Chronology of northern Ohio utility campaigns

1969-1976: The City of Cleveland sells off major city assets to cover operating deficits: the port (1969), sewer system (1972), stadium (1974), and the transit system (1975). In 1976, Mayor Ralph Perk prepares to sell the city's Muny Light system.

1977: Ohio Citizen Action joins with the United Auto Workers and Councilman Dennis Kucinich to campaign against tax abatements for downtown developers and the sale of Muny Light. The campaign results in what became known as the "Tuesday night massacre," a political purge in which voters oust Mayor Perk and seven council members who supported the sale of Muny Light and tax abatements.

1978-79: Defying CEI and the city's major banks, Cleveland's new Mayor Kucinich refuses to sell Muny Light. The banks throw the city into financial default to force the sale, but Kucinich puts the issue on the ballot. After a bitter winter door-to-door campaign -- led again by Ohio Citizen Action, United Auto Workers, and Kucinich -- Clevelanders vote 2-to-1 to keep Muny Light.

1979-1996: The administrations of Cleveland Mayors George Voinovich and Mike White pass measures to expand Muny Light citywide, even though both men strongly backed CEI in its 1978-79 bid to acquire Muny Light and end local competition for electricity.

1979: CEI cancels plans for four new nuclear plants after spending hundreds of millions of dollars on early work.

1982-84: With backing from Ohio Citizen Action, Richard Celeste is elected governor and overhauls the Public Utilities Commission. The new Commission cuts "construction work in progress" rate hikes for the unfinished Perry I nuclear plant -- the single biggest reason for electric rate increases since the late 1970's. Celeste and Ohio Citizen Action then join forces to win a legislative compromise limiting and such future increases.

1985: A near-catastrophic accident shuts down the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in Port Clinton for 18 months.

1987: Voters in Clyde, Ohio, at the edge of Toledo Edison's service area, vote 1,042 to 468 to create a public power system with rates 25% less than Toledo Edison's rates.

1988: The Commission approves a 10% rate hike for Ohio Edison customers for the Perry and Beaver Valley nuclear power plants.

1989: An Ohio Citizen Action initiative petition with 27,000 signatures forces Toledo City Council to investigate cheaper competitive alternatives to Toledo Edison. At first, only 3 members of City Council supported the study, but the threatened ballot issue prompted a 9-0 City Council vote to create an Electric Franchise Review Committee charged with overseeing the investigation of lower-cost electricity.

1989: The Public Utilities Commission approves a 24% rate hike for Cleveland Electric Illuminating and Toledo Edison customers to pay for the Perry and Beaver Valley nuclear power plants, increasing electric bills for the average household by $150-$200 a year. The Perry I plant, originally projected to cost $617 million, had a final price tag of $5.5 billion, and the Beaver Valley plant cost $4.5 billion. The Commission decision violated its own rules, since the northern Ohio utilities had "excess capacity" according to state standards even before adding power from the new plants.

1990: The Commission approves another 8.4% rate increase for Ohio Edison customers for the Perry and Beaver Valley nuclear power plants.

1991: Toledo Edison's residential and small business customers save 7% on their rates as the private utility tries unsuccessfully to head off Ohio Citizen Action's public power campaign.

1991: R.W. Beck Co., the consultant for the Electric Franchise Review Committee in Toledo, finds that a public power system could save Toledo residents and businesses $2 billion over 20 years.

1993: Ohio Citizen Action Toledo program director Paula Ross manages the mayoral campaign of Councilman Mike Ferner, a strong public power advocate. Ferner, a clear underdog at the outset of the campaign, lost the election by only 672 votes.

1994: On January 4, Centerior, parent company of CEI and Toledo Edison, scraps the unfinished Perry II nuclear power plant, takes a $1 billion loss, and cuts its dividend in half. This followed an earlier dividend cut, the elimination of 3,500 jobs and a downgrading of its securities to junk-bond status.

1994: A newly elected Toledo City Council votes 7-5 to kill the completion of the public power study. Ohio Citizen Action responds by undertaking another initiative petition drive.

1995: CEI and Toledo Edison file for a $119 million rate hike.

1995: Ohio Citizen Action returns to Toledo City Council with signatures from 17,000 Toledo residents calling for the completion of the public power study. Again, faced with the threat of a ballot issue, Council acts in the public interest and restores full funding to finish the study.

1995: The Commission approves a 10-year plan for Ohio Edison that gives tiny rate cuts to residential customers and big rate breaks to industrial customers. The deal is cut behind closed doors, with the support of the Consumers' Council, the state-appointed advocate for residential ratepayers.

1996: In a highly unusual move, the Public Utilities Commission approves the full amount of CEI and Toledo Edison's rate request. That decision convinces a growing list of local elected officials that the regulatory process has collapsed.

1996: CEI, Toledo Edison, and Ohio Edison announce plans to merge and form a company named FirstEnergy. The merger is held up by federal regulators concerned that it will hurt future competition.

1997: Governor George Voinovich and State House leaders appoint a special House-Senate committee charged with making recommendations on how to bring about electric competition.

1998: The legislative committee produces a bill (S.B. 27, H.B. 732) which would force Ohio consumers to pay from 50% to 100% of FirstEnergy's nuclear debt, at a cost to the average northern Ohio household of up to $2,100 over five years.

1999: Governor Bob Taft signs the new electricity deregulation law, include a key provision allowing opt-out community choice. Stranded-cost decisions are handed to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.