Kasich Looking Into AEP Rate Hikes

Ohio township and school district officials said on Thursday that they were concerned about recent AEP electricity rate hikes.

AEP rates were raised for some small business owners after AEP received approval from the state in December to increase rates for small companies while giving breaks to larger ones.

AEP officials said that the rate increase was the result of deferred payments that the company did not pass along to small businesses for years but were paid for by bigger electric consumers, 10TV’s Kevin Landers reported.

John Wheeler of Noble Township said that he was not sure his small government could withstand the increase.

“We’re a real rural small county, and we don’t have the money to offset the extra cost,” Wheeler said.

Washington Township trustee John Torrens said that he does not understand why the state would approve the increase knowing that it would hurt small businesses.

“I think it’s going to hurt everybody, and I’m hoping that the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio that’s looking into this has asked the proper questions,” Torrens said.

School districts also were concerned about the hike, Landers reported.

Michael Straughter of Gahanna-Jefferson Schools said that the school district spent $1 million for electricity last year and projected that number to increase by about $2.4 million this year.

“We were told to look at an increase of anywhere between 25 up to 150 percent,” Straughter said. “We will have to find that money within existing funds.”

To offset costs, the district said that it would look to reduce costs by using more energy efficient equipment and possibility using solar power, Landers reported.

Gov. John Kasich, who appointed the PUCO commissioner, told 10TV News on Thursday that he planned to make a call to the head of the commission to find out what, if anything, could be done to help those struggling to pay the higher rates.

Kasich said that the goal of the AEP increase was to help reduce bills in the future.

The result, Kasich said, would be to make the state more attractive to companies looking to move to Ohio.

“Sometimes, when you do these things, you don’t see the upfront benefit, but what’s most important, do we become a lower-cost energy state overtime?”

Kasich said that he was concerned about the issue and planned to follow up.

A spokesperson for PUCO said that it was in the process of decision if the commission would conduct a re-hearing on the rate decision, Landers reported.

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