COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio utility companies are at it again — trying to get ratepayers to fund their ventures with little oversight.Summer sun brought in major spikes in utility costs, but so did the state’s approval of distributors' requests to raise charges.
These subsidies come without adequate protections for consumers, the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel warned Statehouse lawmakers repeatedly. Development is important, DeWine argued, but the PUCO and companies shouldn’t get to decide these types of increases. There is another way of doing this, he added. Ohioans are still dealing with the aftermath of the House Bill 6 scandal, where utility companies bribed Statehouse leaders to give them bailouts.