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Resident urges Olmsted Falls to back Ohio House Bill 303 for community energy
Summary
A resident and representatives from Solar United Neighbors and the Cleveland Solar Co-op addressed council on HB 303, describing a four-year pilot for community energy that would allow customers to subscribe to off-site solar and other local generation. Council asked questions about scale, resilience and potential opponents.
During the public-comment period on April 14, resident Linda New urged the Olmsted Falls City Council to endorse Ohio House Bill 303, which she characterized as a community energy bill that would let residents and renters subscribe to locally sited solar arrays and save on electric bills.
"HB 303 allows residents to save money on their electric bills by subscribing to energy sources like solar arrays that maybe placed a distance from their home," New said, and she asked council to consider a local resolution in support. New noted health and environmental concerns tied to fossil fuels and said the bill passed the Ohio House in November 2025 by a 77–8 vote.
Roger Sikes of Solar United Neighbors answered council questions about how a pilot would work and described the bill as a four-year pilot allowing 1,500 megawatts of new generation. "1500 megawatts would roughly power about 300,000 homes in Ohio so it’s sizeable," he said, adding that the Public Utility Commission of Ohio would report on the pilot at its conclusion. Sikes identified investor-owned utilities, such as AEP, as the primary source of opposition in the state-level debate.
Council members asked about resilience and whether distributed community energy could ease strain on transmission. Sikes said local distributed generation would sit on the distribution grid, closer to where electricity is used, and could be paired with battery storage in later phases to improve local resilience.
