Ohio Committee Suspends FirstEnergy’s Nuclear Power Rescue Plan
Ohio-based FirstEnergy’s plan for a rescue of its two uncompetitive Ohio nuclear plants took a nosedive May 17, as the Ohio House Public Utilities Committee suspended action on the company’s proposal to charge its customers a fee to subsidize the plants.
FirstEnergy’s plan mimics programs adopted in Illinois and New York to create “zero energy credits,” or ZECs, allowing the company to make competitive bids into the PJM regional wholesale market.
The chairman of the House committee, William Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican, suspended further hearings on the measure (House Bill 178). “We have heard over 10 hours of testimony on this bill. I have given proponents and opponents a chance to make their case. I am not sensing a keen desire on the part of the House members to vote on this and doubt that we will have more hearings in the near future unless something cataclysmic happens,” Seitz said.
Cleveland newspaper The Plain Dealer suggested “cataclysmic events might include a decision by FirstEnergy Solutions to seek bankruptcy protection from its creditors or a decision by the company to immediately close its four nuclear power plants.”…