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Class-action lawsuit to pursue CEI discount
(by Joseph Koziol Jr. - January 21, 2010)
Class-action lawsuit to pursue CEI discount
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
State Sen. Timothy Grendell, R-Chester, vowed last week to file a class-action lawsuit in an attempt to reinstate an electric discount previously provided by the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co.
Mr. Grendell said he planned to file the lawsuit on behalf of residents who lost their discount on March 25, 2009, when CEI got approval from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio for its energy security plan. He said he would file his case in Geauga County Common Pleas Court in the next few weeks.
"I think they did something wrong and should be held accountable," Mr. Grendell said.
He made the announcement after speaking with two residents, Rich Jordan, of Munson Township, and Rob Roy, of Burton Township, both of whom saw the discount disappear.
Mr. Jordan first brought the issue before Munson Township Trustees in hopes of gaining support for his cause. Trustees pledged to work with Mr. Jordan, calling it an issue of fairness.
Mr. Grendell, after learning of Mr. Jordan's issue, pledged to help him and others who lost their discounts by including an amendment in state legislation that would rescind the canceled discount.
But, Mr. Grendell said, he was mislead by PUCO, which initially told him the discount had been abolished through legislation. He later learned it was not legislation but an act by PUCO that ended the discount. Since it was not done by an act of legislation, he said, legislation could not fix it.
Mr. Grendell said CEI had as many a 380,000 households enrolled in its program for the discounts. He said the lawsuit would show CEI misrepresented what it was offering the public, that it committed fraud and that it was breach of a promise.
Mr. Grendell said he would be inviting the public to be part of his lawsuit. He said it would not cost them anything, other than their time.
Mr. Roy said he bought his home based on the all-electric discount, believing it would cost him less to operate. He said he was told the discount would be passed on to the next homeowner if he sold. He said that now made his home less valuable than what he had been told by the power company.
Mr. Jordan said he has talked to dozens of people since bringing the issue to the forefront. One neighbor, he said, told him he wouldn't have bought his home if there had not been the discount. One woman, a 95-year-old woman in Chardon, told him her electric bill in her mobile home doubled after the discount ended.
Mr. Jordan said another person told him they could not convert to another energy source because they had electric baseboard heating and no room for duct work in their home.
Mr. Jordan said when people were given the opportunity to shop around for electricity prices, he was told he would lose his discount if he left CEI.
Mr. Roy said CEI even provided his Township Trustees with a $50,000 "bribe." He said the company offered the money in exchange for the township extending an aggregation agreement beyond its initial three-year period. "It was a $50,000 bribe to keep us enslaved at a certain rate," he said.
Mr. Grendell said he especially was upset that CEI would take away the discount from people struggling to make it in today's economy with the company's president making $13.5 million "for basically running a monopoly utility."
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