Regulate resellers of public utility services as public utilities

As Introduced

136th
General Assembly

Regular
Session
H. B. No. 265

2025-2026

Representatives Brennan, Fischer

Cosponsors: Representatives Rogers,
Upchurch, Synenberg, Lett, Dean, Hall, T., Humphrey, Gross, Hiner,
Workman

To
amend sections 4905.02 and 4905.03 of the Revised Code
to
regulate resellers of public utility services as public utilities.

BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section
1.
That
sections 4905.02 and 4905.03 of the Revised Code be amended to read
as follows:

Sec.
4905.02.
(A)
As used in this chapter, "public utility" includes every
corporation, company, copartnership, person, or association, the
lessees, trustees, or receivers of the foregoing, defined in section
4905.03 of the Revised Code, including any public utility that
operates its utility not for profit, except the following:

(1)
An electric light company that operates its utility not for profit;

(2)
A public utility, other than a telephone company, that is owned and
operated exclusively by and solely for the utility's customers,
including any consumer or group of consumers purchasing, delivering,
storing, or transporting, or seeking to purchase, deliver, store, or
transport, natural gas exclusively by and solely for the consumer's
or consumers' own intended use as the end user or end users and not
for profit;

(3)
A public utility that is owned or operated by any municipal
corporation;

(4)
A railroad as defined in sections 4907.02 and 4907.03 of the Revised
Code;

(5)
Any provider, including a telephone company, with respect to its
provision of any of the following:

(a)
Advanced services as defined in 47 C.F.R. 51.5;

(b)
Broadband service, however defined or classified by the federal
communications commission;

(c)
Information service as defined in the "Telecommunications Act of
1996," 110 Stat. 59, 47 U.S.C. 153(20);

(d)
Subject to division (A) of section 4927.03 of the Revised Code,
internet protocol-enabled services as defined in section 4927.01 of
the Revised Code;

(e)
Subject to division (A) of section 4927.03 of the Revised Code, any
telecommunications service as defined in section 4927.01 of the
Revised Code to which both of the following apply:

(i)
The service was not commercially available on September 13, 2010, the
effective date of the amendment of this section by S.B. 162 of the
128th general assembly.

(ii)
The service employs technology that became available for commercial
use only after September 13, 2010, the effective date of the
amendment of this section by S.B. 162 of the 128th general assembly.

(6)
A landlord, condominium association or property owner that provides
submetered public utility service solely for the purpose of
allocating and billing utility costs to tenants or owners in
residential properties, where such service is limited to cost
allocation and does not constitute the redistribution or resale of a
public utility service.

(B)(1)
"Public utility" includes a for-hire motor carrier even if
the carrier is operated in connection with an entity described in
division (A)(1), (2), (4), or (5) of this section.

(2)
Division (A) of this section shall not be construed to relieve a
private motor carrier, operated in connection with an entity
described in division (A)(1), (2), (4), or (5) of this section, from
compliance with either of the following:

(a)
Chapter 4923. of the Revised Code;

(b)
Rules governing unified carrier registration adopted under section
4921.11 of the Revised Code.

Sec.
4905.03.
As
used in this chapter, any person, firm, copartnership, voluntary
association, joint-stock association, company, or corporation,
wherever organized or incorporated, is:

(A)
A telephone company, when engaged in the business of transmitting
telephonic messages to, from, through, or in this state;

(B)
A for-hire motor carrier, when engaged in the business of
transporting persons or property by motor vehicle for compensation,
except when engaged in any of the operations in intrastate commerce
described in divisions (B)(1) to (9) of section 4921.01 of the
Revised Code, but including the carrier's agents, officers, and
representatives, as well as employees responsible for hiring,
supervising, training, assigning, or dispatching drivers and
employees concerned with the installation, inspection, and
maintenance of motor-vehicle equipment and accessories;

(C)
An electric light company, when engaged in the business of supplying
electricity for light, heat, or power purposes to consumers within
this state, including supplying electric transmission service for
electricity delivered to consumers in this state, but excluding a
regional transmission organization approved by the federal energy
regulatory commission;

(D)
A gas company, when engaged in the business of supplying artificial
gas for lighting, power, or heating purposes to consumers within this
state or when engaged in the business of supplying artificial gas to
gas companies or to natural gas companies within this state, but a
producer engaged in supplying to one or more gas or natural gas
companies, only such artificial gas as is manufactured by that
producer as a by-product of some other process in which the producer
is primarily engaged within this state is not thereby a gas company.
All rates, rentals, tolls, schedules, charges of any kind, or
agreements between any gas company and any other gas company or any
natural gas company providing for the supplying of artificial gas and
for compensation for the same are subject to the jurisdiction of the
public utilities commission.

(E)
A natural gas company, when engaged in the business of supplying
natural gas for lighting, power, or heating purposes to consumers
within this state. Notwithstanding the above, neither the delivery
nor sale of Ohio-produced natural gas or Ohio-produced raw natural
gas liquids by a producer or gatherer under a public utilities
commission-ordered exemption, adopted before, as to producers, or
after, as to producers or gatherers, January 1, 1996, or the delivery
or sale of Ohio-produced natural gas or Ohio-produced raw natural gas
liquids by a producer or gatherer of Ohio-produced natural gas or
Ohio-produced raw natural gas liquids, either to a lessor under an
oil and gas lease of the land on which the producer's drilling unit
is located, or the grantor incident to a right-of-way or easement to
the producer or gatherer, shall cause the producer or gatherer to be
a natural gas company for the purposes of this section.

All
rates, rentals, tolls, schedules, charges of any kind, or agreements
between a natural gas company and other natural gas companies or gas
companies providing for the supply of natural gas and for
compensation for the same are subject to the jurisdiction of the
public utilities commission. The commission, upon application made to
it, may relieve any producer or gatherer of natural gas, defined in
this section as a gas company or a natural gas company, of compliance
with the obligations imposed by this chapter and Chapters 4901.,
4903., 4907., 4909., 4921., and 4923. of the Revised Code, so long as
the producer or gatherer is not affiliated with or under the control
of a gas company or a natural gas company engaged in the
transportation or distribution of natural gas, or so long as the
producer or gatherer does not engage in the distribution of natural
gas to consumers.

Nothing
in division (E) of this section limits the authority of the
commission to enforce sections 4905.90 to 4905.96 of the Revised
Code.

(F)
A pipe-line company, when engaged in the business of transporting
natural gas, oil, or coal or its derivatives through pipes or tubing,
either wholly or partly within this state, but not when engaged in
the business of the transport associated with gathering lines, raw
natural gas liquids, or finished product natural gas liquids;

(G)
A water-works company, when engaged in the business of supplying
water through pipes or tubing, or in a similar manner, to consumers
within this state;

(H)
A heating or cooling company, when engaged in the business of
supplying water, steam, or air through pipes or tubing to consumers
within this state for heating or cooling purposes;

(I)
A messenger company, when engaged in the business of supplying
messengers for any purpose;

(J)
A street railway company, when engaged in the business of operating
as a common carrier, a railway, wholly or partly within this state,
with one or more tracks upon, along, above, or below any public road,
street, alleyway, or ground, within any municipal corporation,
operated by any motive power other than steam and not a part of an
interurban railroad, whether the railway is termed street,
inclined-plane, elevated, or underground railway;

(K)
A suburban railroad company, when engaged in the business of
operating as a common carrier, whether wholly or partially within
this state, a part of a street railway constructed or extended beyond
the limits of a municipal corporation, and not a part of an
interurban railroad;

(L)
An interurban railroad company, when engaged in the business of
operating a railroad, wholly or partially within this state, with one
or more tracks from one municipal corporation or point in this state
to another municipal corporation or point in this state, whether
constructed upon the public highways or upon private rights-of-way,
outside of municipal corporations, using electricity or other motive
power than steam power for the transportation of passengers,
packages, express matter, United States mail, baggage, and freight.
Such an interurban railroad company is included in the term
"railroad" as used in section 4907.02 of the Revised Code.

(M)
A sewage disposal system company, when engaged in the business of
sewage disposal services through pipes or tubing, and treatment
works, or in a similar manner, within this state.

(N)
A submetering company, when engaged in the business of reselling or
redistributing, either on behalf of the property owner, or as a
third-party provider serving the property owner, utility service
consisting of electric, gas, sewer, sewage disposal, or water service
otherwise provided by one of the following, in which consumption to
end-user consumers is measured by submeters installed at individual
service points within a building or facility:

(1)
A public utility regulated under this chapter;

(2)
A public utility, other than a telephone company, that is owned and
operated exclusively by and solely for the utility's customers,
including any consumer or group of consumers purchasing, delivering,
storing, or transporting, or seeking to purchase, deliver, store, or
transport, natural gas exclusively by and solely for the consumer's
or consumers' own intended use as the end user or end users and not
for profit;

(3)
A public utility that is owned or operated by any municipal
corporation.

As
used in division (E) of this section, "natural gas"
includes natural gas that has been processed to enable consumption or
to meet gas quality standards or that has been blended with propane,
hydrogen, biologically derived methane gas, or any other artificially
produced or processed gas.

As
used in this section, "gathering lines" has the same
meaning as in section 4905.90 of the Revised Code, and "raw
natural gas liquids" and "finished product natural gas
liquids" have the same meanings as in section 4906.01 of the
Revised Code.

Section
2.
That
existing sections 4905.02 and 4905.03 of the Revised Code are hereby
repealed.