Dive Brief:

• A bill to overhaul Ohio's efficiency and renewable requirements appears dead for now after a key Legislative hearing was canceled.
• The bill's chief sponsor, Republican Sen. William Seitz, chairman of the Senate Public Utilities Committee, planned to move the bill Wednesday through his committee and send it to the full Senate for a vote. He said he delayed action on his Senate Bill 58 “to get this complex subject done right.”

Dive Insight:

Seitz has been leading an effort to scale back Ohio's renewable and efficiency requirements. Seitz's bill would cap spending on efficiency programs at current rates and weaken the state's renewable standard by expanding its definitions. The bill would also allow Ohio's largest industrial customers to opt out of utility energy efficiency programs.

FirstEnergy, AEP Ohio and Duke Energy support an overhaul of Ohio's energy laws, but the Ohio Manufacturers' Association is leading a coalition of groups opposing changes. Sietz's bill got a cool response from fellow Republicans, partly because they are concerned it could lead to higher rates. Lawmakers may take up other energy-related bills, but the outlook is unclear.