The increase sought by AES Ohio — formerly Dayton Power & Light (DP&L) — would have amounted to a 14.3% increase in customer bills.
However, PUCO staff has recommended reducing the annual revenue requested by AES Ohio by nearly half — from $120,771,561 to a range between $61,115,418 and $66,665,151.
If the commission passes what PUCO staff has recommended, a customer using 750 kilowatt-hours a month would see a 5.47% increase in their bill. The increase sought by AES Ohio would have amounted to a 14.3% increase.
One kilowatt-hour is enough to watch TV for 10 hours or run a vacuum cleaner for an hour.
A PUCO staff report is not final. An evidentiary hearing will be held virtually beginning Dec. 7, at 10 a.m.
Customers can still submit comments online at www.PUCO.ohio.gov or by mail, addressed to PUCO, 180 E. Broad St., Columbus, OH 43215. Comments should include the case number 20-1651-EL-AIR.
The PUCO held two in-person public hearings on Sept. 17 and 28 in Dayton.
Keelie Gustin, chief policy officer of the Miami Valley Community Action Partnership, in September testified to her concerns about the proposed increase, saying that Dayton-area consumers are already “suffering.”
“To ask for a rate increase at this time in light of the economic impact that continues as we work through the COVID-19 pandemic and the Delta variants and subsequent variants that we know will be falling down the lane here shortly, our customers are still suffering and these are ... only the folks that we know about,” Gustin testified before the PUCO Sept. 28.
On Sept. 17, Chris Kershner, president and chief executive of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, asked visiting PUCO members “to fully consider” AES Ohio’s proposed increase.
“When it comes to utility service to our business community, there are two things that must be paramount at all times: Reliable and efficient service and corporate economic health,” Kershner said. “Businesses need certainty and reliability to operate, plan and make future investments in their companies. I’m proud to say that AES Ohio has always been on the forefront of these objectives.”
AES Ohio has said it has the lowest residential rates across Ohio’s investor-owned utilities and among the lowest residential rates in the country.
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