Spokesman touts energy plan
The energy adviser said it’s too early to know if jobs would come to the Valley.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — The governor’s energy plan would create thousands of jobs, stimulate economic development and protect the environment, according to his energy adviser.
Mark Shanahan said Friday at the Youngstown Club that Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposal faces a fight in the General Assembly, and expects the electricity policy to be litigated.
“It’s a daunting task,” he said of enacting the policy. “But it’s doable.”
The bill looks to stop a rate increase for retail electricity customers when the state discontinues its regulation of electricity Jan. 1, 2009, Shanahan said.
When similar caps were removed in Maryland, electricity customers in that state saw a 72 percent increase, he said.
The governor also wants a long-range goal of having at least 25 percent of the state’s electricity by the year 2025 generated from renewable and advanced energy technology including clean coal, nuclear, solar, wind and water power.
Thousands of jobs would be created to build the products needed to harvest the energy of renewable and advanced energy, Shanahan said.
It’s too early in the process to determine if those jobs could end up in the Mahoning Valley, he said.
FirstEnergy’s response
Ellen Raines, a spokeswoman for FirstEnergy, which supplies energy to the Mahoning Valley, said in a telephone interview that the company agrees with Strickland’s objectives to develop alternative and renewable resources and to keep the cost of electricity rates at a reasonable cost.
But some parts of Strickland’s plan would “drive up the cost” of electricity, such as using wind energy, she said.
When the rate cap is removed, there would be an increase in electricity bills to consumers, who haven’t seen a rate increase in several years, Raines said.
But she doesn’t expect that amount to be higher than 15 percent.
The state enacted legislation in 2000 to deregulate the electricity market with the expectation it would increase competition and lower prices. That competition never materialized.
Constellation Energy LLC, North America’s leading wholesale electric supplier, complimented state officials for tackling this issue.
“These are complex issues that deserve a full and complete debate that includes the viewpoints of customers of all sizes and the suppliers that stand ready to provide them with innovative products and services,” said David Fein, Constellation’s vice president of energy policy.
skolnick@vindy.com