{"id":3423,"date":"2023-11-04T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-04T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/?p=3423"},"modified":"2023-11-03T14:01:23","modified_gmt":"2023-11-03T19:01:23","slug":"firstenergy-ohio-wants-to-change-bill-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/firstenergy-ohio-wants-to-change-bill-language\/","title":{"rendered":"FirstEnergy Ohio Wants to Change Bill Language"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Multiple Agencies Seek Bill Language Input <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Utility
How your utility keeps you informed depends a lot on language used in your monthly bill. Learn how changes can affect your Ohio electricity choice decisions and how much you pay.<\/em><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For Ohio utilities, changing the language<\/a> in your electricity bill can be a headache. Luckily, the process doesn’t directly affect consumers. But there are times when changes in bill language does matter a whole lot. Recently, FirstEnergy Ohio<\/strong><\/a> asked the PUCO<\/strong> to change the language in their bill. The change seeks to simplify bills and inform customers. However, three public agencies have complained the changes will hurt consumers. They are: the Office of the Ohio Consumers\u2019 Counsel (OCC<\/strong>), Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC), and the Ohio Energy Leadership Council (OELC). To help FirstEnergy customers know what to expect, we\u2019re going to review those complaints. And then see how FirstEnergy Ohio<\/strong> wants to change their billing language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is In Your FirstEnergy Bill?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

FirstEnergy<\/strong> proposed a few changes to their bill. Firstly, they want to move the language for the PTC<\/a> to the second page. They also want to include a link to their online bill calculator. All this sounds well and good. But there are a few things that are coming under dispute. For instance, removing the instructions for reading a meter dial, and removing local telephone numbers from the bill entirely. As such, the changes have come under scrutiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FirstEnergy\u2019s Bill and Language Style<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The reason behind the pushback has more to do with the process itself. When PUCO<\/strong> does not respond to bill change requests after 45 days, they are automatically approved. For that reason, the OCC<\/strong> wants to pause the process so the commission can review the changes. The OCC\u2019s<\/strong> request also revealed several major issues<\/a> with the changes. For one thing, FirstEnergy<\/strong> did not provide an example of a current bill to compare with their proposed changes. Another change removes instructions for reading an analog meter. However, not all homes in Ohio have updated to a digital (AMI) meter and still rely on analog meters. And lastly, some changes leave out local agency phone numbers and provide inaccurate web addresses, including for the OCC<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slowing Down The Process<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The main goal of these complaints is to slow down the process. Of course, this kind of process tends to take forever. But the goal is to keep Ohio electricity consumers from paying too much on their bills. But while bill language reviews shouldn’t take up all PUCO<\/strong>‘s time, such filings still need proper oversight. And when it comes to your bills, they need to comply with Ohio law<\/a>. The OCC<\/strong> and OELC<\/strong> want PUCO<\/strong> to take the time these changes require. Customers should get the most understandable bill to prevent any misunderstandings and this is a way to ensure that.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With these filings, the changes to your FirstEnergy bill<\/a> will take while. But you can be sure that they\u2019ll be for the best. We\u2019ll bee keeping you updated on the latest with your electricity bills at www.ohenergyratings.com<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Multiple Agencies Seek Bill Language Input For Ohio utilities, changing the language […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":3441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mbp_gutenberg_autopost":false},"categories":[43,103,104,42],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3423"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3442,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423\/revisions\/3442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohenergyratings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}