The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) recently ruled that it has “authority to regulate ‘submeter’ companies in certain cases where consumers are clearly being overcharged,” The Columbus Dispatch reports. PUCO began investigating the practice of submetering a year ago after some consumers filed complaints about the increased prices they were paying for utilities, according to the Dispatch article. While some submeter companies “pass through the cost of utilities and charge consumers a billing fee,” others “buy utilities in bulk and resell for a profit” to residents in apartments or condominiums. It is the latter model that has generated most of the complaints (see our article Will a complaint to regulate submeters lead to the regulation of onsite distributed generation as public utilities?). Asim Haque, PUCO chairman, said, “It is our hope that the path we’ve charted today will serve to both discipline pricing in the submetering marketplace and provide a true venue for submetering customers to file their grievances.” For more, read the full article.
“Submeter” companies can be regulated, PUCO rules
