COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld a pricing structure for fees that competitors must pay American Electric Power as the utility transitions to a competitive market.

The court’s Thursday ruling sided with a 2012 decision by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to set the fee at $188.88 per megawatt-day.

The decision also upholds the requirement that AEP charge suppliers a lower market-based price.

AEP had objected to the $188.88 rate, arguing that it was too low to recover its actual costs to provide capacity. The utility wanted to charge suppliers $355 per megawatt-day.

The Ohio Consumers Counsel, which represents utility consumers, had challenged PUCO’s authority to approve the capacity charge and to defer the recovery of capacity costs.
The court rejected both challenges.