COLUMBUS, Ohio — A state audit of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio shows that bills have spiked dramatically, and the agency exhibits a lack of preparation for rising energy needs.
Northeast Ohioans have been dealing with spotty coverage and repeated blackouts from utility giant FirstEnergy.
"I've been here 25 years, never been through anything like this," Don Nottage, a Lakewood resident, said.
The community has been demanding accountability and financial relief from the company following years of power outages. In September, FirstEnergy sent a letter to customers apologizing for the outages and outlining its plans to improve reliability.
"People lost money. People lost material. Businesses lost days of business, and we shouldn't be going through this," Nottage said.
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State Auditor Keith Faber and his team conducted an audit of the PUCO, which showed they have let energy prices increase 34% since 2022, all while companies are petitioning for additional hikes.
"I would ask FirstEnergy, if in their conscience they're okay with raising rates on us, given the profits they're already making," Nottage said.
The state also found that the commission is lacking in several key areas. It consistently misses deadlines on rate cases and doesn’t fully gather data on its operations. PUCO doesn’t have a strategic plan to deal with rising electricity demand, data center growth and all new policies they need to follow due to 2025 legislation.
House Bill 15, a massive energy policy overhaul, required not only this audit but also new procedures to make PUCO more transparent.
"It is gonna take some time for the agencies to get in alignment," state Rep. Adam Mathews (R-Lebanon) said in an interview.
Mathews wants to give the agency some grace. Like the PUCO, he says the lawmakers need to get data center policy in place, too. He added that with the influx of data centers, the ones raising costs need to pay their own way.
"Many times when they're bringing their own power, which is what they should be doing, they even have an overflow of power — so that it can help the communities and bring down the rates in those places," the Republican said.
The audit points out that the state needs more power generation, and state Sen. Kent Smith is blaming Republicans for the lack of options.
"We used to have a bunch of utility-scale solar projects coming to Ohio that stopped five years ago," Smith said in an interview.
Through legislation, Republicans have favored fossil fuels and vastly restricted green energy development for over a decade. The PUCO pointed out a sharp decline in these types of projects that would have provided cheap energy.
"They're a result of anti-competitive policies adopted by the Statehouse Republicans," Smith said.
The PUCO has been at the center of our investigations for years, as former Chair Sam Randazzo faced dozens of charges related to bribery in connection with House Bill 6 and the FirstEnergy corruption scheme. Randazzo killed himself before either trial. FirstEnergy, the company, admitted to bribing public officials in order to get favorable rulings from the PUCO.
In the audit, the state raised concerns that because of PUCO’s lack of planning, they may not be able to effectively oversee the agency and companies as demand grows. Consumers like Nottage are already asking for more oversight of FirstEnergy.
"We're the ones that deserve a break," Nottage said.
The utilities commission claims they are prepared, just maybe not by the state auditor’s metrics.
Follow Statehouse and Columbus bureau reporter Morgan Trau on X, Instagram and Facebook. Email her at Morgan.Trau@wews.com.
