RESA Supports Settlement in AEP Ohio Rate Case

Agreement Protects Electric Competition and Customer Choice in Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Retail Energy Supply Association (RESA), a diverse group of more than 20 competitive energy suppliers that provide service to residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental customers regionally and across the U.S. and Canada, joins with AEP Ohio, the Staff of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), and several other business groups and companies in support of a settlement agreement that, if approved by the PUCO, provides a transition to full electricity competition in June 2015 for customers of AEP Ohio and preserves customers' ability to choose their electricity supplier.

"More and more customers in central Ohio have begun to switch to competitive suppliers, and this settlement would allow that growing trend to continue," said David Fein, president of RESA. "Most important, the settlement would provide a stable path to a fully competitive marketplace in AEP Ohio's service territory—sending a clear message that Ohio is open for business."

Under the agreement, AEP Ohio would eliminate anti-competitive charges, which would have unfairly forced all customers to pay for AEP Ohio's generation, even customers who buy their electricity from a competitive retail electric service provider and never take any generation from AEP Ohio. In testimony filed in the case, RESA strongly opposed these charges because they would have stifled competition by taking savings out of the customers' pocket.  These charges would have removed incentives for customers to shop, driving suppliers out of Ohio and reducing customer choice.

"The settlement provides a clear alternative to the monopoly system and ensures customers in central Ohio can take advantage of the benefits of competition and customer choice," said Fein. "We applaud AEP Ohio, the PUCO Staff and the many other parties to this settlement for taking this important step toward a competitive market approach that will save customers money and preserve their right to choose from a variety of safe, reliable and competitively priced electric products."

About RESA
RESA's members include:  Champion Energy Services, LLC; ConEdison Solutions; Constellation NewEnergy, Inc.; Direct Energy Services, LLC; Energy Plus Holdings, LLC; Energetix; Exelon Energy Company; GDF SUEZ Energy Resources NA, Inc.; Green Mountain Energy Company; Hess Corporation; Integrys Energy Services, Inc.; Just Energy; Liberty Power; MC Squared Energy Services; MXenergy; Mint Energy, LLC; NextEra Energy Services; Noble Americas Energy Solutions LLC; PPL EnergyPlus, LLC; Reliant Energy Northeast LLC and TriEagle Energy, L.P. The comments expressed in this release represent the position of RESA as an organization, but may not represent the views of any particular member of RESA. For more information, contact RESA Executive Director Tracy McCormick at (717) 566-5405 or go to www.RESAUSA.org.

SOURCE Retail Energy Supply Association