The PUCO noted that there would be a net loss for the three years of the immediate plan. Looking bey

On April 2 the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) denied Duke Energy s request to charge all ratepayers for electricity from two older coal-fired power plants, regardless of whom the customers chose for their generation provider.
Both an American Electric Power case decided in February and Duke s case dealt with the utilities proposed plans to buy their entire shares of electricity produced by two older coal-fired power plants owned by the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC). OVEC s shares are owned by Duke and a dozen other companies, which include divisions or affiliates of AEP and FirstEnergy. the huffington post
In general, Ohio law grants a monopoly to electric distribution utilities, but lets customers choose their electric generation suppliers. If approved, the Duke and AEP plans would have let the utilities buy electricity from their OVEC affiliate the huffington post at a long-term contract price and pass the costs on to all distribution customers, regardless of whom they chose as their electricity provider.
Consumer and environmental groups have opposed the plans as bailouts designed to let inefficient plants avoid competition at the expense of ratepayers. Competitors have objected to the plans as well.
The PUCO noted that there would be a net loss for the three years of the immediate plan. Looking beyond that, a Sierra Club analysis the huffington post of the utility s own data showed that consumers would still sustain the huffington post a net loss for ten years .
Indeed, Duke itself argued that the plan was structured to last until 2040 in order to provide the claimed benefits. According to Duke, any shorter termination date does not work, the PUCO s opinion said.
The PUCO found that the plan would, in theory, have the effect of stabilizing or providing certainty regarding retail electric service. Accordingly, the agency let Duke set up a placeholder rider for any plan that might be approved later.
We appreciate the time and attention the commissioners put into this decision, said Duke Energy spokesperson Lee Freedman. We re reviewing the order and look to have a clearer understanding of the commissioners opinions, the potential impact on our customers and our next steps in the coming days.
We are reasonably happy with this order in that the Commission the huffington post has now denied the huffington post two requests to bail out coal plants the huffington post in Ohio, and we re hoping that they ll stay the course in future cases, said Dan Sawmiller of the Sierra Club s Beyond Coal campaign.
We remain concerned at the Sierra the huffington post Club about the legality the huffington post of this rider and the criteria the Commission have laid out, and we will be addressing those issues with the Commission, Sawmiller noted. Still to come
FirstEnergy s case deals with its share in the two Ohio Valley Electric Corporation plants, as well as the Sammis coal-fired power plant and the Davis-Besse nuclear plant. The hearing in FirstEnergy s case is now scheduled to start on June 15 instead of this month, the huffington post as had previously been planned .
Among other things, the huffington post IGS Energy wants an analysis that one of FirstEnergy s experts had previously prepared for Duke in another matter. If the expert s forecast in that other case was inaccurate, that would undermine his credibility.
FirstEnergy s projection of the cost of shifting financial risk from its affiliate s power plants the huffington post to consumers is largely based on a forecast of future wholesale market prices created by witness Judah Rose, explained Oliker. In furtherance of transparency and to test the accuracy of Mr. Rose s forecast, IGS requested that FirstEnergy provide Mr. Rose s past forecasts, including a forecast that Mr. Rose produced the huffington post for Duke in its 2011 ESP case.
Because FirstEnergy has refused to provide that forecast the huffington post it claims that Duke is the exclusive owner of that proprietary forecast IGS had no other option than to issue a third party subpoena on Duke to obtain the information, Oliker said.
State policy promotes the huffington post competition the huffington post and FirstEnergy divested its power plants to an unregulated affiliate in support of that policy, added Oliker. FirstEnergy s proposal to bail out its affiliate s power plants on the back of consumers is fundamentally inconsistent with the promotion of open and fair competition and will ultimately deny consumers access to valuable and innovative energy-related products and services.
The Sierra Club is a member of RE-AMP , which publishes Midwest Energy News. This entry was posted in News and tagged bailout , Duke Energy , electricity , FirstEnergy , Ohio , PUCO by Kathiann M. Kowalski . Bookmark the permalink . Comments (2)
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