FirstEnergy mum on fate of two old Ohio power plants in regional auction

As reported by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, today's PJM capacity market auction for the 2019-2020 timeframe appears to have not gone well for FirstEnergy, vis-a-vis its problem-plagued, non-competitive Davis-Besse atomic reactor on the Lake Erie shoreline east of Toledo.

The article quotes two of the many parties opposed to FirstEnergy's request for a multi-billion dollar bailout, at ratepayer expense, to prop up Davis-Besse:

"Today's favorable electricity auction shows that competitive markets can provide better prices for consumers than government bailouts and subsidies for utilities," said Ohio Consumers' Counsel Bruce Weston on Tuesday evening. "Ohioans' electric bills should follow the low prices in the market."

Weston's analysts and outside experts have testified that the deal approved by the PUCO would add about $100 a year for the next eight years to every residential customer's electric bills.

The Ohio Manufacturers' Association, representing both small companies and larger industries, has also opposed the FirstEnergy plan.

"The [auction] result shows the forces of supply and demand are working, attracting new generation resources, resulting in lower clearing prices," said spokesman Ryan Augsburger. "The bottom line, the market is producing savings and reliability for customers large and small."

Exelon attempted ratepayer robbery news articles from Midwest Energy News

NUCLEAR:
• Exelon was on a "full court press" last week lobbying lawmakers in Washington D.C. and Illinois in an effort to save struggling nuclear plants. (EnergyWire)
• Company officials are optimistic its bill will pass in Illinois. (Quad-City Times)
• Advocates say Ameren Illinois customers farther downstate would have to help cover some of Exelon's costs without seeing any benefits. (Southern Illinoisan)

With time running out, profitable Exelon's $300 million nuclear bailout bill is a "ball of confusion"

Thanks to Scott Stapf, for his Tweet (see title, above) pointing out this column by Tom Kacich in The News-Gazette.

Op-ed: $300 million nuclear bailout in Illinois for profitable Exelon won't "guarantee jobs or help workers adapt"

Thanks to Scott Stapf for the Tweet (see title line above), pointing to an excellent op-ed by Abe Scarr, director of Illinois PIRG, published in the Chicago Sun Times.

Fight against Exelon takeover of Pepco continues in D.C.; PowerDC urges ratepayers to tell the PSC to reconsider

Action alert from PowerDC:

District residents who don’t want their electric bills to skyrocket received good news recently. The D.C. Government and the Office of the People’s Counsel (OPC) both asked the Public Service Commission to reconsider its incorrect approval of Exelon’s takeover of Pepco.

Click here to urge the PSC to fix its wrong decision.
 
In filings, the D.C. Government and OPC argue that the PSC erred by granting approval to a proposal that only Exelon and Pepco supported. Prior rulings from the PSC were clear that any proposal submitted to the PSC must be approved by all of the setting parties.
 
OPC took Commissioners to task in its filing:

In light of the errors in Order 18148 (the decision to approve the take over), there can be no certainty that the public's confidence in the Commission can ever be restored. However, the process of restoring public confidence cannot even begin if Order 18148 is left standing.

We sent hundreds of letters to Attorney General Racine and to OPC urging them to keep fighting for us and fight against the PSC's wrong decision. It worked.

Keep the pressure on by telling the PSC to reverse its decision.

Thank you,
The PowerDC Coalition

[On Earth Day, April 22nd, Public Citizen and DC Sun -- members groups of PowerDC -- launched an appeal of the D.C. PSC's split decision approval of Exelon's takeover of Pepco.]