I also salute the editorial by Benjamin J. Marrison, the Columbus Dispatch editor in today's paper.
The Public Utilities commission of Ohio is a watchdog to see that those who derive the income from us, the populace, as more or less privileged entities without competition, keep their charges fair. Everybody is trying to dig into our individual piles of life savings. God bless those who do their jobs right!
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THE INSIDE STORY
Benjamin J. Marrison commentary: Records told shocking tale that PUCO hid
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The value of public records is sometimes difficult to convey. Here is a case that makes it crystal clear:
For many months, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and American Electric Power fought us over releasing records in AEP’s rate case. Through sources and relentless persistence by business reporter Dan Gearino and this newspaper, the agency released documents showing that the proposal would place an inordinate burden on small-business owners.
Using internal memos from the PUCO staff and other public documents, we published a story on Dec. 4 predicting astronomical rate hikes of 30 percent to 40 percent for small businesses.
That day, a quiet campaign was launched to discredit Gearino and the newsroom. Such campaigns are not unusual, because some subjects of such stories don’t like what we publish and seek to undermine the messenger who delivers an unpleasant truth.
On Dec. 10, the Dispatch editorial page published a letter from Joe Hamrock, AEP Ohio’s president and chief operating officer. He said: “The article misrepresented the overall impact of the agreement for small commercial customers. . . . When considered in total, the impact is much lower than readers were led to believe, with overall changes in the range of 5 percent of their total electricity cost, compared with current rates.”
We were confident with the facts; otherwise, we would not have published the stories. And when electricity bills hit mailboxes, the reporting was proved correct.
Gearino and education reporter Charlie Boss reported that school districts were considering layoffs to pay their electricity bills, and local governments were scrambling to balance their books. Small businesses said they would have to consider expanding in other states because central Ohio is no longer competitive.
Amid the loud and numerous complaints, the PUCO decided to revisit the plan it approved. Of course, it is planning to do so in private — again.
In announcing its review, the commission suggested that AEP wasn’t clear in stating the effects of its proposal, although we’d reported that the PUCO’s own internal emails predicted such a dramatic hike.
That wasn’t lost on our readers.
“ The Dispatch has been doing a fantastic job with the AEP-PUCO rate case,” one wrote. After reporting on the projected increase, The Dispatch“reported the customer outrage when the 35-40 percent approved increases were actually billed, then reported the PUCO commissioners’ surprise reaction, and reported the commissioners feigned outrage and promises to ‘roll back’ the rate increase. Don’t the PUCO commissioners understand the issue is about the PUCO? The PUCO reviewed and approved the increases!"
Last week, Charles Amata Jr., a small-business owner in Blacklick, offered his take on the rate hike:
“Based on our January bill, the new AEP rate structure has increased the distribution costs on our small service by 76 percent and has more than doubled (201 percent) the monthly distribution costs for our large service! These rate changes translate to a tangible annual electricity cost increase of more than $50,000 for our organization,” Amata wrote.
“The new AEP rates were implemented with no notification, explanation or phase-in. Based upon articles published in The Dispatch over the last few weeks, we are not alone in our concern over the timing and magnitude of these rate changes. . . . This increase is a job killer.”
Through stories like these, for which we fight like mad to root out the facts, we feel that we have lived up to the role our forefathers envisioned for a free press.
And through such cases, the public gains a better understanding of and appreciation for public-records laws. We hope that Ohioans will continue to become outraged when public agencies seek to do public business in secret or when legislators try to curb their access to public documents.
Benjamin J. Marrison is editor of The Dispatch . You can read his blog at dispatch.com/blogs. Follow him on Twitter @dispatcheditor.
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THE LIVES (LIVES7)
How much public money went to GM to pay union members bonus checks before a presidential election...corruption in high places....crickets churping in the background.
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THEODORE ROOSEVELT (PRAGMATICPATRIOT)
Thomas Jefferson could not have said it better.
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THEODORE ROOSEVELT (PRAGMATICPATRIOT)
Referring to Mr. Marrison's writing: Thomas Jefferson could not have said it better.
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