DP&L Lobbying to Protect Utilities from Business Risk

Executives from Dayton Power & Light (DP&L) are lobbying state lawmakers for a legislative proposal that will be harmful for customers.  The utility wants the General Assembly to adopt legislation during the brief post-election lame duck session that would modify PUCO rate-making laws and provide more authority to the regulator.  In the package is authority to add new riders on customers’ electric bills if a utility’s fiscal integrity is threatened.

The legislative proposal would also allow utilities to charge customers “transition charges” outside the scope of law today, effectively reversing recent Supreme Court decisions that were favorable to customers.  Read more from OMA Energy Counsel, Carpenter Lipps & Leland.

It’s a stunning request of the General Assembly by a utility company.  The DP&L legislative proposal is similar to the PUCO proposal of FirstEnergy which asks for up to $8.9 billion in customer-paid subsidies due to its threatened fiscal integrity.  Both the FirstEnergy rate case and the DP&L legislative proposal seek to shift ordinary business risk from shareholders to ratepayers.

The OMA Energy Committee will cover this and many manufacturers’ energy issues at its meeting on November 17.  Members can register here.  9/29/2016