Stop the Coal Plant Bailouts

The corruption of House Bill 6 has been confirmed with the conviction of Larry Householder and Matt Borges. It is time to stop the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation coal plant subsidies that were unjustly extended by this law.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) initiated the coal plant bailouts with pressure from utilities in 2017, and then proponents of corrupt HB6 (in order to get support from the utilities that own the coal plants) included an extension of the bailouts to include all ratepayers in Ohio. We have already paid hundreds of millions of dollars and are expected to pay up to 850 million by 2030. Our pockets should not be raided so that utility shareholders of OVEC can pay off the debt on their bad investments.

Ohioans are forced to pay these extra charges every month, funding coal plants that have operated at a loss for decades and polluted our environment. While there is currently a credit on ratepayers’ bills due to high gas prices, this is a pittance compared to how much we have already paid and will continue to pay if these bailouts remain in place.

The PUCO is required to conduct audits to determine whether or not the costs ratepayers are charged each month to pay off the coal plant shareholders’ debts are “prudent.” And audits at the Public Utilities Commission reveal that OVEC is running the plants at inefficient times and overcharging all of us. An audit was censored by PUCO staff who asked the auditor to remove language saying the bailouts were not in the interests of ratepayers.

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