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H. B. No. 85 As Reported by the House Public Utilities and Energy Committee
As Reported by the House Public Utilities and Energy Committee
126th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2005-2006 |
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Representative Blessing
A BILL
To amend section 4928.20 and to enact section 4928.21 of the Revised Code to limit retail electric service automatic governmental aggregation and to create a "Do Not Aggregate" list.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That section 4928.20 be amended and section 4928.21 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:
Sec. 4928.20. (A) The legislative authority of a
municipal
corporation may adopt an ordinance, or the board of township
trustees of a township or the board of county commissioners of a
county may adopt a resolution, under which, on or after the starting
date of competitive retail electric service, it may aggregate in
accordance with this section the retail electrical loads located,
respectively, within the municipal corporation, township, or
unincorporated area of the county and, for that purpose, may enter
into service agreements to facilitate for those loads the sale and
purchase of electricity. The legislative authority or board also
may exercise such authority jointly with any other such
legislative authority or board. An For customers that are not mercantile commercial customers, an ordinance or resolution under
this division shall specify whether the aggregation will occur
only with the prior consent of each person owning, occupying,
controlling, or using an electric load center proposed to be
aggregated or will occur automatically for all such persons
pursuant to the opt-out requirements of division (D) of this
section. The aggregation of mercantile commercial customers shall occur only with the prior consent of each person owning, occupying, controlling, or using an electric load center proposed to be aggregated. Nothing in this division, however, authorizes the aggregation of
such retail electric
loads of an electric load center, as defined in section 4933.81 of the Revised
Code, that is
located in the certified territory of
a nonprofit electric supplier under sections 4933.81 to 4933.90 of the Revised
Code or an
electric load center served by
transmission or distribution facilities of a municipal electric utility. (B) If an ordinance or resolution adopted under division (A) of
this section specifies that aggregation of customers that are not mercantile commercial customers will occur automatically
as described in that division, the ordinance or resolution shall direct the
board of elections to submit the question of the
authority to aggregate to the electors of the respective municipal
corporation, township, or unincorporated area of a county at a
special election on the day of the next primary or general
election in the municipal corporation, township, or county. The
legislative authority or board shall certify a copy of the
ordinance or resolution to the board of elections not less than
seventy-five days before the day of the special election. No
ordinance or resolution adopted under division (A) of this section
that provides for an election under this division shall take effect unless approved by a majority
of the electors voting upon the ordinance or resolution at the election held
pursuant to this
division. (C) Upon the applicable requisite authority under divisions (A)
and (B) of this section, the legislative authority or board shall
develop a plan of operation and governance for the aggregation
program so authorized. Before adopting a plan under this
division, the legislative authority or board shall hold at least
two public hearings on the plan. Before the first hearing, the
legislative authority or board shall publish notice of the
hearings once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of
general circulation in the jurisdiction. The notice shall
summarize the plan and state the date, time, and location of each
hearing. (D) No legislative authority or board, pursuant to an ordinance or
resolution under divisions (A) and (B) of this section that
provides for automatic aggregation of customers that are not mercantile commercial customers as described in division (A) of
this section, shall aggregate the electrical load of any electric load center
located within its
jurisdiction unless it in advance clearly discloses to the person owning,
occupying, controlling,
or using the load center that the person will be enrolled
automatically in the aggregation program and will remain so
enrolled unless the person affirmatively elects by a stated
procedure not to be so enrolled. The disclosure shall state
prominently the rates, charges, and other terms and conditions of
enrollment. The stated procedure shall allow any person enrolled in the
aggregation program the opportunity to opt out of the program every two years,
without paying a switching fee. Any such person that opts out of the
aggregation
program pursuant to the stated procedure shall default to the
standard service offer provided under division (A) of section
4928.14 or division (D) of section 4928.35 of the Revised Code
until the person chooses an alternative supplier. (E)(1) With respect to a governmental aggregation for a municipal
corporation that is authorized pursuant to division (A) to (D) of
this section, resolutions may be proposed by initiative or referendum
petitions in accordance with sections 731.28 to 731.41 of the
Revised Code. (2) With respect to a governmental aggregation for a township or
the unincorporated area of a county, which aggregation is authorized
pursuant to division (A) to (D) of this section, resolutions
may be proposed by initiative or referendum petitions in accordance with
sections 731.28 to 731.40 of the Revised Code, except
that: (a) The petitions shall be filed, respectively, with the township
clerk or the board of county commissioners, who shall perform those duties
imposed under those
sections upon the city auditor or village clerk. (b) The petitions shall contain the signatures of not less than
ten per cent of the total number of electors in, respectively, the township or
the unincorporated area
of the county who voted for the office of governor at the
preceding general election for that office in that area. (F) A governmental aggregator under division (A) of this section
is not a public utility engaging in the wholesale purchase and resale of
electricity, and provision of the aggregated service is not a wholesale
utility
transaction. A governmental aggregator shall be subject to
supervision and regulation by the public utilities commission only
to the extent of any competitive retail electric service it
provides and commission authority under this chapter. (G) This section does not apply in the case of a municipal
corporation that supplies such aggregated service to electric load
centers to which its municipal electric utility also supplies a
noncompetitive retail electric service through transmission or
distribution facilities the utility singly or jointly owns or
operates. (H) A governmental aggregator shall not include in its aggregation the accounts of any of the following:
(1) A customer that has opted out of the aggregation;
(2) A customer in contract with a certified competitive retail electric services provider;
(3) A customer that has a special contract with an electric distribution utility;
(4) A customer that is not located within the governmental aggregator's governmental boundaries.
(5) Subject to division (C) of section 4928.21 of the Revised Code, a customer who appears on the "do not aggregate" list maintained under that section.
Sec. 4928.21. (A) A customer that desires to remove itself from the pool of customers eligible to participate in governmental aggregation under section 4928.20 of the Revised Code may register with the public utilities commission to appear on the "do not aggregate" list.
(B) The commission, by rule, shall establish a "do not aggregate" list. The commission shall maintain the "do not aggregate" list and make it publicly available on the commission's web site.
(C) If a customer is enrolled in a governmental aggregation program at the time the customer first appears on the "do not aggregate" list, the governmental aggregator shall remove the customer from the program at the next two-year opt out opportunity that is available to the customer under division (D) of section 4928.20 of the Revised Code.
Section 2. That existing section 4928.20 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.
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