Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, says he has “major concerns” about the renewable-energy provision in a proposed settlement involving American Electric Power.
COLUMBUS — “Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, is chairman of the Ohio Senate Public Utilities Committee, and has been a leading voice on utility issues.
The proposal to build 500 megawatts of wind energy and 400 megawatts of solar energy ‘unfairly saddles all ratepayers … with the additional cost of the renewable energy,’ he said in an e-mail sent to a number of state officials and the media.
He sees the plan as an affront to the Ohio General Assembly’s intent when it passed Senate Bill 310 last year, a measure that, among other things, eliminated the requirement that utilities buy half of their renewable energy from in-state sources.
The AEP plan is ‘a direct thumbing of the nose to a legislative decision, and things will not go well for the (Public Utilities Commission of Ohio) if they continue to defy the will of the General Assembly,’ Seitz said. ”
— Dan Gearino, Columbus Dispatch
