Drawing on testimony from eight hearings that stretched out over nearly eight months, the long-awaited report of the Energy Mandates Study Committee was finally released last week. The committee was established in Senate Bill 310, legislation passed last year that was strongly supported by the Ohio Chamber. The reforms in SB 310 temporarily protect Ohio employers from the escalating costs associated with Ohio’s existing energy mandates and also put a two-year freeze on those mandates. The committee’s task was to further consider the mandate’s impact on job creation and the state’s economy, and the report contains five recommendations.

The first is an indefinite extension of the two-year freeze on Ohio’s energy efficiency and renewable energy mandates. It is driven by the uncertainty surrounding the implementation and legality of the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP). The Ohio Chamber strongly agrees with the recommendation that the freeze should be extended in order to provide Ohio EPA with the flexibility to challenge and respond to implementing the CPP. Under the CPP, states can request extensions before submitting a State Implementation Plan (SIP) so that, if an extension is obtained, Ohio EPA would have until September 6, 2018, to submit a plan.

The committee’s second recommendation is to expand the mandates opt-out provisions – previously available to only the largest energy users – to now include more commercial and industrial users. In order for that to happen, Ohio’s four Electric Distribution Utilities (EDUs) must quickly get approval by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to extend or amended their current three-year energy efficiency portfolio plans.

Third, the committee recommends counting “advanced energy resources” toward compliance with Ohio’s 12.5 percent renewables mandate. It cautioned against over reliance on intermittent sources of renewable energy, like wind and solar, and encouraged allowing all advanced energy sources to meet Ohio’s renewable energy goals. It also supported more development and counting of combined heat and power (CHP) and incentives for energy efficiency projects in low-income housing that should count toward meeting Ohio’s mandates, similar to provisions under the CPP.

The fourth recommendation would look to incentivize, rather than mandate, energy efficiency improvements. The report’s final recommendation is to formally declare the General Assembly’s statutory authority to regulate Ohio’s energy policies. The recommendations are likely to form the basis of legislation that is expected to be introduced later this year.