Ohio AG files lawsuit to block nuclear bailout fees
COLUMBUS – Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost wants to block new fees set to hit ratepayers’ electric bills soon, calling them a $150 million shakedown for nuclear plants in northern Ohio.
Yost filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court Friday to prevent the new fee from showing up on ratepayers’ electric bills starting Jan. 1. Cincinnati and Columbus previously sued to achieve that same goal.
“The people of Ohio are about to be shaken down for money they should not pay and will never be able to get back,” Yost wrote in the complaint.
This new lawsuit is different from one Yost filed in September. The previous lawsuit would have collected the fees but not distributed them to Energy Harbor, previously called Firstenergy Solutions, which owns two nuclear plants in northern Ohio.
In the new complaint, Yost says facts have changed in recent weeks.
Two defendants, Firstenergy Solutions lobbyist Juan Cespedes and former Speaker Larry Householder’s political adviser Jeff Longstreth, have pleaded guilty to the bribery scheme, in which nearly $61 million from energy companies was exchanged for a law to subsidize the plants.
Firstenergy Corp. has ousted several leaders, including CEO Chuck Jones. The company, in its Securities and Exchange Commission filings, announced plans to reduce capital expenditures in anticipation of federal criminal or civil fines, according to the complaint.
The new fee would collect $150 million each year and be distributed to Energy Harbor starting in April. Once that money is collected, Ohio has no process to refund it.
Meanwhile, Republicans who control the Ohio Statehouse can’t agree on how to repeal or replace House Bill 6.