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Ohio consumers council urges stronger protections, enforcement in HB 173 submetering bill
Summary
At a fifth hearing on House Bill 173, the Ohio Consumers' Counsel said the bill improves disclosure and registration for behind‑the‑meter (submetering) providers but leaves enforcement weak, warns of waivable protections and low fines, and urged changes so tenants retain rights comparable to other utility customers.
Chair Holmes convened the House Energy Committee for the fifth hearing on House Bill 173, which would impose registration and some consumer‑protection requirements on companies that resell utility service to tenants using submetering, also called behind‑the‑meter utility service. Angela O'Brien, deputy director of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel (OCC), testified as an interested party and urged the committee to strengthen the bill's enforcement provisions.
OCC represents 4,500,000 residential utility consumers and “appreciates the time and efforts of Chair Holmes and the committee members to add protections for consumers of behind the meter utility service,” O'Brien said. But she warned that key protections in the current draft can be waived by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) and that many forfeiture amounts are too low to deter misconduct.
Why this matters: Tenants who receive resold utility service can lose access to protections available to customers…
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