Governing Board Chairman Message

For the past 30 years, the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC) vigilantly has served as the advocate for the state’s 4.5 million residential utility households. In 2006, the OCC proudly celebrated three decades of serving and protecting the public. During that time, the OCC played a substantive role in providing benefits for residential consumers that totaled approximately $3 billion. The OCC has been able to accomplish much since its creation in 1976 as a result of its strong advocacy and successful collaboration with legislators, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), consumer groups and utility companies.

During 2006 the OCC continued its mission to represent the interests of residential utility customers before state and federal regulatory agencies including, the PUCO, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as well as the Supreme Court of Ohio. Among the OCC’s goals over the past year were to advocate at both the state and federal levels for the continued existence of reliable, affordable and safe utility options; develop educational opportunities and resources to meet consumers’ needs; and assist consumers in an exemplary way for them to better understand utility issues, payment assistance programs and how to take control of their energy usage to lower their monthly bills.

The OCC secured numerous benefits for residential utility customers over the past year and advocated against higher, more volatile rates. The Supreme Court of Ohio issued several favorable rulings on behalf of the OCC that returned the FirstEnergy, American Electric Power and CG&E (now known as Duke Energy) rate stabilization plans to the PUCO for further review and corrections. Additionally, the OCC, leading a coalition of consumer groups and local governments, helped convince the PUCO to scale back potential increases to basic local telephone service.

Looking ahead, the OCC supported Ohio’s efforts to promote energy efficiency programs to lower customers’ monthly bills and help mitigate the growing natural gas crisis. The agency also advocated for a statewide sustainable energy policy that would provide consumers with greater price certainty. At this point in time, it is critical for Ohio to address energy issues, particularly in energy efficiency, to secure a sound, reliable and affordable future for residential consumers.

The Governing Board looks forward to working with the Governor, the Ohio General Assembly and the Ohio Attorney General to support the “Turnaround Ohio” initiative. I also wish to extend the Board’s appreciation to Consumers’ Counsel Janine Migden-Ostrander, Deputy Consumers’ Counsel Bruce Weston and the entire OCC staff for their dedication to serving the public and their accomplishments on behalf of consumers in 2006. The OCC is proud to have played a proactive role in helping Ohio’s residential utility consumers over the past 30 years and looks forward to successfully advocating on their behalf in the future.

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