COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Public Utility Commission of Ohio should set an ending date for SOBE Thermal Energy’s emergency rate increases and require the company to include “subject to refund” language.
Those are the arguments filed at the PUCO on Monday by the city of Youngstown and the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel regarding SOBE’s emergency rate increases.
PUCO had previously approved the rate increases for SOBE customers. The increases raised consumers’ bills by 36% or more for cooling service and by 85% or more for heating service. SOBE serves 27 buildings in downtown Youngstown, including City Hall and the city police station.
The city and the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel asked the PUCO for a rehearing on the rate increases. The joint brief filed Monday lays out the two entities’ arguments.
“These emergency rates are a concern because they were authorized by the PUCO without the usual consumer protections afforded by the traditional ratemaking process” under law, the brief reads.
SOBE reported in May it could be forced to cease operations as early as late September or early October without an emergency rate increase or alternative funding to pay operational expenses.
The brief filed by the city and the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel refers to a PUCO staff report that said PUCO staff isn’t recommending a strict deadline by which SOBE must file a base rate case. “Instead, staff recommends that the receiver submit monthly status reports to staff. … Staff will review these monthly status reports and any other information provided by the receiver and make further recommendations to the commission,” that report said.
The city and Ohio Consumers’ Counsel wrote that they are appreciative of the staff’s intent to monitor the issue but wrote that more is needed.
They argue that PUCO must order a utility to file an application for new rates and/or put an ending date on the emergency rate increases.
“Absent an ending date for the emergency rates or a requirement to file an application for new rates by some date certain, the emergency rates are not temporary,” the brief says. “In effect, SOBE can keep the emergency rate increase in effect for as long as it likes.”
The parties argue that emergency rates should include a firm expiration date and require “affirmative justification” before any extension.
Regarding the “subject to refund” argument, the city and counsel said the PUCO should require SOBE to include “tariff language stating that any charges collected by the emergency rates shall be subject to refund if the amount exceeds the level of charges found to be just and reasonable in SOBE’s next rate case …”
Such language would protect SOBE consumers consistent with PUCO precedent and federal and state constitutional protections.
“Emergency rates are an extraordinary remedy,” the brief says.
It says the commission has required “subject to refund” language in other emergency rate cases.
“Without ‘subject to refund’ language, the Consumer Parties will be unable to obtain a refund if the emergency rates are later determined to be above the minimum level needed to meet the emergency,” the brief says.
PUCO’s making the emergency rate increase temporary and requiring SOBE to add “subject to refund” language “…would be most protective of SOBE consumers who have suffered through a lot, through no fault of their own,” said the brief from the city and the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel.
Meanwhile, a company has expressed interest in acquiring or operating SOBE’s assets.
Earlier this month, John C. Collins, the receiver charged with managing the affairs of SOBE, said in his second receiver’s report with the Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas that Detroit Thermal, a subsidiary of Cartier Energy, is the only company that has demonstrated “continuing interest” in coming to some arrangement with SOBE.
SOBE’s problems began to emerge 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 last September. 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.
But system problems caused customers to lose steam service last winter. Martin resigned as receiver in February, and the court appointed Collins, an Akron attorney, to replace him.
The utility’s problems have continued. In his report earlier this month, Collins 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.”