It鈥檚 not every day that a group known for defending the free market celebrates federal intervention. But a conservative group in Ohio is saying the feds made the right choice by blocking a temporary rate hike plan from and .
The conservative think tank the is happy that the put a stop to what they call rate-payer subsidies for AEP and FirstEnergy.
The utilities were going to use the money to pay for coal and nuclear plants that aren鈥檛 doing well in the wholesale market.
The Buckeye Institute鈥檚 Joe Nichols says companies know that if they want to be deregulated then they鈥檙e committing to the market, which means there鈥檚 risk involved.
鈥淲hat Ohio is trying to do is say, 'Just put that risk from the company to ratepayers.' And FERC is saying, 'That鈥檚 not how things work;we鈥檙e not going to stand for that.'鈥�
FirstEnergy and AEP are now expected to push the state for re-regulation.
