State Sen. Bill Seitz, one of the architects of Ohio’s first-of-its-kind freeze on renewable energy mandates, will sit on the committee that considers the state’s alternative energy future.
Senate Bill 310 passed in June and becomes effective Friday. The centerpiece of the bill that places a two-year freeze on renewable and energy efficiency standards passed in 2008 is an Energy Mandates Study Committee. Twelve state legislators and Tom Johnson, chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, must submit a report of the committee’s findings.
No members have been announced. A spokeswoman for Senate President Keith Faber, R-Celina, co-sponsor of the bill, said appointees will be announced after the bill is in effect. The Senate’s legal counsel told Seitz he would be one of the six Senate members on the committee.
“The committee has until September of next year to conduct a review. From my perspective, the sooner the better,” Seitz told me.
The Cincinnati Republican is chairman of the Senate’s powerful Public Utilities Committee and helped lead the charge to reconsider the state’s requirements that 25 percent of Ohio’s energy come from alternative energy by 2025.
Meeting dates have not yet been scheduled for the committee, whose report will include a cost-benefit analysis of renewable and energy efficiency and whether electric customers should have an opt-in option for mandates.
Proponents of the bill, including Ohio’s electric utilities, say the mandates will increase power bills in coming years.
Ohio is the first state to roll back its standards.