As Introduced

130th General Assembly
Regular Session
2013-2014
H. B. No. 312


Representative Johnson 

Cosponsor: Representative Smith 

A BILL
To amend sections 4905.31 and 4928.34 of the Revised 1
Code to permit a public utility electric light 2
company to recover costs of an economic and job 3
retention program from all public utility electric 4
light customers in Ohio.5


BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

       Section 1. To amend sections 4905.31 and 4928.34 of the 6
Revised Code to read as follows:7

       Sec. 4905.31. (A) Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 8
4921., 4923., 4927., 4928., and 4929. of the Revised Code do not 9
prohibit a public utility from filing a schedule or establishing 10
or entering into any reasonable arrangement with another public 11
utility or with one or more of its customers, consumers, or 12
employees, and do not prohibit a mercantile customer of an 13
electric distribution utility as those terms are defined in 14
section 4928.01 of the Revised Code or a group of those customers 15
from establishing a reasonable arrangement with that utility or 16
another public utility electric light company, providing for any 17
of the following:18

       (A)(1) The division or distribution of its surplus profits;19

       (B)(2) A sliding scale of charges, including variations in 20
rates based upon stipulated variations in cost as provided in the 21
schedule or arrangement.22

       (C)(3) A minimum charge for service to be rendered unless 23
such minimum charge is made or prohibited by the terms of the 24
franchise, grant, or ordinance under which such public utility is 25
operated;26

       (D)(4) A classification of service based upon the quantity 27
used, the time when used, the purpose for which used, the duration 28
of use, and any other reasonable consideration;29

       (E)(5)(a) Any other financial device that may be practicable 30
or advantageous to the parties interested. In the case of a 31
schedule or arrangement concerning a public utility electric light 32
company, such other financial device may include aany of the 33
following:34

       (i) A device to recover costs incurred in conjunction with 35
any economic development and job retention program of the utility 36
within its certified territoryfrom all public utility electric 37
light company customers in this state, including recovery of 38
revenue foregone as a result of any such program; any39

       (ii) Any development and implementation of peak demand 40
reduction and energy efficiency programs under section 4928.66 of 41
the Revised Code; any42

       (iii) Any acquisition and deployment of advanced metering, 43
including the costs of any meters prematurely retired as a result 44
of the advanced metering implementation; and compliance45

       (iv) Compliance with any government mandate.46

       (b) After January 1, 2018, the public utilities commission 47
shall not approve, with respect to a public utility electric light 48
company, any application for, or modification or extension of, any 49
schedule or arrangement filed pursuant to division (A)(5)(a)(i) of 50
this section. Such a schedule or arrangement may continue in 51
effect after that date for any period previously approved by the 52
commission. 53

       (B) No such schedule or arrangement is lawful unless it is 54
filed with and approved by the commission pursuant to an 55
application that is submitted by the public utility or the 56
mercantile customer or group of mercantile customers of an 57
electric distribution utility and is posted on the commission's 58
docketing information system and is accessible through the 59
internet.60

       (C) Every such public utility is required to conform its 61
schedules of rates, tolls, and charges to such arrangement, 62
sliding scale, classification, or other device, and where variable 63
rates are provided for in any such schedule or arrangement, the 64
cost data or factors upon which such rates are based and fixed 65
shall be filed with the commission in such form and at such times 66
as the commission directs.67

       (D) Every such schedule or reasonable arrangement shall be 68
under the supervision and regulation of the commission, and is 69
subject to change, alteration, or modification by the commission.70

       Sec. 4928.34.  (A) The public utilities commission shall not 71
approve or prescribe a transition plan under division (A) or (B) 72
of section 4928.33 of the Revised Code unless the commission first 73
makes all of the following determinations:74

       (1) The unbundled components for the electric transmission 75
component of retail electric service, as specified in the 76
utility's rate unbundling plan required by division (A)(1) of 77
section 4928.31 of the Revised Code, equal the tariff rates 78
determined by the federal energy regulatory commission that are in 79
effect on the date of the approval of the transition plan under 80
sections 4928.31 to 4928.40 of the Revised Code, as each such rate 81
is determined applicable to each particular customer class and 82
rate schedule by the commission. The unbundled transmission 83
component shall include a sliding scale of charges under division 84
(B)(A)(2) of section 4905.31 of the Revised Code to ensure that 85
refunds determined or approved by the federal energy regulatory 86
commission are flowed through to retail electric customers.87

       (2) The unbundled components for retail electric distribution 88
service in the rate unbundling plan equal the difference between 89
the costs attributable to the utility's transmission and 90
distribution rates and charges under its schedule of rates and 91
charges in effect on the effective date of this section, based 92
upon the record in the most recent rate proceeding of the utility 93
for which the utility's schedule was established, and the tariff 94
rates for electric transmission service determined by the federal 95
energy regulatory commission as described in division (A)(1) of 96
this section.97

       (3) All other unbundled components required by the commission 98
in the rate unbundling plan equal the costs attributable to the 99
particular service as reflected in the utility's schedule of rates 100
and charges in effect on the effective date of this section. 101

       (4) The unbundled components for retail electric generation 102
service in the rate unbundling plan equal the residual amount 103
remaining after the determination of the transmission, 104
distribution, and other unbundled components, and after any 105
adjustments necessary to reflect the effects of the amendment of 106
section 5727.111 of the Revised Code by Sub. S.B. No. 3 of the 107
123rd general assembly.108

       (5) All unbundled components in the rate unbundling plan have 109
been adjusted to reflect any base rate reductions on file with the 110
commission and as scheduled to be in effect by December 31, 2005, 111
under rate settlements in effect on the effective date of this 112
section. However, all earnings obligations, restrictions, or caps 113
imposed on an electric utility in a commission order prior to the 114
effective date of this section are void.115

       (6) Subject to division (A)(5) of this section, the total of 116
all unbundled components in the rate unbundling plan are capped 117
and shall equal during the market development period, except as 118
specifically provided in this chapter, the total of all rates and 119
charges in effect under the applicable bundled schedule of the 120
electric utility pursuant to section 4905.30 of the Revised Code 121
in effect on the day before the effective date of this section, 122
including the transition charge determined under section 4928.40 123
of the Revised Code, adjusted for any changes in the taxation of 124
electric utilities and retail electric service under Sub. S.B. No. 125
3 of the 123rd General Assembly, the universal service rider 126
authorized by section 4928.51 of the Revised Code, and the 127
temporary rider authorized by section 4928.61 of the Revised Code. 128
For the purpose of this division, the rate cap applicable to a 129
customer receiving electric service pursuant to an arrangement 130
approved by the commission under section 4905.31 of the Revised 131
Code is, for the term of the arrangement, the total of all rates 132
and charges in effect under the arrangement. For any rate schedule 133
filed pursuant to section 4905.30 of the Revised Code or any 134
arrangement subject to approval pursuant to section 4905.31 of the 135
Revised Code, the initial tax-related adjustment to the rate cap 136
required by this division shall be equal to the rate of taxation 137
specified in section 5727.81 of the Revised Code and applicable to 138
the schedule or arrangement. To the extent such total annual 139
amount of the tax-related adjustment is greater than or less than 140
the comparable amount of the total annual tax reduction 141
experienced by the electric utility as a result of the provisions 142
of Sub. S.B. No. 3 of the 123rd general assembly, such difference 143
shall be addressed by the commission through accounting 144
procedures, refunds, or an annual surcharge or credit to 145
customers, or through other appropriate means, to avoid placing 146
the financial responsibility for the difference upon the electric 147
utility or its shareholders. Any adjustments in the rate of 148
taxation specified in section 5727.81 of the Revised Code section149
shall not occur without a corresponding adjustment to the rate cap 150
for each such rate schedule or arrangement. The department of 151
taxation shall advise the commission and self-assessors under 152
section 5727.81 of the Revised Code prior to the effective date of 153
any change in the rate of taxation specified under that section, 154
and the commission shall modify the rate cap to reflect that 155
adjustment so that the rate cap adjustment is effective as of the 156
effective date of the change in the rate of taxation. This 157
division shall be applied, to the extent possible, to eliminate 158
any increase in the price of electricity for customers that 159
otherwise may occur as a result of establishing the taxes 160
contemplated in section 5727.81 of the Revised Code.161

       (7) The rate unbundling plan complies with any rules adopted 162
by the commission under division (A) of section 4928.06 of the 163
Revised Code.164

       (8) The corporate separation plan required by division (A)(2) 165
of section 4928.31 of the Revised Code complies with section 166
4928.17 of the Revised Code and any rules adopted by the 167
commission under division (A) of section 4928.06 of the Revised 168
Code.169

       (9) Any plan or plans the commission requires to address 170
operational support systems and any other technical implementation 171
issues pertaining to competitive retail electric service comply 172
with any rules adopted by the commission under division (A) of 173
section 4928.06 of the Revised Code.174

       (10) The employee assistance plan required by division (A)(4) 175
of section 4928.31 of the Revised Code sufficiently provides 176
severance, retraining, early retirement, retention, outplacement, 177
and other assistance for the utility's employees whose employment 178
is affected by electric industry restructuring under this chapter.179

       (11) The consumer education plan required under division 180
(A)(5) of section 4928.31 of the Revised Code complies with former 181
section 4928.42 of the Revised Code and any rules adopted by the 182
commission under division (A) of section 4928.06 of the Revised 183
Code.184

       (12) The transition revenues for which an electric utility is 185
authorized a revenue opportunity under sections 4928.31 to 4928.40 186
of the Revised Code are the allowable transition costs of the 187
utility as such costs are determined by the commission pursuant to 188
section 4928.39 of the Revised Code, and the transition charges 189
for the customer classes and rate schedules of the utility are the 190
charges determined pursuant to section 4928.40 of the Revised 191
Code.192

       (13) Any independent transmission plan included in the 193
transition plan filed under section 4928.31 of the Revised Code 194
reasonably complies with section 4928.12 of the Revised Code and 195
any rules adopted by the commission under division (A) of section 196
4928.06 of the Revised Code, unless the commission, for good cause 197
shown, authorizes the utility to defer compliance until an order 198
is issued under division (G) of section 4928.35 of the Revised 199
Code.200

       (14) The utility is in compliance with sections 4928.01 to 201
4928.11 of the Revised Code and any rules or orders of the 202
commission adopted or issued under those sections.203

       (15) All unbundled components in the rate unbundling plan 204
have been adjusted to reflect the elimination of the tax on gross 205
receipts imposed by section 5727.30 of the Revised Code.206

       In addition, a transition plan approved by the commission 207
under section 4928.33 of the Revised Code but not containing an 208
approved independent transmission plan shall contain the express 209
conditions that the utility will comply with an order issued under 210
division (G) of section 4928.35 of the Revised Code.211

       (B) Subject to division (E) of section 4928.17 of the Revised 212
Code, if the commission finds that any part of the transition plan 213
would constitute an abandonment under sections 4905.20 and 4905.21 214
of the Revised Code, the commission shall not approve that part of 215
the transition plan unless it makes the finding required for 216
approval of an abandonment application under section 4905.21 of 217
the Revised Code. Sections 4905.20 and 4905.21 of the Revised Code 218
otherwise shall not apply to a transition plan under sections 219
4928.31 to 4928.40 of the Revised Code. 220

       Section 2.  That existing sections 4905.31 and 4928.34 of the 221
Revised Code are hereby repealed.222

       Section 3. Any financial device to recover costs in 223
conjunction with any economic development and job retention 224
program established and approved under section 4905.31 of the 225
Revised Code, as that section existed prior to the effective date 226
of this act, shall continue in effect in accordance with the terms 227
of that device, unless altered, changed, or modified by the Public 228
Utilities Commission.229