Apr. 11—A new settlement agreement between retailers, the city of Dayton and staff for state regulators, among others, would lower average residential electric rates at first if a state commission approves it, according to a spokeswoman for Dayton-area electric utility AES Ohio.

"If the settlement is approved as proposed, the initial impact for AES Ohio's average residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours per month would see a decrease of $1.37 per month," AES Ohio spokeswoman Mary Ann Kabel said Tuesday when asked about the impact the plan will have on customer rates.

However, the settlement covers a three-year electric security plan — essentially, an operating plan for the utility. The Dayton Daily News has asked if rates will rise as the term of that plan progresses. This story will be updated.

After last week's wholesale electricity auction, AES Ohio's average residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours per month could see a decrease in their bills of $2.26, Kabel said then.

But the electric security plan is one element in the bills customers pay. In recent months, the utility has said the new plan will allow it to "enhance and upgrade its network and improve service reliability, provide greater safeguards for price stability and continue investments in local economic development."

A "stipulation and recommendation" was filed on the web site of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) shortly before 5 p.m. Monday.

The filing was signed by representatives of Kroger, PUCO staff, the University of Dayton, the city of Dayton, the Ohio Manufacturers Association Energy Group, an association representing Ohio hospitals and others.

The settlement requires AES Ohio to contribute $150,000 of shareholder funds to its "Gift of Power" program over the three-year term of the plan, the utility said. The program provides emergency relief funding to eligible customers facing disconnection or financial hardship.

Members of the PUCO have not voted on the recommendation. A PUCO spokesman said Monday before the proposed settlement was filed that an evidentiary hearing on the plan is set for May 2. (A hearing had been scheduled for Wednesday.)

At least one observer is skeptical, however.

"With inflation and the aftermath of high energy prices, this is not the time for higher electric charges to consumers," the Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel said in an email to the Dayton Daily News. "The Consumers' Counsel, to protect consumers, opposes the settlement and will ask the PUCO Commissioners to reject it."

The office added: "The settlement's rate increase, if approved by the PUCO, will be a double-whammy for AES's consumers because last year's $75 million rate increase will also take effect. The settlement's rate increase includes controversial coal plant charges making consumers pay corporate welfare to AES. These subsidies for AES relate to two coal plants (one in Indiana) that are partly owned by AES. Utility lobbying later led to subsidy charges related to those coal plants being included in tainted House Bill 6."

Representatives of the PUCO and the counsel's office were both reviewing the filing and could not say immediately Tuesday how rates would be affected.

AES Ohio, the former Dayton Power & Light, applied last September to the PUCO for a new "electric security plan" or "ESP."

An ESP is an operating plan that sets prices for the generation of electricity, and it may cover investments in distribution and grid modernization.

If the PUCO had approved it as originally filed, the plan would have imposed new costs, initially of less than $1 per month, on a residential customer using 750 kilowatt hours (kWh) a month — before rising to $4 a month in new costs.

If approved, the plan would last three years, from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2026.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average U.S. residential customer uses about 909 kWh per month. In Ohio, the average is closer to 892 kWh a month.