CHARLESTON, S.C. - South Carolina utilities say customers likely would pay more under new federal energy legislation calling for more so-called "green power" generation.

Last week, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that calls for a tenth of the nation's electricity to come from renewable sources, such as solar and wind. That legislation says those renewable sources would account for 2.5 percent of all retail electricity by 2008, rising to 10 percent by 2020.

That shift in power sources would cut pollution, reduce the country's reliance on foreign energy and decrease utilities' exposure to volatile fuel markets, proponents say.

But power executives say South Carolina isn't a great place for generating power from the wind or sun. That could leave the state in the position of purchasing renewable-energy credits from utilities in places that are more suited to those power sources.

If the Senate version of the bill became law, utilities that fall short of the targets could buy renewable energy credits at 1.5 cents per kilowatt hour. That would be a 33 percent to 38 percent premium over typical costs to produce power in the Southeast.

"It would be a wealth transfer from here to the Midwest for wind power. There's no other way to describe it," said Lonnie Carter, chief executive officer of Santee Cooper, the state-owned utility based in Moncks Corner. Carter said it would cost $35 million to comply.

"To jam that type of standard on the Southeast is really going to harm us," he said.

It's not impossible to meet the 10 percent requirement, said Steve Byrne, Scana Corp.'s senior vice president of generation. "but it's going to be a lot more difficult to do in the Southeast,"

Columbia-based Scana would consider options, including buying land in Western states to build wind turbines or building them offshore.

Santee Cooper has anticipated a federal green power mandate and has commissioned a study on the feasibility of wind power in the state. It also has two power plants burning methane gas recovered from landfills and plans to burn wood chips from the U.S. Forest Service.

But those efforts only push Santee Cooper's green-power production to about 1 percent of its generating capacity.

"It's not that we're opposed to it at all," Carter said. "We want to do it. We're even ahead of the game, but we don't have anything other than (landfill gas) that makes sense."

Scana says green initiatives aren't good business right now.

"Until Washington gives specific directions, I don't know that it pays to get out in front," Byrne said.

For now, power company executives hope that the House's version of the legislation prevails. It passed in April with voluntary guidelines for renewable-energy targets.

People on both sides worry what a compromise could bring as President Bush pushes the House and Senate to reach a deal by August.

For instance, utility executives worry congressional allies will go along with the green power proposal simply to get the bill passed and end years of debate. At a minimum, utilities want Congress to allow them to count hydroelectric and nuclear power as renewable energy.