Senate Committee Takes First Step to Repeal HB 6’s Decoupling Mechanism

This week, the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee voted 11-0 to approve OMA-supported Senate Bill 10, which would repeal an anti-consumer, anti-market provision of House Bill 6.

If enacted, SB 10 would rescind HB 6’s decoupling provision, which FirstEnergy’s former CEO in 2019 said would make the company “somewhat recession proof” by guaranteeing the company’s revenue at 2018’s record-setting levels ($978 million a year).

The bill would also repeal the “significantly excessive earnings” provision authorized in the last state budget (HB 166) to allow FirstEnergy to avoid consumer-protecting profitability limits and related customer refunds.

The sponsor of SB 10, Sen. Mark Romanchuk (R-Mansfield) — who is a manufacturer — told Hannah News Service that other provisions of HB 6, including its nuclear and coal price supports, are still on the table and could appear in separate repeal legislation. 2/10/2021