The state’s energy regulators are reviewing a plan that would guarantee income for two utilities that have coal plants – and it would come from increased costs on monthly electric bills. Now Ohio’s manufacturers are taking a stand against the proposal.
Manufacturing accounts for more than 670,000 jobs in Ohio and provides the highest annual wages of any industry in the state
But the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association warns that the proposals by AEP and FirstEnergy to raise electric bills to pay for coal plants could put a major burden on companies.
Brad Belden with OMA’s energy policy group says, over the course of eight years, small manufacturers could be spending $37,000 more on their electric bills and large companies could see an increase of $37 million.
“This is an uncompetitive business model that we’ve gotten ourselves in and we disagree that we should have to shoulder these costs,” said Belden.
The utilities tout their plans as ways to ensure reliability on the power grid to avoid outages.
But opponents call them coal plant bailouts.
