Ohio Edison sets hearing on rate rise request

Ohio Edison sets hearing on rate rise request

A hearing is set for March 6 on an Ohio Edison rate increase.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

Electricity users will have an opportunity to give their opinions on Ohio Edison’s request to add about $6 to their electric bills.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is having a hearing at 6:30 p.m. March 6 in the auditorium of Austintown Middle School, 800 S. Raccoon Road. The PUCO is meeting around the company’s service territory before deciding on the request.

Ohio Edison’s parent company, FirstEnergy Corp., is seeking to raise rates for its distribution service for the first time since 1990. If approved, the new rates would go into effect Jan. 1, 2009.

Distribution charges account for one-third of a customer’s bill and cover the cost of maintaining lines, buying equipment and paying wages.

The proposed increase would increase a customer’s total bill by varying amounts. Residential customers who use 750 kilowatt hours of electricity would see their total bills go up 6.7 percent, while users of 500 kilowatt hours would see a 5.3 percent increase.

The average residential bill of $89 a month would go up by about $6, said Ellen Raines, a company spokeswoman.

This is based on the assumption that other costs in the bill remain the same. About one-third of the bill covers generation costs, and the remaining third covers other regulated fees such as transmission.

Raines said FirstEnergy is seeking the increases for all of its operating companies because of the increasing costs of items such as aluminum, copper wire and vehicles. The Akron-based company also operates Toledo Edison and Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co.

Another change that would impact electricity users is being debated in Columbus.

Ohio is slated to move to an unregulated energy market at the end of this year. Electricity users would have to buy power at whatever price the market bears, instead of at prices set by the PUCO.

Ohio’s largest industrial customers have said they are concerned about large increases in rates next year, but FirstEnergy officials have maintained that a retail market will develop and competition will hold prices down.

State legislators are debating a bill that would revise the method for moving to market-based prices.

The Senate has passed a bill that says the PUCO must determine if a competitive market exists before the deregulation occurs. The bill is now in the House.

Raines said FirstEnergy wants objective criteria to be included in the bill so that everyone understands what the PUCO would base its decision on.

shilling@vindy.com