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House Energy Committee advances substitute to modernize natural gas valuation and rate plans in HB142
Summary
Representative Davila presented the dash-3 substitute to House Bill 142 during a House Energy Committee meeting and the committee agreed to an amendment without objection, concluding the bill's fifth hearing.
Representative Davila presented the dash-3 substitute to House Bill 142 during a House Energy Committee meeting and the committee agreed to an amendment without objection, concluding the bill's fifth hearing.
"When we first introduced House Bill 142, it was intended to do 2 things. First, to allow natural gas companies to use alternative rate plans to serve very large load customers and second, to modernize the process by which the Public Utilities Commission values natural gas company property," Representative Davila told the committee.
The substitute keeps that core purpose and makes three principal changes, according to Davila: it adds a new statutory procedure for utilities filing valuation reports that use forecasted test periods (identified in the substitute as section 4909.042); it clarifies the valuation process by distinguishing current property valuations from those based on projected assets and streamlines reporting requirements to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO); and it adds confidentiality protections for proprietary and trade-secret information filed with the commission.
Davila said the substitute was drafted to align House language with Senate Bill 103 so both chambers work from substantially the same text, and he thanked stakeholders, the commission and Senate colleagues for input.
The committee adopted an amendment related to the substitute bill "without objection," and the chair said the amendment "shall become a part of the bill." The clerk recorded no roll-call vote in the transcript; the action was noted as agreed to by unanimous consent. The committee chair also said members would have at least a week to review changes before scheduled public testimony.
No other committee action or final passage was taken at this hearing; the transcript records conclusion of the fifth hearing following the amendment's incorporation.
Next steps: the committee will post the amended substitute for review and set future testimony and consideration dates, as the chair indicated during the meeting.
