This Letter to the Editor appeared in The Columbus Dispatch.

At the turn of the 21st century, Ohio policymakers broke up utility monopolies to foster competition, increase customer choice and save consumers money. Unfortunately, there are special interests who want to undo these important reforms.

When electricity companies compete for business it encourages innovation and lowers prices. It also means that the companies — not customers — pay for projects that don’t pan out. Proposals from American Electric Power to develop solar power plants under a monopoly system undermine the reforms that have lowered energy costs for so many Ohioans.

While AEP claims the new plants will save consumers money, its claims rely on complex, nontransparent modeling of costs over time. If AEP is confident of cost savings, the company should put its own money at risk, not gamble with its customers’. These concerns isn’t the institute’s alone. They have also been expressed by the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel and by staff at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

If AEP is allowed to circumvent pro-consumer market reforms, their consumers will be the ones to suffer.

Greg Lawson
Research Fellow
The Buckeye Institute
Columbus