The Ohio Senate recently approved an amended version of Governor Ted Strickland's energy plan in a 32-0 vote last week.
Strickland's energy proposal, titled "Energy, Jobs and Progress," is focused on keeping electricity rates stable and encouraging use of renewable energy sources, according to Keith Dailey, press secretary for Strickland.
Sub Senate Bill 221, which houses the proposal, will now make its way through the House in a hearing process that will take several weeks and possibly months, according to Dailey. Hearings started Nov. 7 in the House Public Utilities Committee.
Senator Gary Cates, who represents Ohio's 4th District, which includes Oxford, voted in favor of the bill, according to Sarah Spence, administrative assistant for Cates. Cates was unavailable for comment.
Strickland's energy proposal is based upon three primary goals, Dailey explained.
"The governor designed this proposal with the specific goal of aiming to avoid excessive cost increases, both for individuals and businesses," Dailey said. "This will ensure that electric rates are stable and predictable in years to come."
Dailey said the first goal is to protect Ohio consumers and the Ohio job market by making sure energy prices are stable, predictable and affordable.
Electric rates set by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio expire at the end of 2008, but the bill is set to freeze the rates, he said. These rates differ depending on location.
Second, the bill is designed to attract energy jobs of the future through the Ohio Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard.
This standard calls for at least 25 percent of energy produced in Ohio to come from advanced energy by 2025.
These renewable sources include hydropower, solar power and clean coal technologies, Dailey said. Clean coal resources will work to reduce carbon emissions and help protect the environment against effects of global warming.
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Coal plays an important role as an energy source and Strickland is hoping to move toward making it a more diversified energy source.
Lastly, the plan will safeguard Ohio families by empowering consumers to demand greater efficiency and service from their utility companies. This can be accomplished by encouraging investment and modernization of Ohio's energy infrastructure, which will not only benefit consumers but also protect and secure the state's economy, according to Dailey.
Chiou Chen, professor of electrical and computer engineering, said that Ohio ranks very high on the state list for energy consumption.
He said that he sees Strickland's energy plan as an essential move for the future of energy consumption.
"I think the governor is going in the right direction with this bill," Chen said. "We need to pay more attention to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power and prepare for the future."
The department of paper and chemical engineering is contributing to working on research with solar energy. Also the department of chemistry has faculty members working on fuel cell research and hydrogen as an energy source.
Steve Brash, Ohio and Kentucky's media representative for Duke Energy, said utilities nationwide are rising because of higher costs for coal and natural gas that generate electricity, higher environmental compliance costs from new regulations and limited supplies of electricity due to increasing customer demand.
He said that the bill's proposals would help protect its customers from sky-rocketing rates.
"This bill would set mechanisms that allow Duke Energy to reflect these increases in the generation charges, while insulating customers from the volatility of the wholesale market," Brash said.
He said that the market is going upward and will continue to rise as reserve margins in the Midwest decline. At current trends, the current reserve will be fully used by 2012. This will result in prices going up as the market tightens. Duke Energy Ohio has proposed construction of a new clean coal generating plant that would add supply to the company's portfolio.
Strickland outlined his principles for the proposal in May of this year. In August he laid out the energy jobs proposal in more detail.
The proposal was made into a bill in September.
"The governor is hopeful that the bill will be finalized before January of 2009," Dailey said. "This will allow sufficient time to prepare for the changes the bill makes."
Although the bill is a modified version of Strickland's proposed plan, the governor said that the Senate made sensible improvements and enhanced the bill while retaining the three core goals, according to Daily.
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