A record of service

By JANINE MIGDEN-OSTRANDER

Special to The Vindicator

For 35 years, the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel has been the legal advocate for 4.5 million residential households in matters relating to their public utility services. The OCC was founded to represent the interests of customers before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and in the state and federal courts.

The cost to fund the OCC is about $1 per household per year, which come from an assessment to the utility companies, not taxpayer dollars. Cutting the OCC’s budget will not help resolve the state’s fiscal deficit.

The OCC has a successful record of saving Ohio’s utility customers more than $10 billion throughout its history. Unfortunately, our ability to effectively represent residential customers is at high risk with the Gov. John Kasich’s proposed 51.3 percent cut to our budget. Further, the House of Representative’s version of the budget legislation retained the 51.3 percent cut during the next two fiscal years. It also added several negative amendments, including what the media has referred to as a “gag order” that would prohibit the OCC from advocating for least-cost options for customers in natural gas cases and remove its name and contact information from customers’ bills.

Budget cuts

The Senate is considering changes to the budget legislation. While its version includes amendments improving the bill, devastating budget cuts to our office are still being considered. The Senate would restore money during FY 2012 to finance the OCC’s office downsizing, but retains the full 51.3 percent cut in FY 2013. The Senate version also would remove the “gag order” and allow the OCC’s name and contact information to remain on customers’ bills and notices.

In my testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, I described the drastic consequences for Ohio’s utility customers if the proposed cuts become reality. Currently, we are active in more than 200 cases initiated by the utilities, mostly seeking increases to customer rates.

With the cuts, the OCC would be able to represent customers in fewer than half of these cases. This will tilt the scales of justice unfairly to utilities, natural gas marketers and others who are able to pay top dollar for their attorneys and rate experts in cases before the PUCO. Cutting the OCC’s ability to fully participate in utility cases is not good for Ohio’s utility ratepayers — residential and business customers alike — who directly benefit from the OCC’s work. Further, the OCC’s ability to inform and educate hundreds of thousands of Ohio customers about complicated utility issues through our outreach programs, publications and call center would be decimated.

Savings

In the past two years, the OCC has saved customers nearly $2 billion with a budget of $8.5 million. The agency is lean, effective and accountable. Our achievements are due to a dedicated, highly skilled, high performing work team. We provide value to all Ohioans by helping them keep money in their pockets — where it belongs. We ask Ohioans to call their state officials to ask them to support the OCC budget. We ask lawmakers to be mindful of the benefits we have historically provided and restore the OCC’s funding so that we may remain an effective advocate for Ohio’s utility customers.

The writer has been Ohio Consumers’ Counsel since 2004. Prior to that she was a partner in the law firm of Hahn Loeser & Parks and served as co-chair of the firm’s Utility and Regulatory Practice Group.