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On April 13, 2026 Eastern Power and Gas, LLC, Palmer Energy Company, Inc., and Newton Township filed a Stipulation and Recommendation concerning Newton Township’s certification by the PUC of Ohio as a governmental aggregator.

This stipulation agreement was filed in response to the Administrative Law Judge Entry April 8^th filing ordering the parties shall file either a stipulation resolving all issues raised in this proceeding or hearing testimony by 10:00 a.m. on April 13, 2026.

In response to the filed stipulation, on April 15, 2026 Buckeye Energy Brokers filed a letter expressing its opposition to the filed settlement agreement.

In its filed letter, Buckey Energy states the stipulation “would interfere with the Buckeye Energy Brokers agreement with Newton Township. The term of the agreement is March 2026 to March 2029.”

“The PUCO certification process does not have a provision for Stipulations. This would set a bad precedent. Anyone could file to intervene in an electric or natural gas certificate case to “shake down” an applicant. Obviously, that would be extortion. In this case, Palmer Energy pressured Eastern Power & Gas and Newton Township to gain a broker fee from the Newton Township program and to become the “exclusive aggregator/broker” in exchange for the program to exist.”

“This case also involved conflicts of interest with Palmer Energy’s attorney, Kimberly Bojko. Without disclosing this in the case documents, she is a former PUCO Chief of Staff and currently serves on the PUC Nominating Council as of January 2026. This appears to be an abuse of power to gain an unfair advantage. These are not small conflicts and may have put undue pressure on the judge. The schedule was rushed, unrealistic and resulted in no hearing and possible contract interference between Buckeye Energy Brokers and Newton Township.”

The terms of the filed Settlement Agreement, the Signatory Parties stipulated to and recommended approval of the following terms:

1. To allow the residents of Newton to continue to participate in the existing opt-out natural gas governmental aggregation program that is being supplied by Eastern, Newton’s governmental aggregation certificate, previously approved by operation of law on January 5, 2026, is hereby modified to be valid from January 5, 2026, through December 5, 2026.
2. Newton agrees and commits to obtaining approval from Newton’s residents to establish a township-specific natural gas governmental aggregation program by submitting a ballot initiative consistent with Section 4929.26 of the Revised Code to appear on the November 3, 2026 ballot in Newton Township, Trumbull County Ohio.
3. Assuming Newton obtains the requisite authority to create a township-specific governmental aggregation program, Newton further agrees that it will prepare and file a certification renewal application consistent with all of the requirements set forth in Section 4929.26 of the Revised Code and Ohio Adm.Code 4901:1-28-03 in a timely manner prior to the expiration date (as amended by this Stipulation) of its modified governmental aggregation certificate.
4. In the event that Newton does not or cannot file a renewal application of its governmental aggregation certificate as set forth above, Newton agrees to resume its participation in the Trumbull County governmental aggregation program and understands that the pricing offered to Newton residents may be based on market conditions at that time. However, the Parties agree to meet and coordinate Newton’s participation in Trumbull County’s program and the supply of natural gas to Newton’s residents at that time.
5. Newton and Eastern will be allowed to continue their supply contract for the duration of Newton’s certificate under its current terms and conditions, except for the term of the contract which will end on December 5, 2026, or on the date the election is certified by the Trumbull County Board of Elections whichever is later, if voter approval of a township-specific program is not obtained as set forth above, unless negotiated otherwise by the Parties.
6. Palmer shall be the exclusive aggregator/broker under the supply contract for the Newton aggregation program -as defined in a separate agreement between Eastern and Palmer, and brokerage fees under the Newton aggregation program shall not be paid to any other brokers.
7. Going forward, Eastern will refrain from serving any new governmental aggregators until at least thirty days has passed since the new aggregator’s governmental aggregation certificate has been approved.