Duke officials had initially requested PUCO approval to charge customers $30.7 million for costs of storm cleanup and restoring electric service, but the PUCO ruled that Duke failed to justify the larger amount. The court upheld the PUCO’s conclusion.
The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, a state agency which represents residential customers of Ohio utilities, argued that Duke was entitled to recover $5.1 million.
Since the PUCO approved recovery of the $14.1 million, Duke has been billing customers for it on a three-year basis that began in April 2011 and will expire March 31, 2014, company spokeswoman Sally Thelen said. The average impact to Duke’s residential consumers is 35 cents per month, Thelen said.
The impact is spread across Duke’s 685,000 industrial, commercial and residential customers in Ohio.
The storm’s 70 mph winds damaged 90 percent of Duke’s electricity distribution infrastructure, making it the most damaging storm in decades, Thelen said.
The Ohio service territory of Duke, a multi-state energy company, stretches from the southern edge of Montgomery County south to the Ohio River.
Dayton Power and Light Co. did not request PUCO approval to recover its costs of the Hurricane Ike cleanup, and has not billed customers for those expenses, DP&L spokeswoman Emily Gray said in an email response to the Dayton Daily News.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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