Does my county’s aggregation issue on this year’s ballot affect me as a co-op member?
The short answer is: No.
We want our members, specifically those in Champaign County, to know that as a member of the not-for-profit electric cooperative the proposal does not apply to their service. Therefore, Pioneer takes no position on this issue. However, your vote could affect others in the county served by other electric utilities.
Under retail choice (deregulation) customers of AES Ohio and other investor-owned utilities choose a power supplier for the generation portion of their electric service.
Ohio’s electric cooperatives do not participate in retail choice (deregulation) because our current means of providing power is in our members’ best interest. As a member-owner of Pioneer, you have an ownership interest in Buckeye Power. That generation is a not-for-profit power supply, provided at cost. Because you already own your power generation, having a program where cooperative members could potentially switch power suppliers would hurt your financial investment in those generation facilities.
State legislators grant the Ohio electric cooperatives exemption from participation in retail choice (deregulation) because they recognized our member-owned and member-governed business philosophy, and our long-term approach to policy decisions, are based on what is in the best interest of our members.
If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact our office at 800.762.0997.
