling over dams on the lakes powers turbines that make electricity.

"The governor can't sell Santee Cooper," Green said. Only lawmakers could do that.

"I hear that all the time," he said. "If something works, why would you mess with it? But it keeps coming up."

Nor would the board go along with pressure to raise rates to provide more money for the state, Green said.

"Nobody including me would ever go along with that," he said.

Santee Cooper pays 1 percent of its revenue, which has been about $10.5 million in recent years, to the state as a substitute for the corporate taxes that private firms pay.

That is enough, Edwards said. "Santee Cooper is doing what it's supposed to be doing for the state," he said.

Sanford wants more, and that is one reason why Edwards said he was fired.

At this month's budget meeting, the board agreed to take $8 million formerly used for advertising and sponsorships. Half would be used for economic development projects, and half will be used to pay down debt.

Green also indicated he will not agree to Sanford's request to cut out all donations to local organizations.

Some, such as those to fire departments, should be continued, he said.

The board is working on a program where customers can add money to their bills for donations to local groups, and the utility will match the money, he said.

Green also downplayed a downgrade in the utility's credit outlook Friday, saying he has talked to Fitch Ratings analysts, who said one reason they acted was because they saw the resignation of Vernie Dove as connected with Edwards' dismissal.

Dove, a Myrtle Beach resident who has been on the board two years, said his term expires in January and that he just left a month early.

"I do not have an ax to grind with the governor at all," Dove said, though he is concerned with events at the utility. He is skeptical that a study of Santee Cooper's value is just for information, because "that's a lot of money to spend," he said.