Sec. 4928.20. (A) The legislative authority of a
municipal | 7 |
corporation may adopt an ordinance, or the board of township | 8 |
trustees of a township or the board of county commissioners of a | 9 |
county may adopt a resolution, under which, on or after the | 10 |
starting
date of competitive retail electric service, it may | 11 |
aggregate in
accordance with this section the retail electrical | 12 |
loads located,
respectively, within the municipal corporation, | 13 |
township, or
unincorporated area of the county and, for that | 14 |
purpose, may enter
into service agreements to facilitate for those | 15 |
loads the sale and
purchase of electricity. The legislative | 16 |
authority or board also
may exercise such authority jointly with | 17 |
any other such
legislative authority or board. AnFor customers | 18 |
that are not mercantile commercial customers, an ordinance or | 19 |
resolution under
this division shall specify whether the | 20 |
aggregation will occur
only with the prior, affirmative consent of | 21 |
each person owning, occupying,
controlling, or using an electric | 22 |
load center proposed to be
aggregated or will occur automatically | 23 |
for all such persons
pursuant to the opt-out requirements of | 24 |
division (D) of this
section. The aggregation of mercantile | 25 |
commercial customers shall occur only with the prior, affirmative | 26 |
consent of each such person owning, occupying, controlling, or | 27 |
using an electric load center proposed to be aggregated. Nothing | 28 |
in this division, however, authorizes the aggregation of
suchthe | 29 |
retail electric
loads of an electric load center, as defined in | 30 |
section 4933.81 of the Revised
Code, that is
located in the | 31 |
certified territory of
a nonprofit electric supplier under | 32 |
sections 4933.81 to 4933.90 of the Revised
Code or an
electric | 33 |
load center served by
transmission or distribution facilities of a | 34 |
municipal electric utility. | 35 |
(B) If an ordinance or resolution adopted under division (A) | 36 |
of
this section specifies that aggregation of customers that are | 37 |
not mercantile commercial customers will occur automatically
as | 38 |
described in that division, the ordinance or resolution shall | 39 |
direct the
board of elections to submit the question of the | 40 |
authority to aggregate to the electors of the respective municipal | 41 |
corporation, township, or unincorporated area of a county at a | 42 |
special election on the day of the next primary or general | 43 |
election in the municipal corporation, township, or county. The | 44 |
legislative authority or board shall certify a copy of the | 45 |
ordinance or resolution to the board of elections not less than | 46 |
seventy-five days before the day of the special election. No | 47 |
ordinance or resolution adopted under division (A) of this section | 48 |
that provides for an election under this division shall take | 49 |
effect unless approved by a majority
of the electors voting upon | 50 |
the ordinance or resolution at the election held
pursuant to this | 51 |
division. | 52 |
(C) Upon the applicable requisite authority under divisions | 53 |
(A)
and (B) of this section, the legislative authority or board | 54 |
shall
develop a plan of operation and governance for the | 55 |
aggregation
program so authorized. Before adopting a plan under | 56 |
this
division, the legislative authority or board shall hold at | 57 |
least
two public hearings on the plan. Before the first hearing, | 58 |
the
legislative authority or board shall publish notice of the | 59 |
hearings once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of | 60 |
general circulation in the jurisdiction. The notice shall | 61 |
summarize the plan and state the date, time, and location of each | 62 |
hearing. | 63 |
(D) No legislative authority or board, pursuant to an | 64 |
ordinance or
resolution under divisions (A) and (B) of this | 65 |
section that
provides for automatic aggregation of customers that | 66 |
are not mercantile commercial customers as described in division | 67 |
(A) of
this section, shall aggregate the electrical load of any | 68 |
electric load center
located within its
jurisdiction unless it in | 69 |
advance clearly discloses to the person owning,
occupying, | 70 |
controlling,
or using the load center that the person will be | 71 |
enrolled
automatically in the aggregation program and will remain | 72 |
so
enrolled unless the person affirmatively elects by a stated | 73 |
procedure not to be so enrolled. The disclosure shall state | 74 |
prominently the rates, charges, and other terms and conditions of | 75 |
enrollment. The stated procedure shall allow any person enrolled | 76 |
in the
aggregation program the opportunity to opt out of the | 77 |
program every two years,
without paying a switching fee. Any such | 78 |
person that opts out of the
aggregation
program pursuant to the | 79 |
stated procedure shall default to the
standard service offer | 80 |
provided under division (A) of section
4928.14 or division (D) of | 81 |
section 4928.35 of the Revised Code
until the person chooses an | 82 |
alternative supplier. | 83 |
Section 3. A mercantile commercial customer that is enrolled | 147 |
in an automatic governmental aggregation on the effective date of | 148 |
this act shall remain enrolled in that aggregation program until | 149 |
the earlier of the customer providing notice and paying any | 150 |
switching fee that may be required pursuant to rules adopted by | 151 |
the Public Utilities Commission or until the arrival of the | 152 |
program's next opt-out opportunity under division (D) of section | 153 |
4928.20 of the Revised Code as amended by this act. The automatic | 154 |
enrollment of the mercantile commercial customer in the | 155 |
governmental aggregation shall then terminate by operation of law. | 156 |
Thereafter, in accordance with division (A) of that section, the | 157 |
mercantile commercial customer shall be enrolled in a governmental | 158 |
aggregation only with the customer's prior, affirmative consent. | 159 |