The freeze on energy efficiency and renewable energy rules in Ohio would take the state back to the rust belt days, say opponents of a bill to freeze the mandates for three years.
View full sizeFreezing energy efficiency rules could kill jobs, say opponents of SB 310. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Opponents of a bill that would freeze state energy efficiency and renewable energy mandates are going over the heads of lawmakers -- with a television ad asserting the freeze would "send us back to the rust belt."
The TV spot, which follows the release of an analysis predicting soaring monthly electric bills if the freeze is enacted, began airing Monday on network and cable channels in Columbus.
The TV campaign comes as the bill written by the Senate Republican majority to freeze efficiency and renewable mandates through 2016 is headed for passage in the House, possibly as early as Wednesday. The Senate approved Senate Bill 310 on May 8.
Some large industrial companies are opposed to the mandates and support the bill. Other manufacturers support the efficiency mandates and oppose the freeze. The Ohio Consumers' Counsel is opposed to the bill, as written, and has suggested lawmakers look more broadly into parts of the law that seem to favor utilities over consumers.
The ad argues the 2008 energy requiring power companies to use more renewable power annually and to help customers use less electricity has helped create jobs. The ad urges viewers to call their lawmakers and tell them to oppose the bill.
The 30-second spot seems to mix energy technologies as it takes the viewer from the wreckage of a closed rust belt factory to a sunny and blue sky scene of solar and wind projects, a new gas pipeline, a foam insulation project, and then back to the wreckage of a dead factory.
"Now just as our comeback is gaining steam, our state is trying to pass a law that will shut down new energy job growth and send us back to the rust belt," the narrator explains. "We can't let that happen."
The Ohio Advanced Energy Economy, a trade group, and the Ohio Partners for Affordable Energy, an advocacy group for moderate-to-low-income families, teamed up to commission the television ad.
"Ohio's energy standards are saving consumers money and creating a wave of new jobs in a growing industry," said Ted Ford, CEO of Ohio Advanced Energy Economy. "This TV spot focuses on the economic damage that will be caused if SB 310 becomes law."
The two organizations also commissioned a short analysis on monthly electric bills by a retired Ohio Consumer's Counsel energy analyst Wilson Gonzalez.
Using assumptions and data in reports that the state's utilities file every three years with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Gonzalez calculated a kind of "what-if" scenario -- what if the current law were left alone and what if it were frozen.
Arguing that energy efficiency saves electricity -- and therefore has suppressed wholesale power prices, Gonzalez reasoned that without additional efficiency gains over the next three years prices would rise.
"The utility efficiency and peak demand reduction portfolio plans that have been filed and approved by the PUCO show significant consumer bill savings, net of cost, of the energy efficiency and peak demand programs," Gonzalez wrote. "This shows that customers will indeed incur additional costs if the energy efficiency programs are postponed for two years."
Specifically, he concluded that residential customers would pay, on average, nearly $110 more during the freeze than they would have if the programs were left intact.
As for commercial customers -- those using an average of 300,000 kilowatt-hours per month -- Gonzalez concluded than they would pay an average of $23,000 more than they would if the programs were left intact.
"One hundred and ten dollars is a lot to many Ohioans," said Dave Rinebolt, executive director of Ohio Partners for Affordable Energy, in a prepared statement. "The food pantries run by our member agencies are overwhelmed at the end of the month and some Ohioans can't afford the medications they require." Saving an amount equal to one to two months of electric bills has a huge impact on these families and seniors."