The Supreme Court of Ohio recently heard arguments regarding the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio’s (PUCO) offset of AES Ohio’s significantly excessive earnings test (SEET) for 2018 and 2019, which otherwise would have produced tens of millions of dollars in refunds to the utility’s customers. A SEET is a process where the PUCO evaluates the earnings of investor-owned electric utilities to determine if their earnings are significantly excessive, and if so, requires them to return the excess to consumers.

The question before the court is whether the PUCO could consider the utility’s future committed investments to offset required consumer refunds. In their questioning, many of the Supreme Court justices appeared to agree that the capital requirements of future committed investments are part of a holistic accounting of SEET but should not be subtracted from apparent refunds. The Court is expected to issue a final decision in four to six months. 4/16/2025