South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. said Friday that it plans to raise electric rates 1.1% to pay for the construction of two nuclear reactors.

The average monthly bill for a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity would increase $1.42, from $117.48 to $118.90. South Carolina Electric & Gas, a subsidiary of Scana Corp. (SCG), plans to build two 1,117-megawatt reactors at its Summer nuclear plant near Jenkinsville, S.C.

South Carolina legislators passed a law in 2007 allowing utilities to recover costs for new nuclear construction before the plants are actually built. Recovering costs while construction is ongoing, instead of waiting until the project has been completed, lowers the cost of building the two new Summer units by about $1 billion, according to SCE&G. Scana has said the cost for both units will be about $9.8 billion.

The two new Summer units are expected to come on line in 2016 and 2019. SCE&G's Summer project is one of four new nuclear projects on a short list for federal loan guarantees.

-By Christine Buurma, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2061; christine.buurma@dowjones.com