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Bullock: Ohio HB 6 took away consumer electric savings, but HB 79 can help bring them back

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Bullock: Ohio HB 6 took away consumer electric savings, but HB 79 can help bring them back


Consumers have been paying extra on their monthly electric bills since Ohio House Bill 6 was enacted — not only due to subsidies for 80-year old, uncompetitive power plants it mandated, but also because it ended utility work on energy efficiency that lowers Ohio power consumption and lowers costs along with it. To date, Ohioans have lost an estimated $890 million in savings.

But as early as this month, the Ohio General Assembly could vote to change that and take the first steps toward energy saving since HB 6 was enacted. A new bipartisan proposal, Ohio House Bill 79, could prompt utilities to resume efforts to help customers save through insulation, efficient appliances, less expensive energy, and lower grid maintenance costs.

New rules in HB 79 improve quality controls to ensure utilities’ work results in verifiable bill savings, and they eliminate past gimmicks such as sending light bulb “kits” to customers who did not request them.In practice, this means utilities could offer discounts and rebates to encourage residential and small business customers to invest in insulation, air conditioning and furnaces tune-ups, and efficient lighting, refrigerators, water heaters, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

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This matters because the least expensive unit of power is the one we don’t use. For every $1 invested in energy waste reduction, consumers will save $1.30 to $1.90. HB 79 would lower energy inflation. If Ohio does nothing, energy inflation will cost everyone more. Power prices rise as power demand rises, unless we deploy energy efficiency to delink them.

Notably, HB 79 allows consumers to opt out. Customers who do will still save money thanks to lower energy prices (due to lowered demand) and lower peak demand (e.g. on hot summer days), which drives a significant portion of electricity costs.

HB 79 also would increase grid reliability. Ohio will need more power in coming years thanks to data centers, the Intel chip manufacturing facility in Lick County, and increasing electric vehicle use. If Ohio energy efficiency work had continued after HB 6, Ohioans could have used 5.4 million megawatt hours (MWh) less electricity in 2023 —about the same as the annual power output of the coal-fired Kyger Creek Power Plant along the Ohio River in Cheshire, Gallilia County (owned by Ohio Valley Electric Corporation).

The market alone is not enough, and utility-run programs can increase savings by getting more consumers to participate, lowering usage statewide that lowers costs for everyone. Critics claim that markets work and people make energy efficiency choices without utility involvement, but all evidence shows that utility discounts and rebates together with the market often produce the best results for consumers utilizing energy efficiency.

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In a time of rising costs, the Ohio General Assembly can help Ohioans cut their energy use and monthly bills by passing HB 79. Will they?

Tom Bullock is executive director of the Citizens Utility Board of Ohio, a nonprofit, nonpartisan consumer advocacy organization works to reduce residential and small business utility customers.



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Everything Dusty May said after Michigan's 86-83 win over Ohio State

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Everything Dusty May said after Michigan's 86-83 win over Ohio State


Opening Statement

Yeah. If you guys are going to put me up against those two guys, I’d like a booster suit. Just, you guys, so many guys contribute to this win, and you heard the humility from those guys, that they obviously played a starting role tonight and they made play after play, but they’re also appreciative of the screens and the cutting and the plays that their teammates make, the shooters being threats where the change is facing, but what a great college basketball game. Ohio State made play after play, and obviously, Royal was phenomenal, and then Mobley and Horton, they gave us everything that we asked for, everything that we wanted. They were good. I mean, for us to win the shot battle, to have a manageable amount of turnovers, and even our turnovers tonight, it’s been our Achilles heel, but I thought several of them when we played good basketball and maybe got it all stripped into paint, and so those are the ones that will live with dumps or layups, so we didn’t have very many unforced turnovers tonight, and it was a physical game. It was, I think, Ohio State’s, without a doubt, NCAA tournament team, so it’s two heavyweights battling it out, going hit for hit, round for round, and fortunately, we made the plays when we needed to.

On getting contributions from everybody

No question. I thought all the guys, you know, Rubinn Jones’ stat line, eight points, 100% from the field. I thought his defense was physical. He was aggressive. Roddy had eight rebounds. Namari made one of the biggest shots of the game, I think, in the four minute time, I’m sorry, between eight and four minutes. Trey didn’t have one of his better games, but he’s the one that got the win. When we were weathering a storm in the second half, he was the one that was getting down, no good pressure on the rim, so obviously, they’re all not going to be at their best, and then L.J. Cason on the offensive side brought a real boost, and then Will Cheddar did what he does almost every game, so I could go down, we’re winning these games because it’s a complete team effort, and the bond and relationship that our guys have in the locker room carries over into the games.

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On whether the last play for designed for Roddy Gayle

That was option one. We felt like we’d been riding Danny, and just as if we’re coming out of timeouts anticipating what we might see, we felt like they were going to do something, whether it was trap Danny or whatever the case, they were going to do something out of a timeout to take away what had been our bread and butter, and so yeah, we tried to create an advantage for Roddy getting down the hill, and he made a big time play. He made a big time play.

On LJ Cason

Same thing. I mean, he’s a freshman, and for a freshman to do what we’re always doing in this league is incredibly impressive. For L.J. to stay ready and stay composed on the offensive side of the ball, he’s an impactful player every time he checks in, because he can get where he needs to get to, he can shoot the basketball, and he can really get to loose basketball. As one of our coaches on our staff says, he’s a retriever. He gets the ball. We don’t win this game without the contributions of everyone who checked in.

On teams adapting to four or five-man screens and Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin adapting to it

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Every team has a different personnel that can allow and force certain things to happen. Purdue can’t do certain things that Ohio State can do, and Ohio State can’t do certain things that Michigan State can do. We can’t do certain things that Wisconsin can do. There’s a lot of factors. I’d rather not give my opinion of why it was tonight, other than just great personnel awareness and selflessness by our group of players.

On the potential of a new era in the rivalry

Well, I’d anticipate every single game being like this, hard fought to the very end with great support from the fans, with great interest throughout college basketball. It’s a big game, and I don’t want to speak for Coach Diva because we haven’t talked about it since our Big Ten meetings, but he came up last year when we were in California, Big Ten country, for our Big Ten meetings, and he said, hey, are you good with, let’s try to do this where we play home and home every year. Going forward that way, obviously it’s hard because it’s two rivalry games versus one, but it’s what’s good for the game. It’s what’s good for the sport. It’s what’s good for our players. It’s less travel. It’s big for TV. It’s big for our fan bases, so we both agreed that even though it might not be as fun as it could be, it’s a gut-wrenching preparation and anticipation for the game because of how much it means, but we both agreed that going forward we’d like for that to happen. I don’t know if we can do a quick flip next year if it happens the year after that, but yeah, we both request that from the league, so it was a lot of fun competing against those guys because we have a lot of respect. Like us, they played an incredibly difficult schedule which has prepared them for Big Ten play, and they’re a much better team now than they were six weeks ago. Much, much better basketball team. I looked at a couple texts from coaches that have played them earlier and they said, wow, they’ve improved, so that’s probably the most difficult thing to do in today’s climate is to keep a team together, fighting like crazy together, and then have them improve as you go through this long, grueling season of college basketball, especially in the Big Ten Conference.

On the team chanting Roddy Gayle’s name in the locker room

You know, it’s obviously tough. You know, if you step in that arena now as a modern athlete, there’s certain things that come with it. As a coach, there’s certain things that just, it’s part of it, and it’s more difficult on people that are great human beings, like Roddy Gale, and he’s a basketball player, he’s a son, he’s a brother, I mean, he’s a lot of things other than just a Michigan or Ohio State basketball player, so obviously, it’s tough at that age, but it’s part of it, and he handled this situation with grace, with dignity, with class, and he played a really good basketball game in a tough environment, and he’ll be better for this, because he powered through it.

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Badger men’s hockey swept by no. 8 Ohio State in sixth-straight loss

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Badger men’s hockey swept by no. 8 Ohio State in sixth-straight loss


COLUMBUS, Oh. (WMTV) – Wisconsin men’s hockey lost 4-2 at no. 8 Ohio State on Saturday night. With the win, the Buckeyes sweep the Badgers 4-0 in the regular season.

Ohio State opened the scoring in the first with a goal from Patrick Guzzo. Wisconsin answered ten seconds into the second period with a goal from Ryland Mosley to tie. About a minute and a half later, freshman Ryan Botterill turned a sloppy Buckeye turnover in their defensive zone into a goal and put the Badgers back on top.

Max Montes would re-tie for the Buckeyes later in the second. But, Damien Carfagna scored what would be the game-winning goal late in the third, and Davis Burnside sealed it with 11 seconds remaining on an empty net.

With the loss, the Badgers have lose six-straight games and have not won in eight games. Wisconsin is now 11-18-3. They welcome Notre Dame to the Kohl Center on Friday and Saturday for the final regular season games of the year.

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Michigan basketball vs. Ohio State prediction: Can U-M make it 6 straight wins?

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Michigan basketball vs. Ohio State prediction: Can U-M make it 6 straight wins?


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  • Michigan men’s basketball team sits atop the Big Ten standings but faces a tough road test against rival Ohio State.
  • The game holds extra significance as Michigan shooting guard Roddy Gayle Jr. transferred from Ohio State last year.
  • Ohio State, while possessing a losing conference record, has notable wins against Purdue and Kentucky.

It’s getting toward crunch time in the men’s basketball regular season and the Wolverines remain in the thick of it.

To get more specific, No. 17 Michigan (19-5, 11-2 Big Ten) isn’t just in the fight, but has the upper-hand, currently sitting alone atop the Big Ten standings by a half game over Purdue, which U-M just beat 75-73 at home on Tuesday.

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That said, U-M may be winners of five in a row, however there’s no rest for the weary, as the Wolverines schedule remains loaded. Up next, rival Ohio State (15-10, 7-7) on the road at Schottenstein Center in Columbus. While the game is one that’s always circled on the calendar, this year it has additional meaning as shooting guard Roddy Gayle Jr. transferred from OSU to Michigan last April.

He spoke at length with the Free Press earlier this week about his expected return and all of the emotions that come along with it. Friday afternoon, he met with the rest of the media, and doubled-down on what he’d told the Freep just days prior.

“For me, it’s more about bragging rights,” Gayle said of the importance of the contest individually. “To be able to play against some of my best friends. Hopefully, we can get a W.”

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‘Be prepared for it’

Nimari Burnett and Will Tschetter tried to tell most of the new comers about the physicality of the Big Ten, but it didn’t quite work. U-M had to get punched in the mouth by Purdue on the road before the message truly took hold.

This time around, Burnett believes his teammates are heeding some of the warnings he’s given about going to OSU.

“Nothing that I remember verbatim,” Burnett said Friday at Crisler Center. “I do remember it warranted a reaction. One time, against Ohio State, I don’t remember what was exactly said but I think it was along the line of family members. And that was like ‘alright bro, you crossin’ the line’ … but yeah, I told the guys to be prepared for it.”

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As for the Buckeyes as a group, it’s an underrated team whose record doesn’t tell the full story. Jake Diebler’s squad, while just 7-7 in the league, has a road win at Purdue as well as a 20-point spanking of Kentucky earlier this year. Unlike Michigan, OSU has been on the wrong end of tight games in the league, with three losses by two points or less in the Big Ten just since the turn of the calendar.

Though Michigan enters play at No. 22 according to KenPom and though its record is a full four games better than Ohio State, the Buckeyes aren’t far behind at No. 29 overall according to KenPom, ranked in the top 30 both in offensive efficiency (No. 29) and defensive efficiency (No. 30).

Bruce Thorton, Gayle Jr.’s former roommate, is the “head of the snake” according to assistant coach Justin Joyner, he leads the team at 17.3 points per game. But Devin Royal, a big man averaging 13.5 points and 7.5 rebounds, is also a problem, as is the backcourt duo of John Mobley Jr. (13.4 points) and San Diego State transfer Micah Parrish (12.5 points).

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“They’re a really good team with really good personnel,” Joyner said Friday. “They’ve got really good guard play, obviously. Bruce Thorton is a special player … (Mobley) is a gamer and then Micah Parrish … winning DNA, an elite shooter … so their back court provides a lot of potential problem and their front court knows who they are.”

Keeping the focus

As for Gayle, there is absolutely no question about the reception he’s going to get on Sunday.

He said he received death threats as well as many nasty DMs, but his former head coach hopes that doesn’t happen this weekend − he feels there are too many things for his team and fanbase still to focus on.

“I trust that we’ll operate with class because Roddy gave his all when he was here,” Diebler recently said. “Ohio State was important to him. I think the game needs to be about the rivalry and the game. It doesn’t need to be about Roddy Gayle.”

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That said, people are people, so naturally, this game will be about Gayle Jr. Even when Andrew Dakich, son of former IU player and long time color commentator Dan Dakich, transferred from U-M to OSU back in 2017 as a rather irrelevant reserve guard, he still received vitriol.

Gayle, on the other hand, led OSU in scoring last year. Now, he’s struggling in Ann Arbor with his shooting − just 1 of 20 on 3-pointers the past 10 games − and there’s little question the fans are going to remind him of that.

“Not as much as it’s about to be,” Gayle laughed when asked if he himself has ever specifically been boo’d in an away arena before. “But I mean, normally I’m pretty good at tuning it out. … Just try to do as much as I can to help my team win.”

Prediction

Michigan has toughened up since its trip to West Lafayette, increasing its physicality and finding a slightly tweaked rotation that’s paid dividends early. That said, the Wolverines have still been in five straight games that have been decided in the final two minutes of play, and no team on earth, no matter how talented, can win those every single time. U-M had the juice of the crowd behind it on Tuesday, but a rivalry game against a team that could use a signature win to solidify its NCAA Tournament seeding, well unfortunately for U-M, there will be no chance to troll with “just like football.” The pick: Ohio State 74, Michigan 71

Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.

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