Health & Fitness
Cutting Ohio Consumers Council Budget is Bad for Us All
Cutting OCC won't save tax money, and will let utilities run roughshod over customers
Apparently the state is working on cutting the budget of the Ohio Consumers Council by 50 percent. Normally I would applaud the cutting back of state agencies but in this case it would be unwise to do so. The OCC is not paid for by tax dollars so there will be no savings to the taxpayer.
The big concern I have about reducing the OCC is that it advocates for the consumer, and that is you and me. It is almost the only voice consumers have in combating high or unfair energy costs except for a few brave elected officials. First Energy has large numbers of lawyers and lobbyists and hundreds of thousands of dollars they contribute to elected officials and political parties to advocate for the utility.
Consumers beware -- contact your state elected officials and express your concerns about cutting the operating budget for the Ohio Consumers Council.