Allow certain natural gas suppliers to offer carbon offsets

As Passed by the Senate

136th
General Assembly

Regular
Session
Am. S. B. No. 151

2025-2026

Senator Wilkin

Cosponsors: Senators Antonio, Cirino,
Craig, DeMora, Hicks-Hudson, Ingram, Lang, Patton, Reineke, Roegner,
Timken

To

amend
section 4929.02 and to
enact
sections 4929.51
,
4929.52
,
4929.53, 4929.55, 4929.57, and 4929.59 of the Revised Code
to
allow for competitive retail natural gas service suppliers to offer
carbon offsets to customers.

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

Section
1.
That

section
4929.02 be amended and

sections
4929.51
,
4929.52
,
4929.53, 4929.55, 4929.57, and 4929.59 of the Revised Code be enacted
to read as follows:

Sec.
4929.02.
(A)
It is the policy of this state to, throughout this state:

(1)
Promote the availability to consumers of adequate, reliable, and
reasonably priced natural gas services and goods;

(2)
Promote the availability of unbundled and comparable natural gas
services and goods that provide wholesale and retail consumers with
the supplier, price, terms, conditions, and quality options they
elect to meet their respective needs;

(3)
Promote diversity of natural gas supplies and suppliers, by giving
consumers effective choices over the selection of those supplies and
suppliers;

(4)
Encourage innovation and market access for cost-effective supply- and
demand-side natural gas services and goods;

(5)
Encourage cost-effective and efficient access to information
regarding the operation of the distribution systems of natural gas
companies in order to promote effective customer choice of natural
gas services and goods;

(6)
Recognize the continuing emergence of competitive natural gas markets
through the development and implementation of flexible regulatory
treatment;

(7)
Promote an expeditious transition to the provision of natural gas
services and goods in a manner that achieves effective competition
and transactions between willing buyers and willing sellers to reduce
or eliminate the need for regulation of natural gas services and
goods under Chapters 4905. and 4909. of the Revised Code;

(8)
Promote effective competition in the provision of natural gas
services and goods by avoiding subsidies flowing to or from regulated
natural gas services and goods;

(9)
Ensure that the risks and rewards of a natural gas company's offering
of nonjurisdictional and exempt services and goods do not affect the
rates, prices, terms, or conditions of nonexempt, regulated services
and goods of a natural gas company and do not affect the financial
capability of a natural gas company to comply with the policy of this
state specified in this section;

(10)
Facilitate the state's competitiveness in the global economy;

(11)
Facilitate additional choices for the supply of natural gas for
residential consumers, including aggregation;

(12)
Promote an alignment of natural gas company interests with consumer
interest in energy efficiency and energy conservation
;

(13)
Ensure that environmental marketing claims, whether explicit or
implied, are substantiated by competent and reliable evidence so as
not to deceive or mislead consumers about the environmental impact of
carbon offset products;

(14)
Ensure that accurate and useful information about the environmental
impact of carbon offset products is made available to consumers
.

(B)
The public utilities commission and the office of the consumers'
counsel shall follow the policy specified in this section in
exercising their respective authorities relative to sections 4929.03
to 4929.30 of the Revised Code.

(C)
Nothing in Chapter 4929. of the Revised Code shall be construed to
alter the public utilities commission's construction or application
of division (E) of section 4905.03 of the Revised Code.

Sec.
4929.51.
As
used in sections 4929.50 to 4929.59 of the Revised Code:

(A)
"Carbon offset" means an instrument certified by a carbon
offset registry that represents one metric ton of greenhouse gas
removed from the atmosphere by any method of mitigation including:
planting and maintaining trees that absorb carbon dioxide and
providing long-term forest management, capturing and burning methane
gas produced by landfills or farms before the methane enters the
atmosphere, and improving energy efficiency to reduce energy use and
lower the associated carbon dioxide emissions.

(B)
"Carbon offset registry" means a nationally recognized
entity that engages primarily in the development of carbon offset
standards, methodologies, program registration, verification
oversight, and issuance of carbon offsets, whether for profit or not.

(C)
"Double counting" means a retail natural gas supplier that
does either of the following:

(1)
Sells the same carbon offset to two or more customers;

(2)
Attributes the carbon offset produced from a single method of
mitigation to two or more methods of mitigation.

Sec.
4929.52.
A
retail natural gas supplier that intends to establish a voluntary
carbon offset program shall do the following:

(A)
Enter into an agreement with one or more carbon offset registries
that can provide the following:

(1)
Information to identify carbon offset projects;

(2)
Serial numbers for each carbon offset credit generated by each
project;

(3)
A system to identify the original owner that generated the carbon
offset credit;

(4)
A system to check the status of a carbon offset credit.

(B)
Submit a notice to the public utilities commission stating its
intention to begin a voluntary carbon offset program that allows all
customer classes to enroll and purchase carbon offsets to offset any
emissions that are the result of the customer's consumption and use
of natural gas services.

Sec.
4929.53.
(A)
A notice to begin a voluntary carbon offset program that a retail
natural gas supplier submits to the public utilities commission
pursuant to section 4929.52 of the Revised Code shall include the
following:

(1)
A copy of an agreement between the retail natural gas supplier and
one or more carbon offset registries that at a minimum states that
the carbon offsets being sold meet the necessary criteria to be
considered a carbon offset and that the registry or registries will
conduct regular verification to assure that the offsets are being
applied correctly by the supplier;

(2)
A description of the types of carbon offsets the supplier will offer
to customers and a description of how the supplier will prevent
double counting.

(B)
The public utilities commission shall maintain a publicly available
record of each notice described in division (A) of this section once
the commission has verified that the supplier is working with the
carbon offset registry or registries it lists in the notice.

Sec.
4929.55.
No
voluntary carbon offset program offered by a retail natural gas
supplier under sections 4929.52 to 4929.59 of the Revised Code shall
require a natural gas company to incur costs related to the program.
No such carbon offset program shall require customers who do not
participate in the program to incur any costs related to the program.

Sec.
4929.57.
A
retail natural gas supplier's voluntary carbon offset program under
sections 4929.52 to 4929.59 of the Revised Code shall include
procedures to allow for customers to opt in and out of the program.

Sec.
4929.59.
(A)
The public utilities commission, at its discretion, may conduct an
audit of a retail natural gas supplier's voluntary carbon offset
program under sections 4929.52 to 4929.59 of the Revised Code to
ensure the carbon offsets are being applied correctly to a customer's
account and to ensure that no costs incurred under the program are
charged to, or collected from, the natural gas company or customers
who do not participate in the program.

(B)
A retail natural gas supplier that is subject to an audit as
described in division (A) of this section shall provide the
commission any information it determines is necessary to complete the
audit.

Section
2.
That
existing section 4929.02 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.