“Staff, AES Ohio, and various intervenors have actively been engaged in settlement negotiations over the past several months, and additional time is necessary for the parties to explore whether a settlement can be achieved,” the company said in a recent filing before the PUCO.
The AES Ohio filing also said that only the Kroger Co. has objected to a new date.
“AES Ohio understands that such a continuance may affect the timing of an order in this matter and, therefore, requests that rates be effective no later than Aug. 1, 2023,” the company said.
The PUCO held a public hearing on AES Ohio’s application for a new electric security plan Feb. 2 at Dayton’s city hall.
AES Ohio, the former Dayton Power & Light, applied last September to the PUCO for a new “electric security plan” or “ESP.” An ESP establishes prices for the generation of electricity, and it may cover investments in distribution and grid modernization.
If the PUCO approves it, the plan would impose new costs, at first of less than $1 per month, on a residential customer using 750 kilowatt hours (kWh) a month — before rising to $4 a month in higher rates.
If approved, the plan would last three years, from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2026.
At the Feb. 2 hearing, four residents asked a PUCO member and attorney not to approve the plan or they questioned the need for it. The president of the Dayton Development Coalition supported the utility’s application, saying local businesses and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base need reliable electric service, which AES Ohio says the plan will help protect.
“I’m on a fixed income and I’m having a really difficult time paying my utility bill,” Dayton resident Kathleen Galt testified Feb. 2. She said she had recently visited an office to seek state heating assistance benefits and found the office “packed.”
Tom Raga, AES Ohio vice president, external relations, attended the Feb. 2 hearing. He said the company has programs to help those who are struggling.
Rob Beeler, AES Ohio economic development lead, pointed to the company’s “gift of power” program with the Salvation Army, which allows donations to prevent service disconnections. “We contribute to those who are not able to pay their bill,” he said at the time. “That’s a contribution we make.”
PUCO members will decide whether to approve or modify AES Ohio’s application.
The Office of the Ohio Consumers Counsel has opposed any increase in distribution rates or any increase tied to a new electric security plan.
“Especially given soaring energy prices and inflation, this is not the time for AES’s proposals to increase the electric rates of Dayton-area consumers,” J.P. Blackwood, a spokesman for the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, said in December. “We have presented our evidence to the PUCO for why it should completely deny AES’s proposed rate increase this week. We hope the PUCO will protect consumers.”
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