Expect a rate hike for local electrical users

With a collective voice over 100 people have resoundingly said "no" to a proposed rate hike by Toledo Edison. Those voices included school administrators, business owners and residents. But, in the final analysis, the electrical utility, and its parent company FirstEnergy, will get some of what is being requested. The public hearing, held last Tuesday in Wauseon, will do little to change the utility's intent or soften the economic hardships the rate hike will produce.

For local schools the increases could range from $30,000 to $100,000 annually. Wauseon school superintendent Marc Robinson said the rate hike would be equivalent to the salaries of three teachers, two full grade's textbooks or the potential need to ask voters for a .5-mill tax increase.

What we have observed over the years is a trend by the Public Utilities of Ohio to grant increases. While created to protect consumers the PUCO more often than not sides with the utilities. Companies around Ohio, who all under PUCO authority, play a shell game of sorts, asking for the Sun and Moon and the Stars, knowing they'll probably get the Moon, which was what was intended all along.

The burden on local residents and businesses - already paying some of the highest electrical rates in the state - at a time of escalating costs for everything from food to fuel - will be staggering. Because, as Robinson noted, costs to schools will have to passed along to residents.