PUCO Decision Rejecting Coal Plant Bailout Is a Winner Both For Ohio Consumers and the Environment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David Jakubiak (312) 795-3713 or [email protected]

STATEMENT BY HOWARD A. LEARNER
Executive Director, Environmental Law & Policy Center

“PUCO’s decision today recognizes that consumers should not be forced to subsidize aging, polluting coal plants. That’s a win for Ohioans. We hope the Commission will continue to thoroughly scrutinize any future proposals to ensure that utilities don’t engage in self-dealing that forces customers to bailout plants that aren’t economically competitive. Let’s advance cleaner, more efficient energy sources.

“We believe that this ruling lays the groundwork for the Commission to reject similar proposals by FirstEnergy and Duke,” added Learner. “That said, we’ll continue our work to show that bailouts like this go against consumer interests and harm the environment. We hope that the Commission will apply the same thorough scrutiny to these pending cases as it did to AEP’s claims.”