Ohio House Energy Committee adopts sub bill to House Bill 15; utilities, advocates give mixed testimony

The Ohio House Energy Committee on the floor adopted a substitute amendment to House Bill 15 and then heard more than two hours of opponent and interested‑party testimony on the revised bill.

The committee approved a motion to amend House Bill 15 with sub bill L13606‑68085; Vice Chair Klopfenstein moved the amendment and, by unanimous consent, “the motion is agreed to and the sub bill is adopted,” the chair said. Witnesses who opposed aspects of the substitute bill included executives from Duke Energy Ohio, AEP Ohio and AES Ohio, while representatives of the Buckeye Institute and several advocacy groups testified in favor of parts of the measure.

Why it matters: Substitute House Bill 15 would change Ohio utility law across multiple areas — rate‑making, certification of transmission projects by the Ohio Power Siting Board, a community energy pilot program, and the treatment of legacy generation resources (LGR) such as OVEC. Utilities told the committee the combined changes could increase regulatory burdens and uncertainty and raise costs for customers, while proponents said the bill ends subsidies that distort markets and would encourage new generation.

Duke Energy Ohio: risk, regulatory lag and LGR. Amy Spiller, president of Duke Energy Ohio, said the substitute bill “in the aggregate … still pose[s] significant challenges to our ability to meet the needs and expectations of our customers and our communities.” She told the committee the bill’s three‑year forward‑looking rate plan…