Finalized state legislation to financially support two nuclear power plants in Ohio failed to materialize by the Sunday deadline set by owner FirstEnergy Solutions (FES), the Columbus Dispatch reported.
It was unknown Sunday whether FES would give state lawmakers more time to complete the bill or would now lock in plans to retire the facilities.
The Ohio Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee failed by Saturday evening to work out an amended version of the bill, according to the Dispatch.
The latest public version of the legislation, which originated in the Ohio House of Representatives and has been amended in the state Senate, would charge electricity consumers an extra $0.80 per month for the nuclear plants and as much as $1 a month for two FES coal plants. This is estimated to raise $150 million for the company in the first year after passage. The rate increases are lower than those in the original House bill. As of Saturday evening, the Senate and House had not conferred on reconciling their two versions of the bill, the Dispatch reported.
FirstEnergy Solutions has said it needed to know by Sunday whether it would receive the rate increase in order to decide whether to buy $52 million in reactor fuel, or to continue with shutting down the reactors.
This bill has been controversial in Ohio, with in excess of $9 million paid on TV ads, the Dispatch reported.
FirstEnergy Solutions and several corporate siblings filed for federal bankruptcy protection on March 31, 2018 — days after the company announced that four reactors in Ohio and Pennsylvania would be shut down because they cannot economically compete with power generated by natural gas.
In Ohio, the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor is set to close in May 2020, followed by the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Perry in May 2021. In Pennsylvania, the two reactors at the Beaver Valley plant are due to close in May and October 2021.
