Toledo will soon get its own public hearing for residents to air their views about a double-digit rate hike proposed by Columbia Gas of Ohio Inc.

Whether it was an oversight or not, Toledo wasn’t among five Ohio cities where the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio held hearings in June.

The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel sought one for Toledo in a motion Friday, and PUCO spokesman Matt Schilling told The Blade on Monday that the commission will soon grant the OCC’s request.

The hearing date and location have not yet been decided, Mr. Schilling said.

He said written confirmation of the decision is forthcoming.

Columbia Gas is seeking a $212 million rate increase.

According to the OCC, that would increase a typical residential consumer’s bill by as much as 27 percent. The PUCO’s staff came up with a figure of 21.3 percent but also agreed Columbia is asking for too much. The PUCO staff said it believes a rate increase of 3.98 percent to 6.34 percent is justified.

The OCC requested a separate hearing after learning Toledo was Ohio’s only city of 100,000 people or more that had been excluded from the process. By law, the OCC said in its motion, all cities with populations of 100,000 people or more are to have hearings.

The closest one was a June 2 hearing at Simpson Garden Park in Bowling Green. Columbia Gas lawyers stated in their rebuttal that the OCC failed to “explain why a hearing in Bowling Green — approximately 20 minutes south of Toledo — failed to satisfy the statute’s intent.”

Columbia Gas also said in its rebuttal that the time for the OCC to make such a request was when the PUCO was establishing a schedule for the other five hearings back in May.

“By waiting this long, OCC has forfeited its rights under statute,” the gas company said.

If the commission orders a Toledo hearing, Columbia will participate as it has in all PUCO-ordered local public hearings, Columbia Gas spokesman Eric Hardgrove said.

But on Monday afternoon, Mr. Schilling said he was authorized to say that the commission will give Toledo its hearing.

“We do intend to grant that [OCC motion] and hold an additional hearing,” he said.

The case is not expected to be decided until sometime in November, weeks after lawyers from both sides meet in Columbus to begin the evidentiary hearing on Oct. 18. That hearing is expected to last at least several days.

The OCC declined to comment beyond what it stated in the public record.

Mr. Hardgrove said the gas company believes its request is justified.

The company has not requested a base rate increase since 2008, he said.

Columbia’s request before the PUCO “reflects the costs necessary to continue providing safe, affordable, reliable natural gas service,” Mr. Hardgrove said.

“Just as investments are made in bridges, roads, and other infrastructure, we must continue to invest in our system to upgrade aging infrastructure,” he said.

David Manor of Toledo-based Advocates for Basic Legal Equality Inc., which provides legal services to people often unable to afford them, said in his formal remarks to the commission recently that the rate increases “would put undue burden on those who have low and fixed incomes, straining Ohioans access to natural gas.”

His comments are among dozens that have been posted online by the PUCO.

Three OCC lawyers, including Ohio Consumers’ Counsel Bruce Weston, also argued in their motion that Toledo deserves a hearing because its poverty rate is greater than 25 percent.

To file a public comment online, go to bit.ly/Columbia-rate-2022.

First Published September 6, 2022, 9:33 p.m.