“These rates will put my mother out on the street,” declared Valerie Mullikin, executive director of Operation Veteran and Caregiver Support in Piqua.
CenterPoint Energy’s Ohio-based natural gas business applied with the PUCO last October to raise rates. The company initially said its proposal, if approved, would mean an increase of some $23 per month for the “average residential customer.”
More recently, though, the company said the typical residential customer using 68 hundred cubic feet of gas monthly would see an increase of about $12 under a stipulation recently reached with parties interested in the case.
Staff members for the PUCO have recommended an increase of between 7.94% and nearly 11%. That would mean an average residential increase to $55.55 a month, the commission said.
CenterPoint’s bid for higher rates comes at a time when Dayton-area electric utility AES Ohio seeks to raise its own rates in a separate proposal also before the PUCO.
Public PUCO hearings focused on proposed higher AES Ohio rates are scheduled at 1 p.m. Aug. 7, also at the Dayton Municipal Building, 101 W. Third St., and 6 p.m. Aug. 14, at the same location.
Victoria McNeil, president of the Riverdale Neighborhood Association in Dayton, told PUCO representatives that Social Security payments aren’t rising as fast as an array of necessary expenses.
“It’s going to hit my pocketbook pretty hard,” she said.
Senior citizens are “making choices between food, medication and heat,” Mullikin said.
Mike Roeder, senior vice president of external affairs for CenterPoint Energy, listened to the more than 40 minutes of comments.
“It’s always a balance, right?” Roeder told the Dayton Daily News. “We’ve invested over $800 million in improving our infrastructure, making it more reliable, making it more safe since our last rate case in 2018. So there’s always a balance to this process.”
“CenterPoint Energy is committed to meeting the current and future needs of our natural gas customers in West Central Ohio,” the company said in a statement. “The company welcomes the opportunity for continued dialogue and values the role of public feedback in the review process.”
The recent stipulation reached with parties “reflects extensive discussions with the PUCO staff, consumer representatives and other stakeholders,” CenterPoint also said.
If you couldn’t make the hearing, you can file your thoughts online here. Online comments on the case should refer to case 24-0832-GA-AIR.
Written comments on the proposed increase can be addressed to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, 180 E. Broad St., Columbus OH, 43215.
CenterPoint last year said it has invested $830 million in its Ohio natural gas infrastructure since 2018, replacing nearly 400 miles of steel and cast-iron pipelines, installing some 30,000 new meters and taking other steps.
The PUCO’s review of CenterPoint’s request is expected to take several months, with a final decision expected in early 2026.
CenterPoint Energy delivers natural gas to some 333,000 customers in all or parts of Montgomery, Clark, Miami, Auglaize, Champaign, Clinton and other western Ohio counties.
The company announced plans earlier this summer to sell its Ohio gas business.
About the Author
