PUCO's approval of utility’s rates not shown to permit customers of competing electricity generators to subsidize company’s own generation customers
By Dan Trevas
Court News Ohio
The Supreme Court of Ohio today upheld a state utility regulator’s finding that AEP Ohio is not recovering through its distribution rates the costs it incurs to provide generation service.
The high court rejected an appeal by a competing electricity generator of the Public Utility Commission of Ohio's (PUCO) decision to approve AEP's rate plan, because the competitor did not show that the PUCO acted unreasonably.
The challenge to the rate plan was based on the allegation that AEP was subsidizing its own competitive electric generation services with money paid by non-generation customers in its service territory. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court rejected an argument from Interstate Gas Supply (IGS), a competitor generation supplier in AEP Ohio’s service territory, that the PUCO hindered competition in the electricity generation market when it approved AEP’s 2020 rate plan for distributing electricity to customers
Writing for the Court, Justice Jennifer Brunner explained that when IGS appealed the PUCO-approved rates, the burden was on IGS to show the “rates and charges are unjust, unreasonable, or unlawful.”
She noted that IGS offered as evidence a study by AEP staff that $4.7 million in money collected for electricity distribution was possibly used to offset costs for AEP customers who did not take advantage of designating competing electricity generation suppliers other than AEP Ohio.
During PUCO proceedings, IGS was one of several parties that had argued the AEP study was unreliable, Justice Brunner noted. The Court concluded that IGS could not later use the previously disputed study to try to prove AEP’s rates were unjustified based on any known and quantifiable generation costs realized through its distribution rates.
Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy and Justices Patrick F. Fischer, R. Patrick DeWine, Michael P. Donnelly, and Melody Stewart joined the opinion. First District Court of Appeals Judge Robert C. Winkler, sitting for Justice Joseph T. Deters, also joined the opinion.
* * *
••• Publisher's note: A free press is critical to having well-informed voters and citizens. While some news organizations opt for paid websites or costly paywalls, The Highland County Press has maintained a free newspaper and website for the last 25 years for our community. If you would like to contribute to this service, it would be greatly appreciated. Donations may be made to: The Highland County Press, P.O. Box 849, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133. Please include "for website" on the memo line.