ASHLAND — Energy consumers in Ohio are in for a wild ride as prices continue to rise because of potent demands straining the grid.
The Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce organized a forum Monday to give context to the rising tide, offer pointers on how to save money on bills, and to provide information on legislative action that attempts to stave the impact.
Chad Mitchell, a consultant at Alternative Energy Source, talked about the reasons electricity and natural gas bills will be higher in the coming months.
“The cost of energy is actually pretty flat,” Mitchell said. “Your natural gas and electricity isn’t what’s causing your rates to go up — it’s these other factors.”
The “other factors” include the opening of energy-zapping data centers, growth in popularity and use of AI, industry pivots to electric vehicle manufacturing and the rapid shuttering of coal-powered plants.
Electricity suppliers have responded by implementing rate increases.
Columbia Gas of Ohio implemented a tariff effective April 30, which Mitchell estimated could cost up to $1.50 more per thousand cubic feet.
“Everyone’s going to be impacted by this. There’s no way around it,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell highlighted three practices that businesses can utilize to save money on energy bills.
A portion of bills are determined by a consumer’s peak load contribution, which essentially represents the capacity needed. The higher this is, the more that is paid per kilowatt hour, Mitchell said.
To manage that, he encouraged business owners — which typically use more energy than a residential consumer — to practice “peak load management.” Essentially, the practice involves shutting off power or cooling down generators during peak hours.
Load shedding involves using a smart meter to learn how to “shed” electricity use.
Demand response, Mitchell said, is geared toward larger consumers. He said PJM, the 13-state electric grid that Ohio is plugged into, will compensate consumers for various energy saving measures.
Legislation
State Rep. Melanie Miller (R-Ashland) highlighted House Bill 15, a broad-based energy bill that attempts to encourage new power generation without raising Ohioans’ energy costs.
The 193-page bill, passed by the House and Senate on April 30, repeals fees paid through consumer bills to the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation. The fees were part of the pay-to-play House Bill 6 passed in January 2019.
Fees to OVEC have amounted to more than $467 million since 2020.
House Bill 15 also sheds certain solar and coal subsidies, does away with Electric Security Plans and reduces taxes on business property known as tangible personal property.
Miller said the law would require utilities to create “priority investment areas” or PIAs with the intention of speeding up projects. If approved, the project’s tangible personal property taxes would be abated for five years.
The bill also requires utilities to:
- refund customers if the Ohio Supreme Court finds their fees unlawful, imprudent or improper.
- publish heat maps of their capacity on their websites.
- submit rate cases every three years. Rate cases are full reviews of what utilities plan to charge customers.
Miller said she doesn’t expect DeWine to veto the bill, but added she’s confident there are enough votes in the House and Senate to override the governor’s veto.