Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel

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1976-1993 | 1994 - 2003 | 2004 - Present

Some of the benefits between 1994 and 2003 included:

$560 million since 1995 for SBC (formerly Ameritech) customers. The OCC was able to get the company to reduce the monthly Access Charge, which pays for the cost of providing local service, it collected from consumers from $17.05 a month down to $14.25 per month.

$380 million through 2002 for residential electric customers since choice began in January 2001. The savings are a result of the 5 percent discount off the generation portion of all consumers’ bills.

$358 million in credits from 1995 to date on FirstEnergy customers’ bills as part of agreements reached in 1995 and 1998. Additional savings are scheduled to continue through 2008.

$161 million through mid 2003 for all classes of customers participating in one of Ohio’s natural gas choice programs.

$55 million for Sprint customers as a result of a reduction of its proposed Intrastate Access charge from $8 per month down to $4.10, resulting in a $22.2 million annual savings for consumers since mid 2001.

$80 million between 1997 and 2001 for Cincinnati Gas & Electric natural gas customers resulting from reductions to a regulated rate increase request.

$43 million for Dominion East Ohio natural gas customers over a 5-year period that began in 2001 as a result of reduced natural gas supply costs when the company revised its natural gas capacity contracts.

$36.5 million in 2001 for American Electric Power customers after the gross receipts taxes the company could collect from consumers was reduced.

$20 million in reductions of fuel related costs for Ohio Power and Columbus Southern Power electric customers as a result of litigation in electric fuel cost cases.

$2.3 million credit in 2003 for Columbia Gas of Ohio customers as a result of the company passing money, which it received in the form of a credit from an interstate pipeline customer, on to its customers instead of keeping it.

$915,000 since 2000 in direct refunds and credits to consumers’ utility bills from assistance they received through the OCC’s consumer response center.

Information believed accurate but not guaranteed.
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