Senate Committee Substitute For Ohio HB 6 (Nuclear Bill) Revises Utilities' Ability To Enter Renewable Energy Agreements With Customers

Retains RPS Requirement, At Lower Amount

June 27, 2019

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Copyright 2010-19 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

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An Ohio Senate committee substitute for HB 6, the nuclear subsidy bill, would revise proposals in the bill, as passed by the House, concerning the ability of electric distribution companies to enter into renewable energy agreements with customers

As previously reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com, the House-passed version of the bill included a provision allowing an EDC to provide a customer with the opportunity to purchase renewable energy services by doing either of the following:

(A) offering a schedule under which customers could purchase RECs, or

(B) offering a schedule or reasonable arrangement involving the production and supply of renewable energy, including long-term renewable energy purchase agreements through which an electric distribution utility may construct, lease, finance, or operate renewable energy resources dedicated to that customer or customers.

In contrast, the Senate committee substitute would permit a utility to offer a renewable energy agreement to mercantile customers only, and only for the construction of a renewable facility to serve a "material" portion of the customer's load (agreements not for the purpose of construction of a customer-site resource are not authorized)

Specifically, the Senate committee substitute would provide that an electric distribution utility may, on a nondiscriminatory basis and subject to approval by the public utilities commission, enter into an agreement having a term of three years or more with a mercantile customer for the purpose of constructing a customer-sited renewable energy resource that will provide the mercantile customer with a "material portion" of the customer's electricity requirements.

The Senate committee substitute would provide that, "Any direct or indirect costs, including costs for infrastructure development or generation, associated with the in-state customer-sited renewable energy resource shall be paid for solely by the utility and the mercantile customer. At no point shall the commission [PUCO] authorize the utility to collect, nor shall the utility ever collect, any of those costs from any customer other than the mercantile customer."

The Senate committee substitute retains an RPS requirement for LSEs, though at a lower amount than current statute.

As the RPS is retained, the problematic provision in the House-passed bill which allowed EDCs to continue to recover legacy RPS costs via nonbypassable charge has been removed

The revised RPS amounts under the Senate committee substitute for 2020 are 6% overall (0.24% solar), versus the current statute's 6.5% (0.26% solar) for 2020

The Senate committee substitute reduces the amount of the current yearly RPS increases such that, for 2025, the total RPS amount would be 8.5% (0.34% solar), versus the current statute's 11.5% (0.46$ solar) for 2025. The Senate committee substitute would not increase the RPS amounts beyond 2025 (current statute requires 12.5% by 2026)

See the specific RPS changes year-by-year in the Senate committee substitute here

The Senate committee substitute also generally retains the recovery of OVEC costs on a nonbypassable basis

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