Consumer advocate wants to know where utility got $60M from in alleged bribery scandal
Ohios official utility watchdog wants to know where Akron-based FirstEnergy got the $60 million that federal prosecutors say fueled the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history.
The Office of Ohio Consumers Counsel on Tuesday evening filed several motions with the Public Utilities Commission:
A request for an investigation and a management audit of FirstEnergy.
A requirement that the company show that it hadnt misused consumer money to support the passage of a nuclear bailout.
And that the regulator reopen a probe into how FirstEnergy spent money intended to upgrade the electricity grid.
In July, the U.S. Attorneys office charged then-House Speaker, Larry Householder, R-Glenford, in an alleged scheme to funnel FirstEnergy money through 509(c)(4) dark money groups in a corrupt effort to elect supportive lawmakers and make Householder speaker.
The feds say the goal was to pass House Bill 6, a $1.3 billion bailout that went primarily to two failing nuclear power plants, but also subsidized two failing coal-powered generators. In addition, the money was used to fund a xenophobic campaign to stop a voter repeal of HB 6 and to line the pockets of Householder and his alleged conspirators, federal officials said.
Read more: https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2020/09/10/consumer-advocate-wants-to-know-where-utility-got-60m-from-in-alleged-bribery-scandal/