Century Aluminum’s three-year power contract with Santee Cooper signed in 2021 is believed to have been shielding the company’s Mount Holly smelter near Goose Creek from rising energy costs. It is helping Chicago-based Century Aluminum combat the second biggest expense after payroll - the escalating costs of electricity.
On June 2022, Century announced to idle its Hawesville, Ky., smelter for up to a year, hoping the energy prices to become normal. This shutdown will affect more than 600 workers in the Bluegrass State.
CEO Jesse Gary revealed that power costs at the Hawesville smelter, the company’s largest, tripled their historic average expenses in recent months.
Meanwhile, another smelter of Century, located off US Highway 52, is amidst an expansion worth $100 million, including the restart of a second pot line by next year. Century has also started hiring for the expansion.
To date, about one-third of the 270 pots, which have been idled since 2015, are back to operations, as the contract with Santee Cooper has stabilised the company’s power costs through 2023.
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