COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Attorney General’s Office says the Public Utility Commission of Ohio should reject arguments raised by the city of Youngstown and the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel regarding rate increases for SOBE Thermal Energy customers.
In a reply to the city and Ohio Consumers’ Counsel’s joint brief filed last week, the attorney general’s office says those parties’ arguments “are outside the scope of the Public Utility Commission of Ohio’s rehearing entry.” It says the PUCO granted their motion to intervene and applications for rehearing because it concluded that a hearing should be held regarding the revenue requirement and rate design for emergency rates.
The PUCO previously determined that SOBE could raise rates but allowed a rehearing at the request of the city and the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel. Last week, those two entities argued in a joint filing that the PUCO should set an ending date for SOBE’s emergency rate increases and require the company to include “subject to refund” language.
The attorney general office’s reply says arguments raised by the city and Ohio Consumers’ Counsel “do not relate to rate design or the revenue requirement. Instead, they relate to a future base rate case and refunds for emergency ratepayers.”
Those arguments are outside of the scope of the PUCO’s rehearing entry, so the commission should decline to consider them, the reply brief says.
“But even if the commission considers the consumer parties’ arguments, the commission should reject these arguments on the merits,” it continues.
The law doesn’t require the commission to set an end date for the emergency rate increase or to set a deadline for SOBE to file a base rate case, it says.
“The commission has continuing jurisdiction over this matter and can order SOBE to file a base rate case when appropriate based on monthly financial updates SOBE is required to provide to staff,” the reply says. “For similar reasons, the commission should not modify the order to provide that the emergency rates may be subject to refund.”
That hasn’t been a requirement of the PUCO in similar cases, and the calculation of refunds would be “impossible considering that SOBE is in the process of installing meters for its customers and customers are not currently being charged based on actual usage,” the attorney general’s office brief reads. It says the city and Ohio Consumers’ Counsel haven’t presented any valid basis to modify the PUCO’s order.
In his report filed earlier this month in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, John Collins, the SOBE receiver, wrote, “Unless the receiver receives funding to continue operating from a public source, like the state of Ohio, an agency of the federal government, Mahoning County, the city of Youngstown, or any other agency, SOBE Thermal will not be able to pay its expenses beginning sometime in November, 2026, if not before.”
The attorney general’s office reply brief says the PUCO already determined that the emergency rates are the ‘“minimum level needed to meet the emergency. The consumer parties have not attempted to present any evidence demonstrating that this finding was improper.”
In his report, Collins wrote that SOBE’s income is compromised because some customers have not paid their invoices. According to the report, nine customers have not made payments on invoices dated July 31, 2026; two have made partial payments; nine have made full payments; and two have paid June invoices, but not July’s.
SOBE’s problems began to emerge last summer, after an 800-horsepower mobile boiler was disconnected and repossessed by its owners Sept. 30, 2025, after SOBE management failed to make payments on its lease obligations, leaving customers without heat or hot water.
The court appointed Reg Martin as SOBE’s receiver Sept. 26. A 650-horsepower boiler was secured to serve customers on the district heating line during the first week of October. Martin, however, acknowledged that the boiler’s capacity was inadequate to serve customers during the winter months. In December, a second 200-horsepower boiler was added, as the team worked to acquire another 800-horsepower boiler for the system.
However, problems with the system resulted in customers losing steam service during one of the coldest winters in recent memory.
Martin resigned in February, and the court appointed Collins, an Akron attorney, to replace him.
In his report earlier this month, Collins also wrote that Detroit Thermal, a subsidiary of Cartier Energy, is the only company that has demonstrated “continuing interest” to either acquire or operate SOBE’s assets.