The Ohio Supreme Court has affirmed a Public Utilities Commission of Ohio decision eliminating the Standard Choice Offer for non-residential customers at Dominion East Ohio, with non-residential customers defaulting to retail suppliers offering a default monthly rate.

PUCO's order has been appealed by the Ohio Partners for Affordable Energy.

The Court dismissed OPAE's various proposition of law, including procedural arguments against how PUCO eliminated the SCO for non-residential customers.

Citing precedent, the Court also said that it was not its place to reweigh the evidence regarding whether modification was in the public interest, which is outside the scope of the Court function on appeal.

"After hearing this testimony, the commission determined that the requested modification furthered state energy policy by providing for an expeditious transition to the provision of natural-gas services in a manner that achieves effective competition and transactions between willing buyers and willing sellers and by encouraging innovation, both in how services are provided and in the variety of available products. Additionally, the commission determined that customers will be protected during this transition. Whether the commission’s findings will ultimately be correct is an open question, but '[t]his court has consistently refused to substitute its judgment for that of the commission on evidentiary matters,'" the Court said

"[G]iven the commission’s duty and authority to enforce these competition-encouraging statutes and policies, we accord due deference to the agency’s ability to determine how best to further a competitive natural-gas market," the Court said

The Court stressed that in affirming PUCO's order, it relied on the Commission’s stated willingness to reestablish the standard choice offer if it later determines that Dominion’s exit from the merchant function is unjust or unreasonable for any customer class.

"We also rely on the commission’s rationale that discontinuation of the standard choice offer for this small subset of customers will allow the commission to study the effects of the company’s exit from the merchant function, while still protecting customers. We expect the commission to continue to monitor the effects of Dominion’s exit from the merchant function for nonresidential customers and carefully analyze the data. Our decision today approves only the limited proposal here, based on the record before us. Any effort by Dominion to implement the next step in its planned exit from the merchant function—or any effort by a different utility company to alter its commodity-sales obligations—will require independent justification based on the merits of that future proposal," the Court said

Justice Paul Pfeifer dissented, calling PUCO's decision "Orwellian" due to its conclusion that, "only by removing competition can Ohio have a fully competitive marketplace for the sale of natural gas," as it eliminates a choice from the market, the SCO

"Gas marketers get a customer without having to persuade the customer that the marketer is the right choice for the particular user. That is not competition; that is coercion," Pfeifer said

"The modification of the order makes commercial users guinea pigs for Dominion’s eventual withdrawal from the merchant function for residential customers. Knowing the difficulty it will face in achieving a mandatory requirement that residential customers engage with a marketer, this modification is an attempt by Dominion and marketers to get to that requirement incrementally. No doubt, natural-gas marketers will be on their best behavior until the mother lode of residential customers becomes available for forced relationships. After that, the inertia of customers who are reluctant to make a choice -- or to wade through the blizzard of postcard solicitations of natural-gas marketers -- will be considered a good thing by the entity lucky enough to have gained their business," Pfeifer said