A deal to have AEP Ohio's customers foot the $95-million bill for the new electric infrastructure Intel needs in Licking County is gaining more support.
Staff at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) are backing the plan. The Ohio Consumers' Counsel, the state's designated consumer advocate agency, is agreeing to the deal, but its executive director has declined an interview with WOSU to discuss the issue.
WOSU asked Maureen Willis, executive director of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel, to talk about the decision and how it shifts costs to electric consumers. The counsel declined several requests to talk to Willis, who took control of the organization in October.
The organization supplied some written statements and an interview with a public relations specialist.
The counsel said they support the deal because of the promise of economic development.
Typically AEP charges companies like Intel 40% of the cost to build new infrastructure.
This deal is asking Intel to pay $740,000, which is less than 1% of the $95 million price tag to build a substation capable of bringing massive amounts of power to the planned chip manufacturing site.
The PUCO will make the decision on the deal.
A staff report from state regulators found the deal should be approved because of Intel's promise to invest $20 billionin the facility and employ 3,000 people.
