Dive Brief:
- Dayton Power & Light is lobbying the Ohio legislature to pass a law that would give utility regulators greater leeway to approve a rate increase, according to the Dayton Daily News.
- If passed, the new law would allow the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to implement a rate hike if a utility's "financial integrity" is threatened.
- Ohio utilities have tried numerous avenues to win support for struggling generation and are now considering pressing for re-regulation of the state's energy markets. Over the summer, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected DP&L's Service Stability Rider, aimed at easing the transition to a competitive market.
Dive Insight:
If Ohio utilities ultimately fail to win support for their older generation, it wont be for lack of trying. DP&L, FirstEnergy and American Electric Power have all floated different proposals, with several approved before federal regulators or courts stepped in.
The Dayton Daily News reports DP&L is now trying to introduce the rate bill in the Ohio legislature's lame duck session, likely as an amendment to another bill.
In 2012, AEP and DP&L pressed for a bill rider to help the utilities transition to market-based pricing. But earlier this year, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected those riders, despite DP&L already collecting about $250 million. It is unlikely those funds could be returned to customers. The utility was expecting to collect roughly $80 million this year.
In April, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission blocked power purchase agreements that aimed to support aging coal and nuclear plants owned by FirstEnergy and AEP Ohio. FERC rescinded waivers it had granted to the two companies allowing them to purchase power from their affiliate generators.
FirstEnergy is now considering selling more than a dozen power plants which are not profitable, including several nuclear plants, and expects to be finished in the next year to 18 months. Simultaneously, the utility has vowed to work with AEP on efforts to re-regulate, or partially re-regulate, the Ohio market.
