Analysis by Sierra Club of Ohio State House Bill 6 Substitute [bails out nuclear and coal, guts renewables and efficiency]
Hello all, In terms of timing, Chairman Wilson stated in committee it is his intention to bring HB6 up for a vote on Wednesday. Subsequently, his office sent out a committee announcement for Wednesday noting additional amendments for HB6 but no public testimony or vote. It’s not clear what that difference in statement vs announcement means. From my reading, this is the Senate trying to get closer to a place where the House will just concur with the Senate’s changes instead of going to conference committee. It also seems likely Gov. DeWine will sign whatever the legislature sends him provided it includes support for the nuke plants. Our time on this right now seems very short. As you will see below, there are a number of points of major concern to make calls about. Please read through the info below and let me know what questions you have. Changes to HB6 subtracts industrial load from the baseline (about ⅓ of Ohio’s total load is industrial) Requires no maintenance level “tail” or “every year thereafter” language after 2026 - means come 2027, there would be NO renewable requirement for Ohio Also eliminates the .5% solar carve-out—taking the solar requirement to zero in 2020. This could have a major impact on small solar developers in Ohio EERS: Basically killed By February 1, 2021, PUCO must determine all cumulative energy savings collectively achieved since 2009 by all utilities as of December 31, 2020. If savings is at last 17.5% of the baseline, full compliance with EE benchmarks “shall be deemed to have been achieved.” Need to confirm but likely all utilities have hit 17.5% already so this effectively ends the efficiency standard OVEC: Bailed out to 2030 Grants cost recovery for OVEC through nonbypassable rider on ALL regulated customer bills through 2030 This would replace the current PUCO approved PPAs for AEP, Duke, DP&L Would include FirstEnergy regulated customers even though they are not part of the OVEC contract - FirstEnergy Solutions is the contract holder. Very unclear how this would work: “The commission shall determine the manner in which charges collected under this section by a utility with no ownership interest in a legacy generation resource shall be remitted to the utilities with such ownership interests” PUCO conducts “prudence and reasonableness” review every three years. Customer cap of $1.50 for residential customers, $1,500 for industrial customers, and gives PUCO authority to determine customer caps for other classes Any costs in excess of the caps would be banked to be collected later Nuke plants: Bailed out till 2026 Allocates $150 million from the “Energy Generation Fund” to nuclear annually through 2026. $0.85 / month residential $2,400 / month for industrial customers exceeding 45 million KWh at single location. For nonresidential customers that do not exceed 45 million KWh, “the level and design of the charge or charges shall be established in a manner that avoids abrupt or excessive total net electric bill impacts for typical customers.” Audit of FES bailout will not start till 2022 Solar support: New $20 million fund Allocates $20mm from the Energy Generation Fund to utility scale solar sited before June 1, 2019 (this is most of the currently planned solar in SW Ohio). Other renewable energy resources ineligible for funding.
Below is an update on the changes that were made to HB6 during the Senate EPU hearing today. Overall, the bill is considerably worse. Of particular concern are the changes to OVEC.
RPS: Maintains a (reduced) RPS from 12.5% to 8.5% of smaller load by 2026
Ohio Campaign Representative
Columbus, Oh 43215
Office: 614-484-7033
Cell: 330-730-5109
July 15, 2019