Joe Uecker

State Representative

09/03/07

Summer’s almost over; Legislators prepare to return to Columbus:

Seen as the traditional end of summer (although summer not officially over until the equinox on September 23 this year at 9:51am), Labor Day began over a hundred years ago as a tribute to the labor cause. It was during a time in America of labor and skilled trade unrest.  Congress rushed through legislation after a violent railroad strike left two dead and a nation at odds.  A reluctant President Grover Cleveland signed the bill into law as a campaign promise. 

In the heyday of the 1950’s nearly 50% of all U.S. workers belonged to unions.  While today less than 15% belong, all workers in America benefit from the labor movement; the least of which is the long weekend observed the first Monday in September.  I hope yours was celebrated with friends and family.

Speaking of labor, I have recently received notice from the Speaker of the House of Representatives that it’s time to get back to work in Columbus.  We have sessions scheduled starting next week.  It is no secret that we have to start work on developing a process for “re-regulating” the electric industry.

Several General Assembly’s ago, as a way to stimulate competition among electricity suppliers (which should translate to mean lower –or at least stabilized- utility rates), the industry was “de-regulated”.  Many who remember their economics classes (I have had to brush off my old books several times lately) you may recall that in a pure market economy prices should be influenced by supply and demand with no outside interference.  So, you might ask, why are areas of Ohio seeing various levels of rate increases? Why didn’t “de-regulation” work?  That is because Ohio didn’t fully de-regulate the electric industry. They still kept rate increase caps on certain components of your utility bill.  This in effect let the air out of the deregulation competition balloon. 

We here in Southern Ohio have been enjoying relatively low utility rates but in other parts of Ohio and the Nation, they have been running people out of house and home. Rate increase caps in Ohio are set to expire at the end of next year.  This is why we have to do something now. 

Remember what I said earlier about “supply and demand”?  Take Duke Energy for example.  In Ohio, Duke regularly operates supplying electricity at a deficit on the average of 1200 megawatts more than it generates from its plants.  This means they have to “buy” electrons from other producers.  As our demand continues to rise (from both business and residential growth), the supply shrinks and guess what… that’s right, prices go up.

The trick here will be to create legislation to keep rates from rising too high and too fast but at the same time make an economic incentive for suppliers to be able to build additional electric generation plants and also to have incentives for the average electric user to do whatever they can to conserve energy.  Many of the conservation incentives are already in place due to legislation I proposed (HB251) two years ago and signed into law earlier this year.  However, more will need to be done.

Electric re-regulation will be a difficult and tedious task. The stakes are high. Both high rates and short supplies can have a dramatic effect on the efforts we have done so far to turn Ohio’s economy around.  I have spent most of my summer attending meetings and seminars on the various aspects of this topic. Our time frame is short but the far-reaching nature of this topic demands this General Assembly’s fullest attention.

For those of you who have any thoughts on the matter, please feel free to either call me or send me an email with your comments.

High School Football season, the surest signal of the impending autumn, is in full swing now and good luck to all for a safe and prosperous season. 

Do you have any comments regarding what is in store for Ohio’s energy policies?  If you do, please feel free to forward your comments to me.  I’d love to hear from you. Simply call me at my office at (614-466-8134) or write me an email (Joe@JoeUecker.com). 

Joe Uecker

State Representative

Ohio’s 66 District

Representing Batavia, Goshen, Miami and Union Townships as well as the Cities of Loveland and Milford and the Villages of Batavia and Amelia. 

Columbus Phone: 614-466-8134

Local Phone: 513-532-0912

Email:   Joe@JoeUecker.com

Website: http://JoeUecker.com