Rep. Weinstein Urges PUCO to Hold Meeting with Utility Leaders Regarding Power Outages

COLUMBUS — In a letter sent today to Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) Chair Jenifer French, State Rep. Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson) and other House Democrats called on the PUCO to take immediate action to address the reliability of Ohio's power grid in light of recent severe weather events that have caused widespread outages. The delegation—made up of Democrats on the Ohio House Public Utilities Committee and representing Northeast Ohio—urged the PUCO to convene meetings with utility leaders to discuss the issue and explore solutions to protect consumers in case of prolonged outages.

“Without immediate and meaningful action, climate change will continue to cause extreme weather and drive-up costs for all Ohioans. It is crucial that we address these energy reliability issues promptly to ensure that our residents and businesses have access to dependable, affordable power, particularly when emergencies like the ones witnessed last week happen. We look forward to your response and to collaborating on these pressing matters to achieve a better energy future in Ohio,” read the letter.

The letter highlights the urgent need for a modern and resilient grid system following the storms and tornadoes that ravaged Northeast Ohio on August 6. Those storms led to extensive power outages and prompted a state of emergency declaration by Governor DeWine. The delegation expressed concern over Ohio's current performance in managing power outages, referencing a recent Cleveland.com article reporting Ohio ranked second in the nation for residents affected by power outages.

PUCO’s failure to act promptly comes at the same time as the Akron-based electric utility company FirstEnergy received an outrageous settlement from Attorney General Yost for its role in the largest political scandal in Ohio history, which PUCO played a key role in perpetuating. The cushy $20M settlement FirstEnergy received to avoid prosecution is just a fraction of the $61M it spent in bribes and is dwarfed by the roughly $700M Ohio’s consumers are still on the hook to pay in HB 6 subsidies by 2030.

“Thanks to HB6, we are STILL forcing Ohioans to bail out legacy fossil fuel plants to the tune of $500,000 a day, and in return PUCO and our utilities are near worst-in-the-nation levels of service and reliability,” said Rep. Weinstein. “This is unacceptable, and we need to do something about it.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The letter sent to PUCO Chair French can be viewed here.