AEP, other Ohio utilities could own nuclear power plants under state bill

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Dive Brief:

American Electric Power, FirstEnergy and other electric utility companies could own nuclear power plants in Ohio — a state that generally bars utilities from owning generation — under a bill introduced earlier this month in the Ohio House.

Generally, H.B. 862 requires the costs of a nuclear power plant to only be paid for by a customer or group of customers that have agreed to buy the plant’s output under a long-term contract.

Referring to the FirstEnergy bribery scandal involving nuclear power subsidies, the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association on May 13 said the bill revives “the House Bill 6 playbook by giving monopoly utilities a new path back into generation ownership and putting the financial risk on customers’ electric bills.”