Stroke of governor's pen ends $1 billion nuclear bailout

COLUMBUS — The controversial $1 billion bailout of two nuclear power plants that came to epitomize the idea of legislation being for sale in Ohio is no more. Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 128 into law, effectively repealing portions of House Bill 6 enacted in 2019 that would have surcharged electricity customers across the state to subsidize the Lake Erieplants and lock in high future profits for Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. The law was the end product of an alleged $61 million bribery scheme that has led to federal racketeering charges against multiple players, including former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R., Glenford). The bill's signing came as FirstEnergy announced it would refund $26 million to customers for past surcharges supporting the so-called "decoupling" provision of the law that, if left in place, would have guaranteed FirstEnergy future revenues regardless of what happened in the competitive electricity marketplace. "Ohio should not allow FirstEnergy to walk away from House Bill 6 with even a penny of consumers' money," said Ohio Consumers' Counsel Bruce Weston, who represents residential customers in utility matters. "It is good to see FirstEnergy's announcement today that it will refund these House Bill 6 charges to consumers, even if it took legislation and the potential for (Public Utilities Commission of Ohio) action to help FirstEnergy see the light," he said. House Bill 128, sponsored by state Reps. Jim Hoops (R., Napoleon) and Dick Stein (R., Norwalk), mandated such refunds. "Over the past several months, FirstEnergy's Board of Directors and management team have taken steps to reduce regulatory uncertainty affecting the company's Ohio utilities," FirstEnergy said in a press release. "This includes, among other steps, the previously announced partial settlement with the Ohio Attorney General to stop the collection of decoupling revenues and the company's decision to not seek recovery of lost distribution revenue from residential and commercial customers authorized under its current Ohio Electric Security Plan through May 31, 2024. "Moving forward, the company remains committed to engaging in a holistic and transparent manner with key stakeholders," it said. The stroke of the governor's pen still leaves other provisions of the bailout law in place, including subsidies for two 1950s-era, coal-fired plants in southern Ohio and southeast Indiana owed by a multi-utility corporation. The biggest shareholder of that corporation is American Electric Power. Hoops, who chairs the House Public Utilities Committee, said the coal plant subsidies will likely be an issue of further discussion. He said he has not yet made up his own mind. "I've always felt (House Bill) 128 was based on the policy and on what happened in committee and in the Statehouse," he said. "The other issues, bribery and those things, I felt were done outside the Statehouse. I feel the court of law will be dealing with that issue." The law also still holds $20 million a year to support utility-scale solar farm projects as well as the reduction and elimination of mandates that utilities find more of their power from renewable sources and reduce energy consumption overall. Two individuals and a nonprofit corporation have already pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in connection with the bribery scheme. Charges are still pending against Householder and Matt Borges, a lobbyist and former Ohio Republican Party chairman. A fifth charged individual, powerful lobbyist Neil Clark, was recently found dead in Florida in an apparent suicide. The purported scheme had FirstEnergy and affiliated entities funneling "dark money" through the nonprofit corporation to hide the money's true source. The dollars were used to help elect lawmakers loyal to Mr. Householder in 2018, help elect him speaker in 2019, and then get House Bill 6 across the finish line. The scheme then continued to kill a petition effort to subsequently subject the bailout law to voter referendum. Since then, Energy Harbor — the current owner of the Davis-Besse nuclear plant near Oak Harbor and Perry plant east of Cleveland — has said it no longer wants the bailout. Changes at the federal level would have penalized the utility in the electricity marketplace if it accepted government subsidies. ___ (c)2021 The Blade (Toledo, Ohio) Visit The Blade (Toledo, Ohio) at www.toledoblade.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.