Dive Brief:
- Officials at FirstEnergy have signaled they will change the utility's energy efficiency programs to allow industrial customers to opt out by the end of the year.
- Ohio lawmakers recently passed a law freezing the state's energy efficiency mandate and renewable portfolio standard for the next two years.
- The change to Ohio law has allowed utilities to seek regulatory approval to give their industrial customers the ability to opt out of efficiency programs.
Dive Insight:
FirstEnergy is preparing to amend its energy efficiency programs, allowing its industrial customers to opt out of the goals while the state freezes its initiatives.
While other utilities have worked to find profit in state-mandated targets, FirstEnergy has lobbied for at least two years to have the program scrapped, the newspaper reports. Backed by its industrial customers, the utility was an advocate for a measure passed over the summer allowing larger customers to opt out of the program and halting the growth of emissions reductions.
The utility will need to file an amendment with state regulators to make the change. "I think you will be seeing something coming out of the company fairly soon," a FirstEnergy official said at the 9th Annual Northern Ohio Energy Management Conference. The move is "what is best for our customers," he added.
