House Energy Committee holds first hearing on bill to itemize utility charges

Representatives Brennan and Thomas introduced House Bill 158, the “Consumer Utility Billing Transparency Act,” at a first hearing before the Ohio House Energy Committee. The sponsors said the bill would require utility bills for electricity, natural gas and water to show clearly itemized charges — such as generation, transmission, distribution, supply charges, taxes, riders and additional service fees — so customers can see what they are paying for.

The bill’s sponsors told the committee that confusing bills, hidden fees and opaque riders leave households and small businesses unable to budget or hold providers accountable. “Utility bills, whether they’re electric, natural gas, or water, should be clear, concise, and easy to understand,” Representative Brennan said in his testimony, adding that an itemized bill would empower consumers to “ask the right questions, check for errors, monitor their usage, seek better rates to save money, and understand what investments are being made in their communities.”

Representative Thomas, the joint sponsor, said his experience as an auditor showed the value of a clear bill and that an itemized statement would at least allow consumers to identify where increases occurred. “Worst case scenario, our residents, they don't look at their bill. They just do their monthly payment. Nothing changes for them. I think best case scenario, our residents are able to at least look, see where their increases are, maybe take some action steps for their own bills to either decrease or make them more accountable to themselves,” Thomas said.

Committee members generally expressed support for the concept but raised practical questions and possible amendments. Representative Hall suggested the bill might go further than itemization by requiring lay-language explanations of line items or a glossary, noting that many customers -- and some experts -- do not know the difference between distribution, generation and transmission charges. Representative Hall said an explanation could add paper, but could also make the itemization meaningful.

Several members asked whether the bill would apply uniformly across investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives. Representative Zimrader asked whether the measure would cover “EDUs” as well as rural co-ops and municipal utilities; the sponsor replied he would review statutory definitions in the Ohio Revised Code but said the intention is to cover providers of water, electric and gas service statewide.

Members discussed practical formats. One member suggested providing an annual, consolidated explanation of bill terms rather than repeating a glossary on every monthly bill to limit waste and redundancy; the sponsors said they were open to suggestions. Brennan noted differences across providers, citing NOPEC’s interactive bill via Columbia Gas as an example that defines riders but may not show how much each rider costs, while other bills list riders without definitions.

Committee members also voiced concern about imposing undue burdens on small utilities. One speaker cited examples of utilities serving very small communities (mentioning figures such as “about 1,200,” “1,500” and “15,000” customers for some small municipal or cooperative utilities) and urged flexibility so that the measure would not be unduly onerous for small providers.

No formal vote was taken on House Bill 158 during the hearing; the session was a first hearing and the sponsors answered committee questions. Committee business later included approval of the previous meeting’s minutes without objection. Chairman Holmes closed the meeting after briefly noting a White House executive order on coal industry policy as background for future committee energy strategy work.

The committee did not adopt a formal amendment or direct staff to prepare a particular template at the hearing; members suggested the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel could produce a consumer-facing template that utilities could use as a model, but no formal directive was recorded.