Columbus, OHIO – Today, the Ohio legislature passed HB15 and sent it on to Governor DeWine to sign into law. Included in this omnibus energy bill is a critically important and long-overdue repeal of the OVEC coal plant bailout. This bailout was originally instituted by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and was later expanded and extended as a result of the infamously corrupt House Bill 6 at the expense of Ohio electric customers. The OVEC coal plant bailout forced Ohio electric utility customers to cover the costs of two unprofitable, uncompetitive, Eisenhower-era coal plants: the Kyger Creek plant in Ohio and the Clifty Creek plant in Indiana (a state which is, very notably, not Ohio). 

As a result of this bailout, Ohioans had no choice but to pay around half a million dollars a day to bail out the financially failing OVEC coal plants and cover the bad business decisions of the Ohio electric utilities that own the plants. As of today, the OVEC coal bailout has cost Ohioans more than $467,000,000.

In response to today’s momentous repeal passage, Neil Waggoner, Midwest Beyond Coal Campaign Manager, issued the following statement on behalf of the Sierra Club: 

“The OVEC bailout has long been not only a financial burden on Ohio electricity customers but also cast a dark shadow over our state’s reputation. This bailout served no benefit except to cover the costs of bad business decisions Ohio electric utilities made years ago that they now don’t want to be held responsible for. The fact that this repeal passed through the legislature with almost unanimous bipartisan support is a testament to how fed up Ohioans were with utility efforts to keep this expensive, no-benefit, indefensible bailout in place. Ohio legislators–both Republicans and Democrats–should be commended here for finally taking action and putting an end to this bailout once and for all.”

HB15 now awaits Governor DeWine’s signature. Governor DeWine has previously stated his support for the repeal of the OVEC bailout.

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