On Wednesday OCA joined the Sierra Club, the Ohio Environmental Council, Utilities for All, and the Ohio Poor People’s Campaign in a press conference at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) headquarters. Being two and half years since the news of the scandal surrounding House Bill 6 broke, it’s long past time for the OVEC coal plant bailouts to end. We called on the PUCO for an end to the OVEC bailouts, and for the PUCO to move forward with the OVEC audits.

Three audits released in 2021 showed that consumers at the time were paying more than market value for their energy from the OVEC coal plants. The PUCO has yet to move forward with the case on those audits. Since the reveal of the $60 million bribery scheme that passed HB6, the consumer-funded nuclear plant bailouts have been repealed, but the dirty coal bailouts remain on the books. With Larry Householder recently found guilty of the bribery, the time is ripe to end the OVEC bailouts. We’re calling on the PUCO to do their job as a utility regulating body.

Attendees of this demonstration gathered in the lobby of the PUCO’s building, and shared impassioned speeches with calls to action of the PUCO. We delivered sign postcards to the PUCO members, and attended their meeting in order to fill the room and remind them that Ohio consumers are watching. And it looks like we got the PUCO’s attention. Today, the PUCO filed a motion to move forward with the OVEC audits case. We continue to urge the end of consumer bailouts of OVEC plants and other dirty energy in Ohio.