The Ohio public pays the price for Big Tech’s data centers
As Big Tech expands AI data centers, Ohio and the nation face higher energy bills, strained power grids, and growing climate and consumer costs, according to new reporting.
Posts tagged: Energy
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After Ohio’s landmark decisions on HB 6 utility scandal, what’s next?
Ohio regulators ordered FirstEnergy to pay about $250 million for HB 6 corruption violations, including major customer refunds, while leaving advocates pressing for deeper accountability and future rate scrutiny.
FirstEnergy seeks looser reliability rules as outages grow more common
FirstEnergy has asked Ohio regulators to relax power reliability standards, citing extreme weather. Consumer advocates warn the move could mean longer outages despite prior grid upgrade costs.
What is stopping development of solar and wind energy in Ohio?
Last year, I was called to testify at a hearing of the Ohio Power Siting Board on a plan to develop a large solar farm in Knox County. My firm…
Energy market watchers see Ohio electric bills rising as data center demand continues
With PJM’s price cap about to expire, analysts expect capacity costs to rise sharply amid data-center growth and slow power-plant buildouts — pressures that could raise Ohio families’ electric bills in coming years.
Despite data center pressure, utility disconnections are down in Ohio
Electric prices are up sharply as AI data centers boost demand, yet Ohio disconnections have dropped — a trend consumer advocates say masks growing hardship as household costs and energy bills continue to rise.
In Ohio, hydrogen industry presses on despite federal uncertainty
Federal moves to freeze hydrogen hub funding are raising uncertainty for ARCH2 and other Ohio projects, even as developers push ahead and warn that stable policy and incentives are critical for clean-hydrogen growth.
Ohio scrapped a key tool to fight air pollution. Advocates want it back.
Environmental advocates are suing Ohio over the elimination of the air nuisance rule, warning the move weakens pollution enforcement and harms communities that rely on legal tools to hold industrial polluters accountable.
Hardworking Ohio auto workers are paying the price for EV tax credit rollback
Ultium’s job cuts in Ohio renew concerns about lost manufacturing jobs and the impact of Republican budget cuts on EV incentives, as UAW leaders call for stronger worker protections and public investment.
Ohio regulators order $250 million penalty against FirstEnergy for role in bribery scandal
Ohio utility regulators ordered FirstEnergy to pay about $250 million for its role in the House Bill 6 bribery scheme, including $180 million in customer restitution and major penalties tied to ex-PUCO chair Sam Randazzo.
Future of Ohio’s federal energy assistance unclear as government shutdown wears on
As freezing weather grips Ohio, the Trump administration’s shutdown has put federal heating assistance in jeopardy. The state is keeping its crisis program open with leftover funds, but advocates warn they could soon run dry — leaving hundreds of thousands of vulnerable families at risk of losing heat as winter begins.
Ohio economists split on nuclear power as AI-driven energy demand drives up prices
As Ohio’s electricity prices climb with growing energy demand from data centers, a panel of economists says expanding nuclear power could help—but opinions are divided. While most believe more supply would lower costs, others warn that high construction costs, safety concerns, and past scandals make nuclear energy a risky bet.
Ohio solar supporters, farmers eager for proposed community power pilot
Ohio’s solar industry and some farmers are eagerly hoping for state lawmakers to approve a community power pilot. The bill’s backers initially tacked it onto the massive utility overhaul lawmakers…
Ohio Supreme Court hears arguments over fat utility hikes
Advocates on both sides stumbled momentarily Wednesday when the Ohio Supreme Court considered whether big increases in certain utility charges are legal. At issue is whether the state’s regulator, the…
Ohio’s new U.S. Senator Jon Husted has a history of connections to energy and charter scandals
“No comment.” That’s all Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said and walked away. Only at the tail end of DeWine’s press conference last Friday, to announce Lt. Gov. Jon Husted as…
New Trump budget chief wrote Project 2025's agenda for empowering the presidency
WASHINGTON — Incoming White House budget director Russ Vought has spent much of his career learning the detailed, often convoluted mechanisms that make up the Office of Management and Budget.…
Sherrod Brown tours Crown Battery, meets with Fremont workers
FREMONT, Ohio — U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown visited Crown Battery Corporation on Wednesday, engaging with workers about the 2024 election and his ongoing push for what he calls the "Dignity…
Another private equity group is buying an Ohio coal plant. Will anything change?
Another private equity group is in the process of buying a coal-fired generation plant along the Ohio River that is estimated to be the nation’s most deadly via pollution. The…
Project 2025 will raise Ohioans’ energy costs and cost the state jobs, report says
Project 2025, a policy blueprint created by allies of former President Donald Trump, would increase Ohio households’ annual energy spending and cost the state tens of thousands of jobs by…
Vance in Pennsylvania says there was a ‘peaceful transfer of power’ in January 2021
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance campaigned Saturday in the key battleground of Pennsylvania, where early mail-in voting is already underway as just 25 days remain in…