Public Utilities Commission of Ohio

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) is the public utilities commission of the U.S. state of Ohio, charged with the regulation of utility service providers such as those of electricity, natural gas, and telecommunications as well as railroad safety and intrastate hazardous materials transport.

There are several ways by which the Commission attempts to do this:^[1]

Enforcement of laws against service deemed unfair or unsafe
Hearing disputes between utilities and residential, business, and industrial customers, as well as between competing utilities.
Assuring availability of residential, business, and industrial utility services
Providing consumers with relevant information about their rights and responsibilities
Regulating rates for utility services in which there is little to no competition (i.e. electricity and natural gas services)
Periodically creating and changing Ohio Administrative Code that is related to its mission
Acting in some manner to relate the relevant Administrative Code to the regulated and deregulated commercial utility activity

Following the move toward deregulation of retail energy during the 1990s, the Ohio legislature set forth provisions for allowing competitive retail energy suppliers, in addition to the main distribution utility companies.

Commissioners

There are five commissioners (one of whom serves as chairman) as well as approximately 320 agency employees. Each commissioner is appointed by the residing governor to a five-year term. Current commissioners are:^[2]

Andre T. Porter (chair), through April 2020
Lynn Slaby, through April 2017
Asim Z. Haque, through April 2016
Thomas W. Johnson, through April 2019
M. Beth Trombold, through April 2018

EPA Clean Power Plan

In February 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "Clean Power Plan" pending judicial review. The plan is a federal program with the goal of decreasing carbon emissions from power plants. To meet its goal, the EPA created targets for reducing carbon dioxide, with the levels varying state to state. Each state must develop its own plan to meet the EPA targets, which begin in 2022.^[3]

PUCO has litigated against the Clean Power Plan on the grounds that it violates the Federal Power Act and violates states' rights. Despite the state's opposition to the plan, PUCO said that Ohio is prepared to plan for implementation of new rules and regulations in the event that the plan survives legal challenges (PUCO's Division of Air Pollution Control is responsible for the implementation). PUCO's chairman, Asim Hague, said that the commission analyzed how much the Clean Power Plan would cost Ohio consumers and that "we believe those costs to be hefty."^[4]

On May 18, 2016, Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill, House Resolution 29, by a vote of 71 to 22 that would "effectively nullify the Clean Power Plan in Ohio" by not allowing Ohio to implement regulations per the Clean Power Plan.^[5]

Notes

↑ PUCO website
↑ "Commissioners". PUCO.Ohio.gov. Retrieved 23 Jun 2015.
↑ "U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan – 111(d) Rules". www.epa.ohio.gov. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
↑ "PUCO chief says state in good position if Clean Power Plan stay lifted - Daily Energy Insider". 2016-06-13. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
↑ "Ohio Rejects EPA's Clean Power Plan". The Daily Caller. Retrieved 2016-07-20.

External links

Ohio state agencies

Administrative departments	Administrative Services Aging Agriculture Budget and Management Commerce Development Services Developmental Disabilities Education Environmental Protection Health Insurance Job and Family Services Medicaid Mental Health and Addiction Services Natural Resources Public Safety Rehabilitation and Correction Taxation Transportation Veterans Services Youth Services

Other	Adjutant General Casino Control Commission Health Transformation Public Utilities Commission Board of Regents Workers' Compensation

List of public utilities commissions in North America

Canada	Alberta British Columbia Manitoba New Brunswick Newfoundland and Labrador Northwest Territories Nova Scotia Nunavut Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Yukon Territory

Caribbean	Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Dominica Dominican Republic Grenada Jamaica Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sint Maarten Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands U.S. Virgin Islands

Oceania	American Samoa Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Guam

United States	Federal DOE FERC FCC Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia PUC WMATC Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas PUC RRC Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

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