Take Four: Ohio Now Delays Required Date for Divestiture of DP&L Generation

In a second entry on rehearing, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has again changed the timeline for the required divestiture of DP&L's assets, reversing its finding in an earlier rehearing order that had accelerated the timeline for divestiture.

After an initial order was issued by PUCO but which was said to contain errors and immediately withdrawn, PUCO's first bona fide order (via nunc pro tunc) in September 2013 required divestiture by May 31, 2017.

A March 2014 rehearing order accelerated that date, requiring divestiture to be completed by January 1, 2016, rather than May 31, 2017. That same March 2014 also adjusted the auction-sourced default service blending schedule accordingly.

In yet another order on rehearing issued yesterday, PUCO established January 1, 2017, as the deadline for DP&L to divest its generation assets. PUCO set this date by noting certain financial challenges and bond requirements which prevent divestiture before this date to the extent DP&L is unable to sell the assets to a third-party, and instead must accomplish divestiture by transferring the generation to a competitive affiliate

While PUCO has changed the deadline for divestiture, it did not change the competitive bidding schedule to increasingly source a portion of DP&L's default service from competitive auctions.

Under the auction blending schedule previously adopted by PUCO, for which rehearing was denied, 10% of DP&L SSO supply will be auction-sourced for the period January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014; 60% will be auction-sourced for January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015; and 100% will be auction-sourced for January 1, 2016 through May 31, 2017.