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The time to repair the state's regulation of electricity is now
Published on Friday, Sep 07, 2007
Now is the moment for the legislature to act, even keeping in mind how complicated, confusing and challenging the task will be.
Surely, lawmakers are aware of the whispers around the Statehouse. Many observers question whether the legislature has the smarts to get the job done. They point to a lack of experience. Few current lawmakers were around in the late 1990s when the legislature launched plans to deregulate the electricity industry in the state. Actually, that isn't a bad thing necessarily in view of the folly of deregulation.
Wait for the experience and intelligence quotient to rise among legislators? In the era of term limits, that is a formula for eternal delay.
Time is short. Speaker Jon Husted has scoffed at such thinking, referring to a ''pseudo-emergency.'' He rightly wants to address the matter in a thoughtful way. The urgency stems from the deadline looming in January 2009, the state scheduled to embrace full deregulation whether or not a functioning and enduring market exists for electricity.
Walk back the cat: In the spring of next year, an election mentality will take hold. As a result, crafting effective legislation will become all the more difficult, the process burdened heavily with partisanship. That leaves the next few months for gaining passage, and the first half of next year for regulators to work out the many details.
All of this could be postponed. The state could simply extend the temporary rate stabilization plans governing FirstEnergy and other utilities, allowing lawmakers as much as a year or two to do the work. That escape hatch eventually may be handy. For now, it should be resisted.
The many players, including armies of lobbyists and consultants, are aligned. Attention at the Statehouse is focused. Ohio must repair its regulatory scheme for electricity. For his part, the governor has provided the outline of a plan that, whatever its shortcomings, offers a framework for lawmakers to act responsibly, effectively and soon.
Get the full article here.
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