Top candidates for Ohio House speaker back bailouts for utilities that back their campaigns
Updated on May 11, 2018: We’ve updated this post with a response from Rep. Larry Householder regarding his flight to Washington, D.C. aboard FirstEnergy’s corporate jet for President Donald Trump’s inauguration, and why he later sponsored a bill to bail out...
A growing trend: West Virginia candidates sign pledge to refuse utility contributions
Seven candidates running for the West Virginia House of Delegates this year have recently signed a pledge to not take campaign donations from monopoly utilities. The pledge, titled “Represent Us, Not Utilities” was created by the nonprofit organization Solar United Neighbors,...
Indiana lawmaker with history of receiving gifts from utilities, sponsoring utility-friendly legislation, now to join commission that regulates them
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb announced last week that he selected State Representative Dave Ober (R-Albion), chair of the House Committee on Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications and frequent recipient of utility contributions and gifts, to fill a vacancy on the body...
Five Ohio Supreme Court justices received FirstEnergy campaign cash before they axed a $43 million refund to the utility’s customers
Five of the six Ohio Supreme Court justices who ruled that FirstEnergy does not have to refund $43.4 million to customers have received campaign contributions from FirstEnergy. The Ohio Supreme Court’s January 24, 2018 decision came more than four years...
Utility Companies Quick To Fund Republican Governors and Attorneys General in 2017
The nation’s investor-owned utilities have been quick to help Republican governors and attorneys general maintain and expand their control of state capitals, according to a review of mid-year campaign finance filings. Utilities, along with several of their executives, have contributed...
Utility Industry Set To Get Another Ally Inside The Trump Administration
Mark Menezes has spent decades working in the electric utility industry, mostly alongside corporate lobbying teams.
AEP proposes to hike fixed charges in latest affront to low income customers
AEP Ohio’s proposal to increase fixed charges would hurt low-income customers, the same people this powerful electric utility pretends to represent when it attacks clean energy policies, and fits into the company’s long record of poor treatment of its most...
Insider Emails: Polluter Lobbyists Behind Clean Energy Standards Freeze in Ohio
Insider emails confirm the undue influence of polluter lobbyists and special interest groups over the controversial Energy Mandates Study Committee report that recommended an extension of the freeze on clean energy standards in Ohio. The Ohio House of Representatives and...
American Electric PowerAmerican Legislative Exchange CouncilFirstEnergyInstitute for Energy ResearchRenewable Energy Standards
Follow the money behind attacks on clean energy in Ohio
December 28, 2016 update: Republican Governor John Kasich has vetoed legislation – HB 554 – that would have effectively extended the freeze on Ohio’s clean energy standards for another two years by making them voluntary. The standards will now be unfrozen on...