Fed Figures at Odds with Ohio Development Awards; Consumer Advocates Lobby for Favorable Electric Rate Rules

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Fed Figures at Odds with Ohio Development Awards; Consumer Advocates Lobby for Favorable Electric Rate Rules

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BLS Monthly Mass Layoff Numbers Paint a Different Picture from “Silver Shovel Award” Honors

OhioNewsBureau

By John Michael Spinelli

COLUMBUS, OHIO: With Ohio’s unemployment rate a full percentage point higher than that of the nation (5.5%), the latest mass layoffs report Wednesday from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which shows Ohio will have another 6,678 workers applying for initial unemployment compensation, conflicts with an award it received from a development magazine that tracks new business and company expansions that create jobs, as reported today.

BLS Jobless Stats Beg Question of Who’s Shoveling What in Ohio?

According to Area Development magazine, Ohio, which was ranked first in the nation earlier this year by Site Selection Magazine, an economic development industry trade publication, won a “Silver Shovel Award” for its work in 2007 to attract new business opportunities and for supporting business expansions that create jobs. The award cites several projects, three of which are anticipated to create 1,150 jobs, according to figures provided by the Ohio Department of Development.

The “Silver Shovel” award may take on a new nuance of what’s being shoveled when compared to the thousands of jobs lost through mass layoffs, according to the BLS news release today that shows Ohio, in June, lost 6,678 jobs (not seasonally adjusted). The BLS figures are based on a mass layoff event (MLE) of 50 or more jobs. Ohio had experienced 55 MLEs in June and 67 in both May April.

For the nation, employers took 1,643 mall layoff actions (seasonally adjusted) in June, which totaled 165,697 initial jobless claims. This figure represented the highest for the month of June since 2003, an increase of 17 percent from May.

Maybe if Ohio received fewer awards for development, it would add more jobs than its losing or already lost.

Consumer Advocates Charged Up Over Electric Rate Rules

Ohio consumer and environmental advocates recommended Wednesday that significant changes be made to electric pricing rules proposed by the staff of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). Its joint recommendations, according to a media release to OhioNewsBureau will be filed at the PUCO by the 5:30 p.m. deadline.

The menagerie of advocates who have banned together to lobby for customer-sensitive rules that will implement the new, sweeping energy reform bill passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Ted Strickland will recommend that the rules “ensure customers receive the lowest possible price for electricity and that Ohio utilities comply with alternative energy and energy efficiency standards.”

Janine Migden-Ostrander, Ohio’s Consumers’ counsel, said in the release that “With the prospect of increased rates in an economic environment where affordability is a growing concern, the rules in place by the PUCO need to ensure corporate accountability” and that customers “pay only what is just and reasonable, and no more.”

Leigh Herington, Executive Director of the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC), said, "Unnecessary non-bypassible charges and deferral costs will continue to cost residential consumers significant additional dollars, unless the PUCO clearly acknowledges in the rules that these costs are not in the best interest of consumers."

Others in the coalition also weighed in. AARP urged the PUCO to “adopt rules that keep electric rates as low as possible over the long term so that Ohioans can afford to heat and cool their homes, food and water, according to its State Director, Jane Taylor, who emphasized that affordable energy is vital to maintaining the health of infants and seniors with medical conditions.

Mike Smalz, attorney for the Appalachian People's Action Coalition, said the rules must set guidelines for future electric rate cases that will help protect Ohio consumers. In particular, he said, low-income residential consumers should be protected from harmful rate increases. Citizen Power’s Ted Robinson said the state’s new energy bill “obliges utilities to compare their Electric Security Plans to the Market Rate Option” and that his group “wants to be sure that PUCO’s final rules require the utilities to make an apples to apples evaluation of these two options."

"Energy efficiency and renewable energy are key elements to Ohio's clean energy future," said Amy Gomberg of Environment Ohio. "We hope the Commission follows the intent of the law to reduce any barriers to developing Ohio's clean energy opportunities"

Joe Logan of the Ohio Farmers’ Union said the state’s farmers and rural community residents are optimistic about the potential impact of the new energy bill, and applauded the hybrid regulatory system because it “strengthens Ohio's regulatory authority, while leaving room for market competition, and they enthusiastically embrace the movement toward greater reliance on renewable energy.”

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