Northeast Ohioans Could Get Their Electricity from Nation's Leading Generator of Wind and Solar Power
The Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC) Board of Directors announced in September that it has approved a letter of intent with FPL Energy, the nation’s leading generator of wind and solar power, to supply electricity to the 126 NOPEC-member communities in Northeast Ohio over a three-year period beginning in 2009. Under the proposed transaction, FPL Energy will, through its power marketing and competitive retail subsidiaries, provide power that based on current energy prices could result in substantial cost savings for 600,000 electric consumers and exceed renewable energy use by at least 50 percent of what is required by law in nine counties in Northeast Ohio.
NOPEC is the nation’s largest government aggregator and recently sought bids from energy supplies in Ohio and across the country. NOPEC determined that FPL Energy's proposal best met the needs of NOPEC customers. Bids were sought because NOPEC's post-deregulation discount agreement with Akron-based FirstEnergy expires at the end of the year. Leigh Herington, executive director of NOPEC, said NOPEC now saves its customers five percent off the generation portion of bills as compared to the primary local competitor. NOPEC intends to match or exceed that cost savings in the agreement with FPL Energy, he said.
FPL Energy is a leading competitive energy supplier with power generation facilities in 25 states and Canada and wholesale and retail electric customers throughout the Northeast and Texas. The company has announced significant growth plans to bring new sources of wind and solar power to customers across the U.S. and is currently investigating the possibility of developing, constructing, owning and operating wind energy projects in Ohio.
Details and approvals are pending, but this developing relationship has tremendous potential to keep the local energy market competitive and give residents and businesses some relief from high energy costs," Herington said. "FPL Energy is a proven and reliable energy supplier. This agreement is a testament to large-scale governmental aggregation and the bargaining power our members have by buying power for a large group."
PUCO TO PLAY ROLE IN FINALIZING AGREEMENT
NOPEC has intervened in proceeding before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) regarding FirstEnergy’s application for authority to establish an electric security plan that would establish future electric rates for a three-year period. On behalf of its customers, NOPEC will ask the PUCO and FirstEnergy to maintain FirstEnergy’s current electric rates until FPL Energy starts supplying the load. Earlier this year, NOPEC worked closely with the Northwest Ohio Aggregation Coalition and the members of the state legislature to help residential and small business consumers continue to receive cost savings through governmental aggregation.
Senate Bill 221 recognized the importance of governmental aggregation and directs the PUCO to adopt rules that “encourage and promote large-scale governmental aggregation.” The new law provided that residential and small business customers served by a large-scale governmental aggregator do not have to pay surcharges that do not result in benefit to these customers and do not have to pay standby generation charges. This law also directed the PUCO to consider the effect on large-scale governmental aggregations of any non-bypassable generation charge when approving an electric security plan.
According to NOPEC Chairman Joseph Migliorini, “We are very pleased for the residents of Northeast Ohio that the legislature and the governor recognized the importance of the continuation of governmental aggregation, but the ‘devil’s in the details’ and our ability to complete this contract and provide future savings will depend upon the PUCO’s interpretation of SB221 in a manner that preserves access to competitive electricity supply options for governmental aggregations.”
For more information, visit www.nopecinfo.org.
What can you do to prevent skyrocketing electric costs while promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency?
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) is giving consumers an opportunity to express their views regarding their electric utilities plans for rate increases and implementing Senate Bill 221, Ohio’s new energy law.
If you believe that alternative sources of energy and savings options are important for residential and small business customers, be sure to submit comments to the PUCO. Ask the agency to make its decisions based on what is best for the customer and the environment, and that Ohio-based utilities meet or beat the standards set in SB221. The PUCO also needs to encourage large-scale governmental aggregation and ensure that organizations like the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council can provide its customers with a competitive or lower rate while investing in the renewable energy future for our state that includes strong energy efficiency standards.
Send comments to:
PUCO, Docketing Division, 180 E. Broad St., Columbus, Ohio 43215.
Include the case number 08-935-EL-SSO for FirstEnergy customers.
For more information, click on ENERGY ISSUES or email spear@earthwatchohio.org.