As the debate heats up over Gov. Ted Strickland’s energy plan, Ohio’s largest utility has doubts. However, some trade associations and organized labor groups are supportive.

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Friday, October 5, 2007 4:17 AM

Utilities rip Strickland’s plan
Biggest companies say competition exists for energy deregulation
By Paul Wilson

Electricity customers in Ohio could face much higher bills if Gov. Ted Strickland’s energy plan is approved, the leader of the state’s largest utility said yesterday.

Tony Alexander, president and chief executive of Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp., said there’s enough competition for electricity customers to keep prices from rising sharply when markets are set to be deregulated in Ohio at the end of next year.

“The push to change Ohio law should be driven by facts, not fear — fear that competitive markets don’t exist for electricity, which simply isn’t true,” Alexander said in testimony before the state Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee.

Strickland and others say the governor’s plan would keep rates from skyrocketing. Under the plan, utilities would be forced to prove they have competition for selling electricity before they could move to market-based pricing.

Ohio and many other states have moved to deregulate their electricity markets. The hope was that customers could buy electricity from independent power providers instead of just the utilities whose wires are connected to their homes.

Proponents believed that competition would lower prices. But Strickland and others — including some manufacturers, labor leaders and the Ohio Farm Bureau — say competition never emerged in states where deregulation already has taken place. They also fear what might occur when full deregulation is set to take effect in Ohio in 2009.

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