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Excerpts from PUCO’s RPS Report

{***} II. 2023 COMPLIANCE ACTIVITIES 

The RPS requirements are addressed most specifically in R.C. 4928.64, with additional supporting language found throughout R.C. Chapter 4928. To implement the RPS, the statute includes specific annual benchmarks.7 The requirement for 2023, as specified by R.C. 4928.64(B)(2), was as follows: Year Renewable Energy Resources 2023 7%; Each EDU and CRES provider is subject to a compliance payment if it does not meet the annual benchmark. EDUs and CRES Providers may purchase RECs and S-RECs to comply with this rule and therefore RECs and S-RECs represent the compliance currency for Ohio’s RPS.8

Attribute tracking systems act as electronic bookkeepers for RECs and S-RECs and maintain an accounting system that facilitates several regulatory processes including compliance verification. During the 2023 RPS compliance year, Ohio’s EDUs and CRES providers used the following tracking systems to monitor their compliance efforts: the PJM Environmental Information Services Generation Attribute Tracking System (GATS) and the Midwest Renewable Energy Tracking System (M-RETS).9 The PUCO maintains a regulatory account with each tracking system that permits the PUCO to review the REC and S-REC data associated with each company’s compliance efforts.10 

Compliance obligations are a result of a company’s retail electric sales in the state. According to the EDUs and CRES provider 2023 compliance filings, the EDUs were responsible for approximately twenty-five percent of the overall compliance obligation in 2023 with approximately seventy-five percent assignable to CRES providers. 

The information in Table 1 below summarizes the 2023 compliance performances, as presented by the EDUs and CRES providers in their respective annual compliance status reports.11 As noted above, each company’s compliance with the RPS is reviewed by the PUCO, and therefore the information contained in the status reports may subsequently be verified or modified based on the PUCO’s review. Thus, the data provided in Table 1 is as filed by the companies, and not as verified or modified by the PUCO.

EDU and CRES Providers’ Reported 2023 Compliance Data Summary 

Company Renewable (MWhs)

        Total Required Total Retired 

AES Ohio   193,284   193,284 

Duke Energy Ohio   372,045   372,045 

FirstEnergy Ohio EDUs   566,917   566,917 

Ohio Power   715,424   715,424 

EDU Totals           1,847,670           1,847,670 

CRES Providers           5,688,580                    5,685,092 

TOTALS                                            7,536,250                    7,532,762 

Renewable compliance
The figures reported by EDUs and CRES Providers for compliance show a total 2023 compliance obligation of 7,536,250 renewable megawatt-hours (MWhs). 

Looking specifically at the EDU data, the numbers indicate that each of the EDUs met its respective RPS compliance obligations for 2023. 

When reviewing the 2023 compliance data for the CRES providers, it shows a small overall compliance deficiency. This is the result of a handful of CRES providers opting to pay the alternative compliance payment rather than retiring RECs or S-RECs. In the aggregate, the CRES providers do appear to have satisfied over 99% of their total compliance obligations. {***}

PUCO RPS Report To General Assembly
24-0968-EL-ACP           
Renewable Portfolio Standard Report to the General Assembly by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio for the 2023 Compliance Year