Ohio utility overseer: Give clean energy rules time

12/13/2010

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio's top utility regulator is urging Gov.-elect John Kasich to leave clean energy standards alone — at least for his first few years in office.

Alan Schriber, who is retiring as chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, said a requirement that utilities produce 25 percent of their electricity from solar, wind and other clean energy sources by 2025 deserves time to be tested before Kasich decides whether to scrap it.

Schriber made his comments in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of his retirement at year's end.

Kasich has called the advanced energy thresholds laid out in a sweeping energy bill pushed by Gov. Ted Strickland costly and intrusive. He says government regulations aren't the way to get companies to innovate.