PUCO tells committee it seeks budget for IT upgrades and proposes broader net metering for businesses

Acting Chair Rob Blaisdale called House Bill 96 for budget testimony and invited Jennifer French, chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, to present the PUCO budget and related policy changes.

Jennifer French, chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, told the House Natural Resources Committee the PUCO budget seeks funding for continued information-technology modernization and upgrades to the agency’s electronic docketing system. "This PUCO budget proposes to invest in continued IT modernization, including upgrades to our electronic docketing information system," French said.

French also described a policy proposal the commission is asking the General Assembly to consider that would change Ohio’s net metering statute. "The requested change includes language to expand Ohio's net metering statute to allow businesses that want to develop their own electric generating resources for their use, but whose physical locations are constrained, by allowing those businesses to build generating facilities anywhere within their electric utility service territory," French said. She added the proposal would expand eligible generating facilities beyond renewable-only resources to include "dispatchable thermal based electric generating facilities such as natural gas" and other low-carbon baseload resources identified in the testimony.

Committee members asked clarifying questions. Ranking Member Rogers raised consumer-protection concerns related to submetering; French said she could not discuss the matter in detail because a case the commission decided is pending before the state Supreme Court. Representative Reiter asked for more detail on the net metering proposal, including whether it would enable community-scale renewable projects; French said the change aims to give businesses flexibility for financing and interconnection and said outcomes would vary by project and by whether the business intends to remain behind the meter or later interconnect to the grid managed by PJM.

French described practical elements the commission has heard from businesses, saying financing and certainty for banks are drivers, and offered a concrete example that the proposal could allow siting a generation resource offsite "maybe 5 miles down the road," though she said actual siting and interconnection would depend on individual project needs and interconnection queue conditions.

No committee action or vote on the PUCO budget or the net metering language was recorded during the hearing. French closed by thanking the committee and offering to answer additional questions.

The committee hearing then proceeded to additional budget witnesses under House Bill 96.