Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has signed a measure that aims to make energy more affordable in the Buckeye State and repeal parts of the controversial House Bill 6 that Ohio lawmakers passed in 2019.
House Bill 15, sponsored by Ohio Rep. Roy Klopfenstein, R-Haviland, aims to increase Ohio’s power generation while improving affordability and reliability. Despite high-profile economic developments, including Anduril Industries and Intel projects, energy production is a top issue in Ohio.
“If you put Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia together as a country, it would be the third biggest energy producer in the world,” Ohio Sen. Brian Chavez, R-Marietta, chair of the Senate’s Energy Committee, said in a release. “We have the supply and the technology to power the grid for all of our future needs.”
The measure is similar to a second measure, Senate Bill 2, and eliminates the option for utility companies to file an Electric Security Plan (ESP). It also mandates utility companies undergo a more comprehensive review to determine consumer rates, and it allows intrastate transmission, which proponents said could lead to more providers entering the market, increasing competition and expansion while lowering costs.
“This law has the capacity to make our great state a net exporter of power,” Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, said in a release.
Another provision lowers the Tangible Personal Property tax on new generation and energy conversion equipment from 25% to 7% starting in the 2027 tax year. It also reduces the TTP tax on new transmission, distribution, and pipeline infrastructure from 88% to 25% in tax year 2027, which officials said aligns the Buckeye State with surrounding states and incentivizes new energy generation.
“Ohio families won’t see riders automatically appearing on their power bills any longer,” Ohio Sen. Bill Reineke, R-Tiffin, said in a release. “Energy companies will need to open their books through a traditional rate case to justify additional charges used to cover upgrades to the grid and that brings accountability to Ohio consumers.”
This bill continues the cleanup from the controversial House Bill 6. The earlier bill was proposed as a ratepayer-funded bailout of two nuclear power plants after Akron-based FirstEnergy Solutions filed for bankruptcy in March 2018 and announced plans to close Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor near Toledo and Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Perry.
DeWine signed the bill in 2019, which led to what’s commonly called the “largest bribery scheme in Ohio history.” The fallout has cast a pall over Ohio politics since its passage.
Federal prosecutors eventually charged former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, and others. The feds said the former House speaker and his enterprise conspired to violate racketeering laws and received millions of dollars in bribes.
A federal appeals court recently upheld Householder’s conviction.
“With the signing of House Bill 15, Ohio is now a national leader in smart, free-market energy policy,” Rea S. Hederman Jr., executive director of the Economic Research Center and vice president of policy at The Buckeye Institute, said in a statement. “While more work remains to ensure cost transparency and protect consumers from overpaying for costly infrastructure, The Buckeye Institute-championed policies are pro-consumer and pro-business—ending costly, uncompetitive subsidies, bringing back greater predictability in public utility rate cases, and incentivizing new energy development.
“House Bill 15 is the best energy policy Ohio has embraced since the end of the 20th century and goes a long way towards guaranteeing reliable and affordable energy for Ohioans and Ohio businesses,” Hederman added. “Everyone who played a role in adopting these policies deserves a healthy round of applause.”
