Energy

A new Crain’s Cleveland Business report on rising electric costs in Ohio includes a revealing admission about data center tariffs, an issue the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA) has warned could shift costs onto manufacturers and other customers.

Matt Schilling, director of public affairs for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, said Ohio regulators created a new AEP Ohio data center customer class to put “guardrails” between data centers and other customers. But in describing whether those costs will stay with data centers, Schilling said, “All the associated costs to support those data centers will hopefully only be borne by data-center customers.”

Hopefully?

That is not customer protection. It is wishful thinking dressed up as regulatory policy.

The article notes that Ohio Edison retail prices in northeast Ohio have essentially doubled in the past five years, FirstEnergy’s Ohio utilities are seeking a rate increase that would cost the average household about $180 more per year, and PJM capacity prices for 2026-27 reached $329 per megawatt-day, 10 times the price for 2024-25.

That is the flaw in the entire argument. A state tariff may promise to isolate some data center costs, but it cannot stop unverified utility forecasts from driving regional PJM costs that can still be spread across manufacturers, families and other Ohio customers.

“Ohio customers do not need hope. They need proof,” said Lindsey Short, OMA managing director of energy and advocacy services. “Before monopoly utility forecasts are used to justify billions in grid costs, those forecasts should be independently reviewed and verified. If data centers are willing to pay their own way, utilities should be required to prove the demand is real before everyone else is asked to pay for it.”

OMA continues to support the Electricity Forecast Integrity Act, bipartisan legislation that would require greater transparency, independent review and oversight before utility load forecasts are used to drive planning decisions and costs. 6/15/2026

The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA) this week said federal regulators are now confronting the same large-load cost-shifting risks OMA has warned about in Ohio. FERC’s action requiring regional grid operators, including PJM, to address large-load interconnection, transmission cost transparency and cost shifting reinforces a basic principle. Data centers and other large energy users should pay for the infrastructure needed to serve them, not shift those costs onto manufacturers, families and small businesses.

“Of course utilities do not like reforms that make it harder to pass the bill to existing customers,” said OMA President Ryan Augsburger. “That is exactly why reform is needed. If a data center causes new grid costs, the bill should go to the data center, not to Ohio manufacturers and other customers. Utilities should not get to turn speculative load forecasts into guaranteed revenue and call that customer protection.”

OMA said FERC’s action should be a warning to Ohio policymakers, not an excuse for weaker state-level protections. Last week’s rushed push to pass Substitute House Bill 646 reinforced the need for real safeguards, not utility wish lists repackaged as customer protection.

Real customer protection requires verified demand, cost causation, upfront payment for caused upgrades and nondiscriminatory rules that apply fairly to all customers. Ohio policymakers should not leave manufacturers, families and small businesses on the hook for infrastructure built around forecasts that may never materialize. 6/18/2026

A new guest column in The Columbus Dispatch urged lawmakers to pass the Electricity Forecast Integrity Act, the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA)-backed legislation aimed at bringing greater accountability to electric load forecasting.

The piece noted OMA’s concerns that AEP has exaggerated future electricity demand and highlighted OMA’s leadership in a coalition supporting truth-in-forecasting reforms. The bipartisan legislation would require transparency, independent review and oversight before utility forecasts are used in planning decisions that can affect customer costs.

“Customers should not be asked to pay for demand that exists only on paper,” said Lindsey Short, OMA managing director of energy and advocacy services. “The Electricity Forecast Integrity Act is a commonsense step to require transparency, independent review and accountability before utility forecasts are used to justify major energy planning decisions.”

OMA has repeatedly warned that unverified forecasts can turn speculative demand into real costs for manufacturers and other customers. 6/18/2026

Congressmen Troy Balderson and Bob Latta will headline this year’s Ohio Manufacturers’ Energy Conference, joining manufacturers and energy professionals for a keynote discussion on federal energy policy, grid reliability and the challenges shaping the nation’s energy future.

Those challenges are coming to a head in Ohio, where rising utility costs, volatile load forecasts and reliability concerns are creating real pressures for manufacturers and other large energy users. The customer-focused conference will be held Thursday, Aug. 27, at the Hilton Columbus Downtown, with early bird registration now open.

“This is not another energy conference where people talk around customers,” said Lindsey Short, managing director of advocacy and energy services for the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association. “This is where Ohio’s manufacturers, policymakers and energy experts come together to talk directly about cost, reliability and the decisions that will shape whether this state can compete.”

The event will also feature sessions on energy management strategies, electricity and natural gas market updates, Ohio energy policy and regulatory developments, load forecasting, electric transmission, behind-the-meter solutions, emerging technologies and lessons learned from peer manufacturers.

Attendees are invited to kick off the event at the Welcome Reception on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at Stories on High. Early bird pricing is available now: $125 for OMA members, $250 for non-members and $99 for government attendees. 6/11/2026

The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA) this week urged the Select Committee on Data Centers to protect customers by requiring data centers to pay upfront for the transmission upgrades needed to serve their facilities.

Testifying before the committee, John Seryak, energy engineer for OMA Energy Group, said lawmakers face three central questions. How many data centers will locate in Ohio, how much power will they need and who will pay for the electrical infrastructure.

Today, transmission upgrades driven by utility load forecasts can cost hundreds of millions of dollars per data center and even billions for clusters, with those costs socialized through utility transmission rates and borne by Ohio ratepayers.

Seryak said there is a better option. Data centers should pay for their own transmission system upgrades upfront. He noted that data centers have the financial capacity and incentive to pay their own way, and that manufacturers already pay upfront for certain distribution upgrades through contribution-in-aid-of-construction mechanisms.

“The solution is to treat data centers like other customers of the distribution system,” Seryak told lawmakers. “Have the data centers pay for their extraordinary upgrades, in full, up front.”

OMA also warned that inaccurate utility load forecasts can drive unnecessary transmission and PJM capacity costs, citing the PJM Independent Market Monitor’s finding that forecasts of unbuilt data centers increased capacity costs by more than $21 billion over three years. Seryak urged lawmakers to examine how utility forecasts, behind-the-meter generation, transmission planning and PJM market rules affect costs for Ohio customers.

The testimony reinforced OMA’s core message on data center policy. Customers that create costs should pay those costs, but manufacturers and other Ohio ratepayers should not be asked to underwrite speculative forecasts, utility-driven infrastructure buildouts or extraordinary upgrades that can be directly attributed to large-load customers. 6/11/2026

A bill regulating submetered utility services is headed to Gov. Mike DeWine after lawmakers adopted changes sought by the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA), preserving manufacturers’ ability to use behind-the-meter energy resources.

House Bill 173 was intended to address residential submetering concerns, but OMA warned lawmakers that recently added language could have unintentionally swept in commercial and industrial customers. In testimony before the Senate Public Utilities Committee, John Seryak, energy engineer for OMA Energy Group, said the bill risked prohibiting or restricting manufacturers from constructing and submetering behind-the-meter projects and advanced energy resources on their own properties.

“Ohio manufacturers need more tools to manage rising energy costs, not new regulatory barriers to behind-the-meter generation and advanced energy resources,” Seryak said.

Seryak warned the language could have prevented existing commercial and industrial customers from adding behind-the-meter generation, including fuel cells, small modular reactors, solar facilities and batteries. OMA urged lawmakers to revise the definition of “submetered utility service” to ensure the bill did not undermine competitive markets, on-site generation or energy-efficiency investments.

Following OMA’s testimony, the bill was amended to address those concerns. The Senate passed the revised bill, and the House concurred in the Senate amendments, sending the measure to the governor for his signature.

The fix is an important win for manufacturers working to manage energy costs, improve reliability and invest in advanced energy resources without unnecessary regulatory barriers. 6/11/2026

The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA) this week urged lawmakers to reject House Bill 706, warning the measure would write one of the most dangerous utility ideas in years into state law.

Testifying before the House Energy Committee, OMA Energy Counsel Kim Bojko said the bill would abandon Ohio’s long-standing principles of cost causation and nondiscriminatory treatment by allowing utilities to target customers based on what business they are in, not what costs they actually cause. Today the target is data centers. Tomorrow, the same playbook could be used against any large employer, including manufacturers, when political winds shift.

“Creating discriminatory policies that target one industry simply based on its end use of electricity opens the door for future efforts to penalize other industry sectors or types of customers, including manufacturing,” Bojko told lawmakers.

OMA also warned it would be premature to codify the tariff structure behind House Bill 706 while the same framework remains under appeal by the OMA Energy Group before the Supreme Court of Ohio.

The bill is built on the same AEP Ohio tariff framework that has allowed utilities to inflate projected data center demand by roughly 40% per data center, feeding overstated forecasts into PJM planning and capacity markets. Those inflated projections can drive costly infrastructure decisions, while customers are left holding the bill when the forecast hype falls apart.

“House Bill 706 does not protect customers from risk. It protects utilities from accountability,” said Lindsey Short, OMA managing director of energy and advocacy services. “Utilities helped create this problem, exaggerated the forecast and now want lawmakers to bless the playbook. Ohio should not reward inflated projections and discriminatory tariffs by writing them into law.”

OMA urged lawmakers instead to adopt the updated LSC-drafted amendment attached to its testimony that would prevent utilities from denying new service without PUCO approval and require regulators to reject new rate classifications based on a customer’s industry or end use of electricity. The approach would preserve fair, predictable rules that require utilities to prove actual costs before customers are forced to pay. 6/3/2026

A new grid capacity map is giving customers a first look at local distribution capacity in AEP Ohio territory, but the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA) says the development should be viewed as a starting point, not the finish line. The hosting capacity map shows where parts of the distribution system may be able to accommodate new electric load or distributed generation without requiring upgrades. The tool follows language included in House Bill 15, which the OMA supported to require better grid transparency and give customers more information about where electric infrastructure is ready for growth.

Distribution maps are useful, but they are only part of the picture. For major expansions, large-load projects and long-term economic development, transmission capacity is often the bigger question. OMA says the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio should build on this requirement and move quickly to ensure similar transparency for the transmission system.

“This is a useful first step, but it should not be mistaken for the finish line,” said Lindsey Short, managing director of energy and advocacy services for OMA. “The lesson here is not that utilities deserve applause. It is that customers get better information when the law requires it. Ohio needs transparency across the grid, especially on transmission capacity, which is often the bigger question for major manufacturing investments and long-term growth.” 6/1/2026

Manufacturers from around the state gathered this week at Cenovus’s Lima Refinery for the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA) Energy Committee meeting, where the discussion centered on a simple warning: Ohio’s energy future cannot be built on speculative forecasts and customer-funded utility bets.

With electric bills climbing, utilities are using data centers and projected load growth to justify new tariffs, new spending and a return to old monopoly playbooks. OMA warned that inflated projections can drive unnecessary infrastructure, higher PJM capacity costs and discriminatory rate structures that leave manufacturers paying for utility bets that may never materialize.

“Ohio manufacturers are not anti-growth. We are anti-blank check,” said Lindsey Short, OMA managing director of energy and advocacy services. “Utilities should not be allowed to turn speculative data center projections into customer-funded infrastructure and special tariffs. If the forecast is real, prove it. If the load is real, show it. Ohio customers deserve evidence, discipline and protection from monopoly risk-shifting.”

OMA thanks Cenovus for hosting this important discussion at one of Ohio’s most significant industrial energy sites. 5/27/2026

AEP’s latest headquarters drama should sound familiar to anyone watching Ohio energy policy. The utility is filing plans to renovate its downtown Columbus tower while insisting no final decision has been made on its Ohio headquarters. That may be corporate real estate strategy, but it also looks like leverage from a monopoly utility that knows how to create urgency when it wants something.

The same pattern is playing out in energy policy, where AEP points to projected growth, data center demand and grid needs while asking customers and policymakers to accept more utility-controlled risk.

“AEP is very good at asking Ohio to take its threats seriously,” said Ryan Augsburger, president of the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association. “But whether it is headquarters speculation or speculative load forecasts, policymakers should call the bluff. Ohio customers should not be pressured into blank checks because a monopoly utility says the future might require them.” 5/27/2026

Americans are saying the quiet part out loud. They do not trust the utility playbook. A new national poll shows customers want tougher oversight as utilities seek billions in new rate increases and prepare customers for even more spending tied to data centers, transmission and grid buildout.

Ohio policymakers should take the warning seriously. At a time when electric bills are already rising, monopoly utilities should not be allowed to turn speculative forecasts into automatic customer costs. Every forecast, rate request and infrastructure plan should face real scrutiny before captive ratepayers are forced to pay. Growth matters, but so does discipline. If utilities want customers to fund new spending, they should have to prove the need, show the benefits and accept accountability when projections do not materialize.

“Customers do not need more utility sales pitches dressed up as planning,” said Lindsey Short, managing director of energy and advocacy services for the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association. “They need regulators and policymakers willing to ask hard questions before another dollar is added to their bills.” 5/26/2026

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) staff is recommending that AES Ohio receive a new data center tariff before the data center “hypergrowth” problem has even shown up in the utility’s territory.

The recommendation, part of AES Ohio’s pending rate case, would create separate rate classes for data centers even as staff acknowledged AES has not experienced the same level of data center activity as AEP Ohio. Rather than wait for the issue to emerge, staff said the utility should “get ahead” of the potential problem.

That logic should alarm every electric customer in Ohio.

“This is ratemaking by speculation,” said Lindsey Short, managing director of energy and advocacy services for the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association. “PUCO staff is not responding to an actual crisis in AES territory. It is recommending special rate treatment because a crisis might appear someday. Ohio customers deserve evidence, discipline and protection from utility risk-shifting, not new tariffs built on hypotheticals.”

The AES recommendation follows the PUCO’s approval of AEP Ohio’s data center tariff and a separate directive for FirstEnergy utilities to develop data center rate structures.

“One exception becomes a precedent. One precedent becomes a playbook,” Short said. “Ohio can plan for growth without letting monopoly utilities turn hypotheticals into rate design.” 5/22/2026

Ohio spent six years cleaning up the damage from House Bill 6. Lawmakers should not need another scandal to remember the lesson.

House Bill 862 would put monopoly utilities back in the power plant business and revive a customer-backed risk model Ohio should have left behind. Manufacturers need reliable, affordable power, but Ohio does not need to abandon competition or put electric customers on the hook for utility-owned generation to get it.

The political signals are cautious at best. Rep. Bob Peterson, a co-sponsor, told Cleveland.com, “If the bill doesn’t go anywhere, we should at least have the discussion,” while House Speaker Matt Huffman has said he is “not in favor of going back to a time ratepayers pay the costs of any company.”

“Ohio manufacturers support reliable, affordable power, but HB 862 is the wrong model,” said Lindsey Short, OMA managing director of energy and advocacy services. “This bill would reopen the door to monopoly utility-owned generation and ask customers to carry risks that should belong to investors. Ohio can pursue new generation without repeating the mistakes of HB 6.”

OMA continues to urge lawmakers to protect competition, transparency and customers by keeping monopoly utilities out of the power plant business. 5/18/2026

Ohio regulators have ordered FirstEnergy to create new pricing rules for data center customers, expanding the tariff debate beyond AEP Ohio and raising fresh concerns for manufacturers.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio gave FirstEnergy’s three Ohio utilities 30 days to propose how much more large data centers should pay for transmission costs tied to their growth. The move comes as some lawmakers, including Reps. Dave Thomas and Tristan Rader, are pushing to write separate data center pricing into state law.

The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA), which has already challenged AEP Ohio’s data center tariff, warned that calling discriminatory rate treatment a “distinct rate structure” does not change what it is.

“Calling it a ‘distinct rate structure’ does not change what it is,” said OMA President Ryan Augsburger. “It’s a special rate treatment for one category of customer. OMA does not support discriminatory data center tariffs, and Ohio should be very careful about letting monopoly utilities carve up the electric system customer by customer.”

OMA has been clear that real customers should pay real costs. But Ohio should not let monopoly utilities turn speculative growth forecasts into a new tariff playbook that singles out customers, shifts risk and leaves manufacturers exposed. 5/18/2026

Ohio lawmakers this week advanced a major pro-competition energy measure supported by the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA), with the House voting 96-1 to pass Senate Bill 106. The bill would keep electric vehicle charging in Ohio’s competitive retail electric market and prevent monopoly electric utilities from owning and operating charging stations at ratepayer expense.

The bill now returns to the Senate for concurrence on House amendments. OMA has backed the bill as a way to promote private investment, innovation and fair competition as manufacturers continue investing in fleet electrification, charging technologies and the supply chains that support them.

“Ohio’s EV charging market should be built by competition, not monopoly utility ownership,” said Lindsey Short, OMA managing director of energy and advocacy services. “Senate Bill 106 protects customers from unnecessary costs while giving private investors the certainty they need to keep building Ohio’s charging infrastructure.” 5/21/2026

The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association is warning lawmakers that House Bill 862 would let monopoly utilities use nuclear energy as a vehicle to get back into the generation business, protect their returns and put the financial risk on customers’ electric bills.

The AEP-supported proposal would create a “nuclear project financing order,” allowing electric distribution utilities to construct, own and operate nuclear generation. That would mark a major break from Ohio’s competitive electric market and reopen the door to the same customer-funded utility model Ohioans fought during the House Bill 6 era.

“Ohio should pursue nuclear energy, but not by handing monopoly utilities a new path back into generation ownership,” said Ryan Augsburger, OMA president. “This bill is not a nuclear development strategy. It is a utility ownership strategy.”

OMA said nuclear may have a role in Ohio’s energy future, but investment risk should belong with developers and investors, not captive customers. Nuclear should compete on its merits, not ride into law on a monopoly utility financing scheme backed by electric bills. 5/13/2026

PJM last week opened its interconnection queue for new power plant applications for the first time since 2022. PJM has been working through a significant backlog of interconnection requests for the past four years, not allowing any new applications to be submitted while capacity prices have soared and new generation is needed to bring prices back down. PJM hopes that their interconnection queue reform will make projects able to pass through the queue faster than previously. PJM is now estimating it needs a one- to two-year study time for new projects.

The new submissions are made up of natural gas, storage, nuclear, solar, wind, hydro and “other.” The other category consists of biomass, coal, methane, and fusion – which has never been scaled-up to commercial capacities. The new applications add up to approximately 220 GW of nameplate capacity, far more than PJM’s entire current peak load of about 160 MW.

The graphic above offers a breakdown of the technology resources newly submitted to PJM’s interconnection queue. While these projects may move through PJM’s study process in one to two years, approval does not guarantee construction. Projects can still take years to come online, and some may never be built.

The recent history is a reminder of that gap. Since 2020, PJM has processed more than 300 GW of proposed projects, but only 103 GW finalized signed interconnection agreements. Even after PJM approval, projects must still clear permitting, financing, supply chain hurdles and state siting requirements before reaching commercial operation.

PJM now has power plant proposals totaling multiple times its own peak load, but the real test is whether queue reform can turn project interest into actual generation quickly enough to ease historically high capacity prices. 5/4/2026

ISO New England has again lowered its 10-year electricity demand forecast, offering another reminder that long-term load projections can change quickly. ISO New England is the regional grid operator serving six New England states, similar to PJM’s role in Ohio and much of the Mid-Atlantic. The grid operator now expects annual electricity consumption to grow about 9% by 2035, down from prior forecasts of 11% growth by 2034 and 17% growth by 2033. The change reflects more conservative assumptions around electric vehicle and heat pump adoption.

That matters far beyond New England. In Ohio and across the country, utilities and grid planners are using forecasts tied to electrification, data centers and economic development to justify major infrastructure spending that could affect customer bills for years.

“Forecasts should guide planning, not become a blank check for customer-funded utility investment,” said Lindsey Short, managing director of energy and advocacy services for the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association. “Before manufacturers and other customers are asked to pay for projects tied to uncertain future load, regulators should demand transparency, independent review and accountability.” 5/5/2026

AEP Ohio is proposing a 50-mile, 765-kilovolt transmission line across Pike, Jackson and Gallia counties to serve a planned data center campus in Piketon. The utility says the project will be paid for by the data center customer and is not expected to affect other Ohio customers’ rates.

That claim deserves close scrutiny. With utilities planning an estimated $1.4 trillion in grid investments nationwide by 2030, every large transmission project should face tough review over who pays, who benefits and whether costs could be shifted onto other customers later.

“The question is simple: will the customer creating the need pay the full cost, or will those costs eventually find their way onto everyone else’s bills?” said Lindsey Short, managing director of energy and advocacy services for the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association. “Manufacturers and families deserve clear answers before more infrastructure costs are locked in.” 4/28/2026

At a time when Ohio customers are facing higher energy costs, a new report says AEP CEO Bill Fehrman received $36.6 million in total compensation in 2025, making him the nation’s highest-paid utility executive. According to Columbus Navigator, the average Ohio worker would need about 550 years to earn what Fehrman made in a single year, based on federal wage data.

The issue is bigger than one paycheck. It is whether Ohio’s regulated utility system rewards value to customers or rewards utility growth, capital spending and shareholder returns while ratepayers absorb more risk.

“Ohio customers are being asked to pay more while utility executives are being rewarded like the system is working perfectly,” said Lindsey Short, managing director of energy and advocacy services for the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association. “That disconnect is exactly why Ohio needs stronger accountability, tougher scrutiny of utility spending and an energy system that puts customers ahead of shareholder returns.” 4/28/2026