PUCO to make announcement on AEP rates

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio will meet Thursday to announce how they will address the more than 1,000 complaints regarding a spike in AEP rates that have tripled the electric bills of some local businesses. 

Highland County Commissioner Tom Horst said that he, and other local representatives, wanted to have a presence at Thursday's meeting, even though they will not be permitted to make comments. 

In addition to Horst, and his wife Margaret, Hillsboro Mayor Drew Hastings, Highland County Chamber of Commerce President Katy Farber and Brent Huffman, owner of Beech Street Candleworks and Beech Street on Main, are planning to attend, he said.

The meeting will be held at 10 a.m. at the PUCO offices at 180 E. Broad St. in Columbus.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Matt Butler, a PUCO spokesman, has said, “The commissioners are listening to what affected customers are saying; they acknowledge the negative impact their decision is having on small businesses, schools and other organizations; they take responsibility for that decision and will discuss and address the issue at (Thursday's) public meeting.” 

The PUCO has said it has received 1,018 complaints regarding the AEP rates. 

In response to the increase in the local bills, the Hillsboro City Council passed a resolution during its Feb. 13 meeting that objected to the PUCO's decision to allow "deferred costs" to be charged in 2012 to AEP customers, resulting in "unconscionable" bills, and requesting a reversal of its decisions. The resolution authorized Hillsboro Mayor Drew Hastings to take "all legal action necessary" to make the city's position known. 

According to the city's resolution, "In mid-December 2011, the PUCO authorized AEP to collect more revenue from consumers, and this authorization is now being reflected in the electric bills that have gone out to consumers and will continue to go out to consumers ... and these increases have resulted in excessive and unconscionable increases to residential and small business customers and to the City of Hillsboro by amounts exceeding 40 percent ... The PUCO authorized AEP to increase the default supply price by about $300 million, authorized AEP to increase the CRES supplier price (going from about $16 to $255 in 2012) and authorized AEP to increase the amount of revenue it collects for providing local distribution service, thereby significantly increasing AEP’s revenue while limiting the ability of consumers (acting individually or through community aggregation programs) to avoid the increase by obtaining lower-priced electricity supply from a CRES supplier."

In January, Jeff Rennie, an AEP spokesman, said the "new rates are the result of a compromise between AEP, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and many other companies and groups. The plan calls for AEP to change gradually to prices set by market forces."

Since the beginning of the year, there has been an outcry from business owners, residents and local officials regarding the dramatic increase in the bills. 

The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and the Ohio School Boards Association have also written letters the PUCO. According to The Dispatch, the OFBF's letter asked the PUCO and AEP "to press the 'reset' button and withdraw the current rates. If this were to happen, a modified version of the 2011 rates would take effect while the parties work to come up with a new proposal." 

According to a report from the Suburban News Publications, the increase in rates for the Upper Arlington School District's will add nearly $100,000 to the district's annual total bills for the fiscal year. 

Hillsboro City Schools Treasurer Debbie Lawwell told The Highland County Press this week that the district seems to have escaped the rate hike, with no difference showing between 2012 and 2011 bills for the elementary and high school/middle school buildings.  

Horst had previously said during a commissioners meeting - while reading from a list of county invoices from AEP - that one bill increased from $212 to $790, another increased from $180 to $978, and another from $444 to $617. Hillsboro uptown business owner Brent Huffman said his bill increased by nearly 150 percent, from $214 to $497. Bob Higgins, who owns residential apartment buildings in Hillsboro, said one tenant's bill went from $50 a month to $300.

However, AEP has said that some of the billing increases have been due to misread meters. 

Hillsboro Auditor Gary Lewis had reported earlier this month that city's rates had increased by approximately $10,000 a month. The area with the highest increase, he said, was Shaffer Park with a bill three times its normal amount. Lewis said an AEP representative told him Tuesday that the meter was misread. 

Last week, members of the Highland County Fair Board brought similar concerns to the Highland County Board of Commissioners when the electric bill for the county fairgrounds jumped from approximately $3,000 to more than $15,000. After complaining about the bill, the fair board received word from an AEP representative that the company had "misread" the fairgrounds meters.

Even though no one can address the PUCO during the meeting, Horst said that he felt it was important Highland County have a physical presence there. 

"They have said it is not an open forum and they won't let us speak, but we can talk to them after the meeting," Horst said. "If it doesn't go the way we hope it will, we can at least voice our opinion. We want to be able to show a presence and show them that we are concerned and that we are going to see this through to the end."