Derek Merrin Voted For A Bill Which Retained Surcharges To Help For The Creation Of Two FirstEnergy-Owned Coal Plants

Merrin Voted For H.B. 128. [Ohio General Assembly, HB 128, Votes, 3/25/21]

H.B. 128 Did A Partial Repeal Of H.B. 6 And Retained Its Subsidies For Utility-Scale Solar Projects And For Two Coal Plants. “The final nail in the coffin of Ohio’s nuclear subsidies occurred on March 31 when Gov. Mike DeWine signed H.B. 128, a bill passed unanimously by the state’s Senate last Thursday. Approved 86-7 by the Ohio House on March 10, H.B. 128 strips the nuclear subsidy provisions from H.B. 6, the controversial and, since last July, scandal-scarred piece of legislation signed into law in 2019 to aid Ohio’s economically challenged nuclear facilities, Davis-Besse and Perry. H.B. 128 also removes the earlier bill’s ‘decoupling’ provision, which would have been of substantial financial benefit to FirstEnergy Corporation, the former parent company of Energy Harbor, owner and operator of Davis-Besse and Perry. The new bill retains H.B. 6’s subsidies for utility-scale solar projects, however, and for two coal plants (one in Ohio, one in Indiana).” [American Nuclear Society, 3/31/21]

H.B. 6 Authorized Surcharges On Ohio Customers To Support Ohio Valley Electric Cooperative’s Coal Plants In Ohio And Indiana From 2020 To 2030. “From 2020 to 2030, the bill also authorizes an additional surcharge on Ohio customers to support coal plants in the Ohio Valley Electric Cooperative (OVEC) located in Ohio and Indiana.” [Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, 4/7/21]

• OVEC Was Partly Owned By FirstEnergy Subsidiaries. [OVEC, Shareholders, accessed 5/14/26]