COLUMBIA - Public hearings on how state-owned utility Santee Cooper should operate and be governed will be held in Horry, Georgetown and Berkeley counties starting in two weeks, a Senate subcommittee said Thursday.

"The perception is that some would either like to privatize it or sell it outright," said Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, chairman of the subcommittee.

Gov. Mark Sanford, whose firing of the utility's board chairman in the fall sparked criticism of his handling of the utility and a packet of bills changing his powers over it, said through his spokesman that he has not proposed selling Santee Cooper.

The perception may be no more than that, Rankin said, but talk of selling the utility has come up repeatedly in the past few years.

The panel wants to hear from the business and residential customers in those three counties that the utility serves directly whether the customers are satisfied with the utility as it is or would like to see it changed, he said.

"I think we'll find that Santee Cooper generally provides an outstanding service to the state," said Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach.

"It is one of the greatest assets that we have as an economic-development tool," Rankin said.

Because it is a public utility, it is able to sell power at rates less than those of for-profit companies.

Rankin said some people think Santee Cooper is a tax-supported agency, but that is not the case. It sends 1 percent of its revenue each year to the state general fund and has never received tax support.

When Sanford asked two years ago that the agency provide more money for the state, Rankin and Elliott tried to block the transfers, saying the money belongs to ratepayers.

Rankin said the subcommittee intends to look into attempts to require Santee Cooper to provide more money for the state.

Santee Cooper also sells to the state's electric co-ops, which make up 60 percent of the utility's business.

Rankin, Elliott and Bill Mescher, R-Pinopolis, have been among the harshest critics of the removal last year of Santee Cooper's board chairman by Sanford.

The board upheaval resulted in a downgrading of the utility's outlook by one of the top three ratings analysts, though the finding did not affect a bond refinancing that occurred several months later.

The shake-up also resulted in proposals to change how the utility's board is chosen and to strip the governor's power to remove members without cause.

Rankin's panel will consider five bills that change the Santee Cooper board structure, including requiring related experience for members and a screening committee.

"The theme of this is to take politics out of this business" and have the utility operate like a private company, Rankin said.

One measure would give a customer the right to file a complaint that a board member violated fiduciary duty, similar to rules for stockholders in publicly held companies.

Rankin said the hearings would not be about the bills, or the four board seats that are awaiting confirmation by the Senate. Those issues will be taken up at later hearings in Columbia, he said.