Ohio State Sen. Mark Romanchuk (R) has introduced a bill to nullify part of a controversial law that, according to the state’s attorney general, would allow FirstEnergy Corp. to reap more than $100 million in profit from financially troubled nuclear power plants operated by a former subsidiary.
The company is allowed to collect the money under the so-called decoupling provision of the state’s controversial House Bill 6. Passed in 2019, the scandal-beset bill allowed FirstEnergy to decouple its rates from electrical demand, and provided bailouts in the form of surcharges for the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station and the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Ohio, which are operated by former FirstEnergy subsidiary Energy Harbor.
Romanchuk’s bill would do away with the decoupling provision, which Ohio Attorney General David Yost and others have said benefits only FirstEnergy and no other company. The Ohio legislature would have to pass a separate bill to repeal the rate hikes, which were due to go into effect in January but were blocked by the Franklin County Superior Court at the request of Yost and others.
Romanchuk’s bill was before the Ohio Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee, at deadline for RadWaste Monitor,
House Bill 6’s decoupling provision allows FirstEnergy to boost its charges to customers in order to meet a $102 million profit margin, regardless of actual electrical consumption. The broad intention of decoupling is that when a corporation encourages energy efficiency among its customers, it won’t lose money when those same customers buy less electricity. House Bill 6 required the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to approve FirstEnergy’s decoupling request, which the commission did on Dec. 30.
“FirstEnergy is reviewing the proposed legislation and does not have additional comment to provide at this time,” FirstEnergy spokeswoman Jennifer Young wrote in an email.
House Bill 6 is controversial because it is linked to a $60 million bribery scandal involving FirstEnergy.
A July 2020 federal indictment alleges that Generation Now was set up as a 501(c)(4) social welfare entity to launder bribe money to then-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R) from FirstEnergy. The money went directly to Householder and other Ohio House candidates who would support Householder in his quest to become Speaker of the House and shepherd House Bill 6 through the Ohio General Assembly, the federal government alleged.
Householder lost his speakership, but was reelected to the legislature last November, when he ran unopposed. Householder and four political operatives have been charged in federal court with racketeering in this matter. Two have pleaded guilty. Householder and two others have pleaded not guilty.
