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The company is hoping the state will grant what are known as zero emissions credits to the plants, which would effectively subsidize them, through fees on Ohio electricity users.

FES announced the plant closures in March 2018. Soon after, it entered bankruptcy proceedings and moved to split from its parent, FirstEnergy. FES has since reached a restructuring agreement with its creditors, but that plan is still working its way through the courts. FES now operates independently of its parent, as a result of its bankruptcy case, but FirstEnergy remains the owner of FES pending a resolution of that case. …….

“Bailing out uneconomic power plants will only distort markets and restrict innovative and competitive technologies,” said Dick Munson, director of Midwest Clean Energy at the New York-based Environmental Defense Fund, in an email. The fund has noted the “resurgence of interest” in an Ohio subsidy for FES that it attributes to the company’s lobbying and campaign contributions.

Before its bankruptcy proceedings, FES tried a similar approach but its lobbying efforts failed to gain support among lawmakers or then-Gov. John Kasich. That bailout, had it been enacted, would have cost the average Ohio electricity customer about $5 per month and generated $300 million a year for FirstEnergy’s retail customers.

What’s different now? The occupants of the statehouse and the governor’s mansion, Brakey and Rains said.

As for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, when running for election last year, he said he favored keeping the nuclear plants open……..

With legislation not yet introduced, it’s not known what the cost of a potential bailout would be or how ratepayers would be affected……..

If lawmakers choose to bail out Ohio’s plants, they may have to choose between making the entire state less competitive in terms of electricity costs or making much of Northern Ohio even less competitive with a subsidy spread among fewer customers. Brakey suggested lawmakers look at ways to relieve the burden on other industries that also produce valuable jobs in the state, such as exempting some heavy industrial users from having the fee be applied to all of their electricity.

“There is always a hidden economic loss with a subsidy like this…….. https://www.crainscleveland.com/energy-and-environment/bailout-chances-may-be-good-firstenergy-solutions-ohio-nuclear-plants