Accusing the state’s utilities of unlawfully billing customers,the Industrial Energy Users-Ohio and the Ohio ManufacturersAssociation went to court this week to prevent the Public UtilitiesCommission of Ohio from imposing extra charges for a low-incomecustomer assistance program.

The industrials asked the Ohio Supreme Court to issue a Writ ofProhibition against the charges for the program operated by theOhio Department of Development.

“We hoped we would not have to resort to this action,” saidPeggy Claytor, chair of IEU-OH, a trade association of commercialand industrial energy users. “During the legislative processassociated with Amended Substitute Senate Bill 3, we supportedproactively the charges in the low-income assistance programsbecause they offered an opportunity to provide greater value to thebeneficiaries of the programs, and at the same time, reduce thecost imposed on all electric customers.”

Claytor said her group had “worked hard” with customerrepresentatives to give all customers access to retail competition,but said that ODOD and PUCO had not followed the law, and hadimposed higher charges on customers. The Ohio ManufacturersAssociation, which represents about 2,600 manufacturing interests,joined the lawsuit at the urging of its members.

Sam Randazzo, counsel to IEU-OH, said that PUCO was required tocomplete an audit by July 1 to establish baseline charges, but hesaid no audit had even begun. “ODOD’s new charges are supposed tobe tied to the existing charges customers are paying to supportthese programs. Based on the information filed with the PUCO byODOD, ODOD ignored the existing charges.in constructing itsproposed rates.”

Randazzo said that ODOD’s charges shifted funding responsibilitybetween customer classes. “The warranted expectation of customersthat these programs would be continued to meet an important need ata cost that does not exceed the existing cost has been ignored andwe believe this ignorance violates the law.”

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