DPL WORKERS TOLD THEY’LL BE WORKING FOR AES OCT. 1

Power company’s parent transferring assets to subsidiary.

Dayton Power & Light has sent about 300 letters to union-represented power plant employees informing them that they will no longer be DPL employees as of Oct. 1.

Instead, they will be employees of AES Ohio Generation, said Greg Adams, president of Local 175 of the Utility Workers Union of America.

Members are concerned, Adams said. The letters are being distributed in the midst of contract negotiations.

“It’s the unknown,” he said. “The company has made some statements out there that have not been defined ... All our questions have not been answered.”

The company’s contract with the union expires Oct. 31, Adams said.

The letters are being sent in the wake of a federal regulatory body’s approval of the transfer of DPL power generation assets to an offshoot of the company that owns DPL.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the transfer of the facilities late last month from the Dayton utility to AES Ohio Generation.

“They explain that upon receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals for the proposed transaction and implementation of the proposed transaction, Dayton Power’s existing portfolio of generation assets will be owned by AES Ohio.

This includes Dayton Power’s interests in 13 coal, oil, and gasfired generating units and one solar unit, totaling 2,510 megawatts,” the FERC wrote in an Aug. 29 decision.

Last year, a spokesman for the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel said the office is on guard against any attempt by DPL to get consumers to “subsidize” the transfer to AES Ohio Generation.

DPL is owned by Arlington, Va.based AES Corp.

In August 2016, DPL filed with FERC for approval to turn its mostly coal-fired power plants over to AES Ohio Generation.

A message seeking comment was left with a DPL spokeswoman Thursday. A message was also left with a spokesman with the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, a body that represents Ohio utility customers.

Earlier this year, in a filing with the state, DPL said it was committed to selling its ownership in three generation stations in Ohio. The three stations are the Conesville station in Conesville; Miami Fort in North Bend; and Zimmer in Moscow. All three are coal-fired facilities.

And last week, DPL acknowledged that it was sending about a dozen finance and accounting jobs to Argentina.

“This is all stuff they have sprung on us in the past week as part of contract negotiations,” Adams said. “We have a ton of questions that they have failed to answer up to this point.”

DPL has about 515,000 customers in 24 Western Ohio counties.