How to submit comments to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio
Write to:
PUCO, 180 East Broad St., Columbus, Ohio 43215.
Or go online at: www.puco.ohio.gov/puco/index.cfm/contact-us/contact-us-form/?intype=comment
Dayton Power & Light Co. is seeking higher rates to distribute electricity in its service area and new additions to customers’ bills.
According to a request for a rate hike filed last week with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, the “typical” monthly bill for residential customers will rise $4.07 for 1,000 kilowatt-hours of usage. One kilowatt-hour — using 1,000 watts of electricity for an hour — is about enough to run a medium-size window air-conditioning unit for an hour or a light-bulb for about 730 hours.
DP&L also wants to set up a trio of new riders — or new costs added to customers’ bills, according to its PUCO filings. The company seeks riders for collecting “uncollectable costs,” complying with unforeseen regulations and recovering costs following storm damage.
The company wants to raise rates for the electricity distribution side of its business — covering wires, transformers, utility poles and other equipment. And it wants the new rates in place by the first billing cycle of January 2017.
“DP&L’s base distribution rates have remained constant for nearly a quarter century. Like any other business, costs to provide safe and reliable service have increased over the past 25 years. During this same time period, DP&L has taken an active role to help maintain rates through a practice of aggressive cost controls and continued efficient operations,” DP&L spokeswoman Mary Ann Kabel said.
Tom Raga, DP&L president and chief executive, sent a letter to local leaders in October alerting them to the utility’s desire to raise rates.
The utility says its proposed rates are the minimum needed “to generate sufficient revenues for DP&L to pay its distribution-related operating expenses, service its debt, and ensure an adequate rate of return on its property used and useful in rendering safe and reliable electric distribution service to its customers.”
DP&L is asking for what it calls “a reasonable overall return of 7.86 percent, which includes a 10.5 percent return on equity.”
Raga’s letter says the company has made investments and shouldered rising costs since its last rate increase in March 1991.
“DP&L’s base distribution rates have remained constant for nearly a quarter century,” Raga wrote. “During this time period, DP&L has still completed substantial investments in our distribution infrastructure.”
“Despite ongoing aggressive cost control efforts, the costs associated with bringing high-quality service to our customers — including costs to maintain poles, wires, transformers, and other distribution infrastructure — have changed significantly,” he wrote. “Like any other business, expenses for labor, materials, and other services have increased over the past 25 years since DP&L last adjusted its base rates.”
Raga was not made available for an interview with the Dayton Daily News.
Matt Schilling, a PUCO spokesman, said public hearings will be scheduled across the DP&L service area for customers to weigh in on the proposed rates.
DP&L serves 515,000 customers across 24 counties and 6,000 square miles of Western Ohio.
Schilling could not immediately recall the five-member commission ever directly rejecting a utility request for a rates hike in his eight years working for the commission.
“I’m not immediately aware of (the commission) just outright rejecting it,” he said. “There is certainly opportunity for changes to be made to it as the case goes on.”
The commission’s goal is to set rates that will let the utility recover its expenses and “earn a reasonable rate of return,” he said.
All consumers want the lowest possible rates, of course, but PUCO wants to balance that desire with the utility’s own business needs, he said.
“The commission is charged with balancing all these various issues,” Schilling said.
Kathy Keller, a spokeswoman for AARP Ohio, said her organization will look at the proposed hike, but she said AARP has no position on it now. She acknowledged that the hike may be hard on some retirees on fixed incomes, but she added that does not mean AARP will oppose DP&L’s request.
“When you talk about retirees, yes, you’re talking about people who are depending on their Social Security checks to see them through,” Keller said.
Dan Doron, a spokesman for the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, said last week his office will participate in the case.
While prices for the distribution side of DP&L’s business are set by PUCO, the rates residents pay for generation are supposed to be competitive, Doron said in an email.
“The local distribution business remains a monopoly, where consumers have only one choice for service — DP&L,” Doron wrote.
He said DP&L “resisted” market pricing for power generation after the 1999 passage of a state law deregulating the generation side of electricity delivery. Because of that law, customers have a choice as to which company provides their electricity.
Still, Ohioans pay more, Doron said.
“Ohioans are paying more, on average, for electricity than consumers in 32 other states,” Doron said.
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