Last week, the 24th Annual Ohio Energy Management Conference was held at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Columbus. The theme of this year’s conference was “Market Transformation: Rapid Pace of Change.” The conference had over 500 attendees, six keynote speakers and over 27 workshops that covered everything from micro to macro energy management issues.

At the opening of the conference, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce’s Director of Energy and Environmental Policy, Stephanie Kromer, gave a keynote address on the “Pending Energy Legislation in the Ohio General Assembly.” In her presentation, she included HB 246, HB 427, HB 401/SB 234 and SB 33 as bills that the Ohio Chamber of Commerce has weighed in on and are watching closely.

HB 6 seemed to be the main focus of this year’s conference. After nearly six months since HB 6 went in to effect, energy stakeholders analyzed the impacts that the bill will have on commercial and industrial customers during the two-day conference. Chief Legal Counsel for the Ohio Senate, Frank Strigari, also gave insight from a legislative standpoint on the controversial nuclear bill.

Other keynote speakers at the conference included Chairman Sam Randazzo of the PUCO, Global Manager of General Motors Rob Threlkeld, Scott Moline of the Wendy’s Company and Vice President Jay Bell of Engie Resources. Next year the conference will be held February 16-17. Among the features of the 2021 conference will, again, be a plethora of best practices and case studies from Ohio companies and their award-winning, cutting-edge initiatives in energy reduction and efficiency. We look forward to seeing you there!