Dive Brief:
- American Electric Power has asked Ohio regulators to speed up a decision on power purchase agreements to guarantee income at a plant owned by Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC), a company with large utility shareholders, including AEP.
- The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) ruled in February on a separate AEP guaranteed income proposal that the power purchase agreements (PPA) were legal, but not in the best interest of consumers at the time, owing to the uncertainty in coming carbon regulations. AEP hopes they will see things differently with the Ohio Valley Plant.
- FirstEnergy and Duke also have guaranteed income proposals for coal and nuclear plants pending before the Ohio regulators. Consumer advocates have asked PUCO to reconsider, saying the fees are unlawful and unnecessary.
Dive Insight:
It seems no one is happy with PUCO's decision on proposed power agreements to guarantee profit at older, less efficient coal facilities. While regulators determined they fees were legal, they chose not to impose them because of uncertainty regarding carbon emissions standards on the horizon.
But now AEP says the commission will need to hurry on a separate PPA decision or risk costing ratepayers money. Other advocates are petitioning for rehearing, saying the fees are not legal to begin with.
Columbus Business First reports the company has petitioned for a decision to be made sooner rather than later. "AEP Ohio is offering OVEC as a hedge now but there is no guarantee that it will be available in the future," the company said.
"The order is unlawful and unreasonable because the commission still approved the 'PPA rider' proposed by AEP as a vehicle for the company to burden its customers with similarly flawed PPAs in the future," according to a joint filing made by the Environmental Law & Policy Center, Ohio Environmental Council, and Environmental Defense Fund.