FirstEnergy rate increase discussed at hearing

By Ed Runyan

An environmentalist would like to see the company’s energy-efficiency plans spelled out better.

CHAMPION — On the surface, it seems obvious that the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio should reject the proposal from Ohio Edison’s parent company, FirstEnergy, for an increase in its electricity rates of about 12.1 percent over three years for local electricity consumers.

After all, the investor-owned company made $1.3 billion last year and $263 million during the second quarter of 2008.

But matters involving electrical rates are complicated, and the PUCO needs to hear from Ohio citizens to make the right decision, said Warren native Chris Verich, an outreach specialist with the Ohio Consumer’s Counsel, an Ohio government agency that serves as advocate for Ohio utility customers.

Verich and other speakers conducted a public forum Tuesday night on the proposed increase at Kent State Trumbull Campus.

Over the course of the 10 months between the introduction of the state’s new energy policy law in the Ohio Legislature in August 2007 and its signing into law in May 2008 by Gov. Ted Strickland, a great deal of lobbying took place, Verich said.

In the end, the law contained some wins and losses for Ohioans, he said.

Now, FirstEnergy is applying for its first rate increase under the new law — rates that will be in effect from 2009 through 2011.

Verich said the FirstEnergy proposal “may be over the top” in terms of providing FirstEnergy with profits and said he hopes the regulatory body will instead opt for more “prudent increases.”

For an Ohio Edison customer whose bill is an average of $85.43 per month now, the increase would raise the bill by $2.04 per month in 2009, $3.06 in 2010 and $5.22 in 2011, raising it to $95.75 — or $10.32 over the three years.

Verich urged area residents to attend a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 14 at Austintown Middle School, 800 South Raccoon Road, to give testimony to the PUCO on the excessiveness of the increase.

A public hearing attended by hundreds was held at the school in March. That hearing focused on a portion of FirstEnergy’s total proposal, the distribution charges. That proposal is still pending before the PUCO.

Another of the speakers Tuesday was Nolan Moser, air and energy program manager for the Ohio Environmental Council, which advocates for healthy air, land and water.

Moser said Ohio utility companies such as FirstEnergy need to be forced to focus on energy efficiency as a means of reducing the cost of power generation, but it will not be motivated to work hard in that area unless the PUCO requires it to.

Energy efficiency refers to improved types of lighting, heating and cooling systems and architectural innovations such as natural light that FirstEnergy could encourage its customers to use, Moser said.

Ohio’s utility companies rely on coal to produce 88 percent of their electricity, but coal is no longer going to be cheap because China is buying it up, and it is bad for the environment because of greenhouse gas emissions, he said.

The state’s new energy-policy law requires FirstEnergy to invest in measurable amounts in renewable energy such as wind and solar power, he said.

But FirstEnergy’s proposal is short on the specifics of its plans for alternative energy production, he said.

runyan@vindy.com