Ohio Utilities Seek To Keep Reasons for Public "Bailout" Secret from Public

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Ohio Utilities Seek To Keep Reasons for Public "Bailout" Secret from Public

December 17, 2014

Three major electric utilities want the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to make ratepayers pay for aging and unprofitable coal and nuclear generation plants in that state. But the ratepayers — the utilities claim — aren't entitled to know whether they might be ripped off.

FirstEnergy, Duke Energy, and American Electric Power want to prop the plants up with a power purchase agreement that would guarantee the utilities don't lose money. The Sierra Club and electrical customer groups have opposed the deal as a "bailout."

Is it a bailout or not? The public (whose "Public" Utilities Commission regulates the deal) would not be allowed to know, if the utilities get their way. They claim their cost and revenue projections are "confidential" information.