Rep's Corner

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Rick Carfagna
September 30, 2002 (614) 728-5524

By: State Representative Lynn Olman

Quickly: Can you describe your morning routine earlier today? More than likely, it probably involved waking, followed by a shower, dressing, and a quick breakfast before departure. More specifically, I’d bet an alarm clock buzzed you awake, a light switch was turned on in the bathroom where you got ready, and a refrigerator, microwave, toaster, and/or coffee pot likely contributed to your breakfast. Perhaps you activated an automatic garage door opener before backing your car out of the driveway.

What you probably didn’t consider was all of the home energy consumption it took just to get you out your front door today. In fact, most of us probably never consider our energy usage until we get our monthly utility bills. Probably even less likely are we to care about where our energy comes from, just as long as it keeps coming and is affordable.

For a significant portion of Northwest Ohio residents, however, caring about where the energy came from suddenly became a very important matter during the winter of 2000-2001. During that period, as you may recall, the supply of natural gas in the United States generally became more restricted. High commodity prices, coupled with increased usage due to the unusually cold winter, caused consumer gas bills to increase dramatically. This unstable environment became a nightmare especially for roughly 30,000 Ohioans, all victims of contract default by four natural gas marketers. These customers, who had previously locked into contractual commitments at a low rate, now found themselves going back to their default supplier and paying a much higher price for their gas.

Our state government soon found itself scrambling to redress the situation. From the courthouse to the Statehouse, state agencies and legislators sought to both assist those hit hardest by the price spikes while enacting new safeguards to protect against similar calamities in the future. Unfortunately, for most of those already hit by the volatile market, the remedies that came were both a day late and a dollar short.

While the lessons learned during that period were numerous, one of the most important was the fact that no longer could Ohio simply wait for energy problems to present themselves. Taking a proactive approach on these matters had suddenly become a necessity. As Alan Schriber, Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio recently stated: “Today’s utility environment demands our constant attention as we regulate less and monitor more.”

There is no doubt that both our state and nation are reliant on significant energy consumption. Even while we continue to promote conservation efforts, as our society continues to grow so does its thirst for energy. Barring any immediate technological breakthroughs, these needs will continue to be heavily quenched by utilizing fossil fuels – especially natural gas - for the foreseeable future.

Over 95% of new electric power plants either planned or being built across the country are powered by natural gas. This trend has held constant in Ohio, where all across the state we have continued to site new peaking power plants fired by either natural gas alone or by a combined-cycle of both gas and coal. Industry executives predict that domestic demand for natural gas will continue to rise by more than 30% by 2015. By that time, both petroleum and natural gas will account for 66% of domestic energy consumption.

Energy markets, however, are not the only constantly evolving environments. Our own state legislature has just begun to enter into the new atmosphere of term limits. The membership of the Ohio House of Representatives alone has witnessed an incoming of 56 freshman legislators out of 99 total members. While some are familiar faces from the Ohio Senate, most are newcomers. These legislators were not here in 1996 when House Bill 476 established natural gas customer choice as a state policy, but will be expected to improve customer protection standards when complications arise. They were not present in 1999 during the late night deliberations on Senate Bill 3, which restructured Ohio’s electric industry, yet are charged with ensuring a competitive environment in the face of a market transition period set to expire next year.

Not too long ago, Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder approached me with the idea of creating a select committee over the summer that would serve not only to educate many of our freshman members on energy issues, but also to create a roadmap for future public policy.

This committee, the House Select Committee on Ohio’s Energy Policy, would combine members from the two standing committees of House Public Utilities – of which I am Chairman - and House Energy & Environment, chaired by State Rep. Nancy Hollister (R-Marietta). Our task would be to re-evaluate Ohio’s current energy programs, assess the depth of Ohio’s energy resources, and determine what changes can be made to ensure that all Ohioans have continued access to an adequate and consumer-friendly energy supply.

I am pleased to say that in just five month’s time, our committee has held nine hearings and heard testimony and discussion from over five-dozen witnesses from communities ranging from government to environment to private industry. These meetings have been and will continue to be open to the public.

This committee will continue to hear from an array of interested parties well into this fall, and quite possibly into the next General Assembly. Not only do these legislators need to hear what our state is doing wrong, but also what it’s doing right. We need to examine if any energy laws are obsolete, what new technologies and alternative energy resources we should or should not promote, and in what new directions we should travel. We will continue to ask questions, compile data, testimony and advice so that at the conclusion of these proceedings our members can fashion a list of policy recommendations accurately pinpointing areas of Ohio’s energy needs.

I call on all Ohioans to become more engaged with their legislators, not just on energy matters but rather on all issues. While term limits has paved the way for energetic new members possessing fresh ideas and open minds, many years of policy education have unfortunately been lost with the departure of veteran legislators. In taking advantage of these slow summer months to focus on these policy areas of concern, we hope to eventually formulate a solid blueprint that can be referenced once the questions of how to meet our future energy needs inevitably arise. The challenges looming on Ohio’s horizon are many, and it is only by coming to understand these issues during a period of calm can we truly prepare to safely navigate our way through future storms.


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