Tuesday October 11, 2016

Did you know October is officially Energy Action Month in the U.S.? The aim is to “encourage diverse, clean, and efficient energy production.” So if anyone is planning to make an important decision related to the energy future of, say…I don’t know, the nation’s 7th most populous state, please keep that in mind.

On a related note, keep your eyes and ears open for news from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) tomorrow! 

And ICYMI in Crain’s Cleveland this weekend: The conservative argument for protecting customers and competition, aka not rubber-stamping FirstEnergy's bailout. You can always visit EDF’s FirstEnergy website for our newsletter archive and links to the latest news about FirstEnergy’s bailout.

FirstEnergy Mismanagement Déjà Vu

A new book, entitled The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future, reminds us that FirstEnergy’s current problems (refresher: trying to pass off blame for bad business decisions) are not the first of their kind.

In 2002, the utility’s Davis-Besse nuclear reactor suffered a near catastrophic eruption of radioactive coolant. The culprit: FirstEnergy’s management failed to address the growing rust in the reactor’s containment vessel, creating a hole the size of a pineapple. In fact, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission fined the utility $5 million – the largest penalty the agency ever levied – because utility officials repeatedly requested to delay inspections and steered inspectors away from the reactor’s most damaged areas.

About a year later, FirstEnergy’s failure to trim trees and conduct other basic maintenance played a leading role in our nation’s largest blackout, curtailing power to some 50 million people in eight states for two days. The book recalls a government report on the blackout that apportioned blame almost exclusively to FirstEnergy. Chuck Jones, now the utility’s CEO but then VP for energy delivery, “vigorously defended the company against allegations that it was the primary cause of the blackout.”

It seems this is not Mr. Jones’ first time at the defend-your-company’s-bad-business-practices rodeo.

Midwest is Key Electricity Market Battleground

A new op-ed from our own Dick Munson in October’s POWER Magazine underscores the Midwest’s importance in the battle for America’s energy future. The piece highlights how nervous utilities are trying to undo competitive electricity markets (more on that in the next item), with Illinois and Ohio serving as ground zero.

By seeking subsidies for its aging, ailing power plant fleet, FirstEnergy's requests – if granted – would mess with the market and distort necessary price signals. Out-of-market moves like this will, according to Tony Clark formerly of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), lead to “a really, really unsustainable future.”

Anyone concerned with fair, affordable electricity should really, really be paying attention.

Ohio Utilities Still Trying to Make Re-Monopolization Happen

ICYMI, last month Columbus Business First reported on AEP’s efforts to garner support for “restructuring” Ohio’s electric market, aka bringing back the glory days of monopolies and guaranteed profits, aka re-monopolization. (You may remember AEP as FirstEnergy’s bailout buddy earlier this year. That is, until FERC blocked the deals, and AEP decided to see what’s behind door number two. FirstEnergy, meanwhile, continues to bang relentlessly on door number one.)

As reporter Tom Knox points out, AEP would prefer if you didn’t call it 're-regulation.' The utility is merely seeking “a plan to have legislators re-write the state's de-regulated rules.” Or as FirstEnergy’s CFO explains in what has to be the opposite of layman’s terms, "convert megawatts from the unregulated market to a regulated construct."

AEP’s CEO also boldly claims “everyone is unhappy with the current legislation that de-regulated Ohio's electricity market.”

Ok, so “everyone” = only the powerful utilities that can’t compete anymore, and trying to un-do deregulation ≠ re-regulation. Got it.