Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today sent two letters to Mr. Alan Schriber, Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), in advance of tomorrow’s Commission meeting to discuss proposed changes involving FirstEnergy Corporation that will affect consumers. Kucinich calls for the reinstatement of the “all-electric” discount, but requests that FirstEnergy bear any additional costs resulting from that discount. Kucinich also objects to proposed changes that would force consumers to the bear any of the costs incurred by FirstEnergy’s botched plan to require customers to purchase light bulbs that consumers did not want.
In one letter, Congressman Kucinich writes, “This Wednesday, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio will be considering restoration of the all-electric home rate. I strongly support the restoration of the all-electric rate, but I do not believe that the restoration of that rate should place any additional cost burden on other homeowners. Any offsetting costs should be borne by the party that originally caused this problem—FirstEnergy Corporation.”
In his second letter, Kucinich again advocated for ratepayer protection by writing, “FirstEnergy is asking the Ohio Public Utilities Commission to allow it to recoup $772,000 of ‘costs’ that FirstEnergy claims it incurred in its attempt to force its customers to overpay for CFLs that they didn’t want and didn’t need. … The Public Utilities Commission should not reimburse a utility for the consequences of its management’s bad business decisions.”
