As Introduced
136th General Assembly
Regular Session H. B. No. 173
2025-2026
Representative Thomas, D.
To amend section 4905.02 and to enact sections
4933.51, 4933.52, 4933.54, 4933.56, 4933.57,
4933.59, 4933.60, and 4933.63 of the Revised
Code to exempt from regulation as a public
utility certain persons or entities providing
behind-the-meter utility services and to allow
the Public Utilities Commission to register
providers of such services.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That section 4905.02 be amended and sections
4933.51, 4933.52, 4933.54, 4933.56, 4933.57, 4933.59, 4933.60,
and 4933.63 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:
Sec. 4905.02. (A) As used in this chapter, "public
utility" includes every corporation, company, copartnership,
person, or association, the lessees, trustees, or receivers of
the foregoing, defined in section 4905.03 of the Revised Code,
including any public utility that operates its utility not for
profit, except the following:
(1) An electric light company that operates its utility
not for profit;
(2) A public utility, other than a telephone company, that
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is owned and operated exclusively by and solely for the
utility's customers, including any consumer or group of
consumers purchasing, delivering, storing, or transporting, or
seeking to purchase, deliver, store, or transport, natural gas
exclusively by and solely for the consumer's or consumers' own
intended use as the end user or end users and not for profit;
(3) A public utility that is owned or operated by any
municipal corporation;
(4) A railroad as defined in sections 4907.02 and 4907.03
of the Revised Code;
(5) Any provider, including a telephone company, with
respect to its provision of any of the following:
(a) Advanced services as defined in 47 C.F.R. 51.5;
(b) Broadband service, however defined or classified by
the federal communications commission;
(c) Information service as defined in the
"Telecommunications Act of 1996," 110 Stat. 59, 47 U.S.C.
153(20);
(d) Subject to division (A) of section 4927.03 of the
Revised Code, internet protocol-enabled services as defined in
section 4927.01 of the Revised Code;
(e) Subject to division (A) of section 4927.03 of the
Revised Code, any telecommunications service as defined in
section 4927.01 of the Revised Code to which both of the
following apply:
(i) The service was not commercially available on
September 13, 2010, the effective date of the amendment of this
section by S.B. 162 of the 128th general assembly.
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(ii) The service employs technology that became available
for commercial use only after September 13, 2010, the effective
date of the amendment of this section by S.B. 162 of the 128th
general assembly.
(6)(a) A person, business, or other entity that, either on
its own behalf or under a contract with a property owner,
provides, constructs, or installs for customers behind-the-meter
utility service;
(b) As used in this division, "behind-the-meter utility
service" means any of the following, if provided, constructed,
or installed at a point after services provided by a public
utility are delivered to the public utility's metered points of
delivery at the customers' locations:
(i) Service or benefit from an advanced energy resource as
defined in section 4928.01 of the Revised Code;
(ii) Electric service;
(iii) Billing service for services described in divisions
(A)(6)(b)(i) and (ii) of this section;
(iv) Electric vehicle charging;
(v) Resale of electricity to a tenant's dwelling unit by a
landlord or the landlord's agent that is based on metered
consumption;
(7) Billing service for the resale of natural gas or water
service to a tenant's dwelling unit by a landlord or the
landlord's agent that is based on metered consumption and that
is delivered at a point after natural gas or water service is
delivered to the public utility's metered point of delivery for
that service at that location.
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(B)(1) "Public utility" includes a for-hire motor carrier
even if the carrier is operated in connection with an entity
described in division (A)(1), (2), (4), or (5) of this section.
(2) Division (A) of this section shall not be construed to
relieve a private motor carrier, operated in connection with an
entity described in division (A)(1), (2), (4), or (5) of this
section, from compliance with either of the following:
(a) Chapter 4923. of the Revised Code;
(b) Rules governing unified carrier registration adopted
under section 4921.11 of the Revised Code.
(C) As used in divisions (A)(6) and (7) of this section,
"dwelling unit," "landlord," and "tenant" have the same meanings
as in section 5321.01 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 4933.51. As used in sections 4933.51 to 4933.63 of
the Revised Code:
"Behind-the-meter utility service" has the same meaning as
in section 4905.02 of the Revised Code.
"Behind-the-meter utility service provider" means a
person, business, or other entity that, either on its own behalf
or under a contract with a property owner, provides, constructs,
or installs for customers behind-the-meter utility service.
"Dwelling unit" and "tenant" have the same meanings as in
section 5321.01 of the Revised Code.
"Electric light company" has the same meaning as in
section 4905.03 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 4933.52. (A) As used in this section, "public
utility" is an electric light company, natural gas company, or
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water-works company as defined in section 4905.03 of the Revised
Code that is a public utility as defined in section 4905.02 of
the Revised Code.
(B) Except for reasons of safety or reliability, the
public utilities commission shall not adopt any rule that
permits a public utility to set the location of, or refuse to
relocate, any of its meters so that the meter's location
prevents either of the following:
(1) A behind-the-meter utility service provider from
providing, constructing, or installing behind-the-meter utility
service at a point after the public utility service is delivered
to the public utility's metered point of delivery at that
location;
(2) A billing service described in division (A)(7) of
section 4905.02 of the Revised Code from providing the billing
service for natural gas or water service at a point after
natural gas or water service is delivered to the public
utility's metered point of delivery for that service at that
location.
(C) Except for reasons of safety or reliability, no public
utility shall set the location of, or refuse to relocate, any of
its meters so that the meter's location prevents either of the
following:
(1) A behind-the-meter utility service provider from
providing, constructing, or installing behind-the-meter utility
service at a point after the public utility service is delivered
to the public utility's metered point of delivery at that
location;
(2) A billing service described in division (A)(7) of
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section 4905.02 of the Revised Code from providing the billing
service for natural gas or water service at a point after
natural gas or water service is delivered to the public
utility's metered point of delivery for that service at that
location.
Sec. 4933.54. No behind-the-meter utility service provider
that resells electricity to a tenant based on metered
consumption at the tenant's dwelling unit may charge the tenant
more than the bill for the standard service offer and all riders
that the electric light company, in whose certified territory
the dwelling unit is located, would charge its residential
customers for electric service.
Sec. 4933.56. (A) The public utilities commission may
adopt rules requiring the biennial registration of some or all
types of behind-the-meter utility service providers in the
state. The registration process shall require the behind-the-
meter utility service provider to disclose the provider's name,
business address, phone number, regulatory contact, and the type
of services offered by the provider. The rules for the
registration process also shall include other disclosure
requirements as prescribed by the commission.
(B) Rules establishing registration requirements under
this section, including any requirements regarding
classifications, procedures, terms, and conditions, shall be
reasonable and shall not confer any undue economic, competitive,
or market advantage or preference upon any electric light
company, behind-the-meter utility service provider, or
competitive retail electric service provider.
(C) The commission may charge behind-the-meter utility
service providers a registration processing fee of not more than
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two hundred dollars per biennial registration.
(D) Notwithstanding any provision of section 121.95 of the
Revised Code to the contrary, a regulatory restriction contained
in rules adopted under sections 4933.51 to 4933.63 of the
Revised Code is not subject to sections 121.95 to 121.953 of the
Revised Code.
Sec. 4933.57. No behind-the-meter utility service provider
shall provide a behind-the-meter utility service to a consumer
in this state without first being registered with the public
utilities commission, if registration is required by rules
adopted by the commission under section 4933.56 of the Revised
Code.
Sec. 4933.59. If the public utilities commission
establishes a registration process and requirements under
section 4933.56 of the Revised Code, the commission may require
a behind-the-meter utility service provider that resells
electricity to a tenant based on metered consumption for the
tenant's dwelling unit to do the following:
(A) Provide a separate disclosure to its tenants and
reporting of pricing solely for purposes of compliance with the
pricing requirement for resale of electricity under section
4933.54 of the Revised Code;
(B) Disclose its process and procedures for the
disconnection of electric service.
Sec. 4933.60. (A) Any person, firm, or corporation, or the
public utilities commission upon its initiative, may file a
written complaint against any behind-the-meter utility service
provider for a failure to comply with, or a violation of,
registration requirements under sections 4933.56 to 4933.59 of
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the Revised Code or the pricing requirement for resale of
electricity under section 4933.54 of the Revised Code.
If it appears that reasonable grounds for complaint are
stated, the commission shall provide notice of probable
noncompliance to the behind-the-meter utility service provider
and grant the provider sixty days to cure the noncompliance. If
such noncompliance is not cured during the sixty-day cure
period, the commission may open an investigation of the
provider's compliance with the registration requirements under
sections 4933.56 to 4933.59 of the Revised Code or the pricing
requirement for resale of electricity under section 4933.54 of
the Revised Code.
(B) The parties to a complaint investigation under this
section shall be entitled to be heard, represented by counsel,
and to have a process to enforce the attendance of witnesses.
Sec. 4933.63. Any behind-the-meter utility service
provider that violates or fails to comply with the registration
requirements under sections 4933.56 to 4933.59 of the Revised
Code or the pricing requirement for resale of electricity under
section 4933.54 of the Revised Code is liable to the state for a
forfeiture of not more than one hundred dollars for each
violation or compliance failure unless the violation or failure
is cured within sixty days after receipt of the notice required
under this section.
The public utilities commission, after providing
reasonable notice and the opportunity for a hearing, shall issue
an order assessing a forfeiture upon a behind-the-meter utility
service provider whom the commission determines, by a
preponderance of the evidence, committed the violation or failed
to comply. Forfeitures shall be recovered by action prosecuted
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in the name of the state and may be brought in the court of
common pleas of any county in which the provider who committed
the violation or failed to comply is located. The action shall
be commenced and prosecuted by the attorney general when
directed by the public utilities commission. All forfeitures are
cumulative, and an action for recovery of one does not bar the
recovery of another. Forfeitures collected under this section
shall be credited to the general revenue fund.
Section 2. That existing section 4905.02 of the Revised
Code is hereby repealed.
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