AEP
State regulators made ‘utility-friendly’ edits to audit of coal plant bailout, emails show
Documents show state utility regulators sought edits to draft versions of an audit they commissioned, prompting the removal of declarations that a ratepayer-funded bailout of two uneconomic coal plants was a bad deal for Ohio electric customers. Staff at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, which sets customers’ water and electric rates, asked an auditor […]
Amid corruption scandal, energy money continues to flow to state lawmakers
It’s going to take more than a bribery scandal on a historic scale to get energy money out of Ohio politics. Campaign finance reports, submitted late last week, show the campaign contribution pipeline from the natural gas and utility industries to Ohio lawmakers’ campaign accounts is alive and well. The vast majority went to Republicans, […]
Ohio consumer watchdog asks regulators to revisit coal plant bailouts
A consumer watchdog last week asked state regulators to revisit their decision to allow two Ohio utility companies to pass onto customers their losses on two coal-fired power plants they partially own. The Ohio Consumers Counsel (OCC), which represents residential ratepayers in utility issues, asked the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to revisit its […]
Coal plants’ owners fight to protect ‘worst of the bad subsidies’
Subsidy? What subsidy? Three Ohio utilities and a representative of the coal-fired power plants they jointly own appeared before a Senate committee Tuesday to defend an estimated $700 million subsidy they’re set to receive from ratepayers through 2030. The committee met to consider a bipartisan effort to repeal the subsidy, which was codified in 2019 […]
Feds seize records from Ohio utility tied to bailout, corruption scandal
An Ohio utility announced Tuesday it’s cooperating with a federal subpoena seeking records related to a massive bailout to coal and nuclear plants that’s now at the center of a public corruption prosecution. American Electric Power — the largest shareholder in a cooperative that owns two coal-fired plants that will receive an estimated $700 million […]
State Senate mulls repeal of $700m bailout to coal plants in Ohio, Indiana
An Ohio Senate committee is considering the repeal of an estimated $700 million ratepayer-funded bailout extended to two coal-fired power plants in legislation now at the center of a criminal prosecution. Senate Bill 117, which received its second hearing Wednesday, would not only end the subsidies of Ohio Valley Electric Corporation power plants, but refund […]
Three Ohio energy giants haven’t paid federal income taxes in three years
They're making billions and they've gotten hefty subsidies from ratepayers. Yet three big energy companies doing business in Ohio haven't paid federal income tax since the 2017 Trump tax cuts, according to a new report.
Critics take aim at HB 6 coal subsidies
A 2019 energy bill at the heart of a historic Ohio scandal has plenty of critics and it contains plenty of provisions of which they’re critical. There’s more than $1 billion to prop up two nuclear reactors that supposedly can’t compete on their own. And there’s $102 million in annual revenue guarantees for FirstEnergy, a […]
Ohio utility poised to keep scandal-tainted bailout money even if it’s repealed
When it comes to billions of ratepayer dollars for bailouts and other add-ons, Ohio utilities are in a no-lose situation. In the case of the scandal-plagued, billion-dollar bailout of two Northern Ohio nuclear reactors, their owner is poised to keep any money they collect even if the legislature repeals the bailout. State Rep. Mark Romanchuk, […]