Ohio Justices Order Utilities Commission to Clarify Tax Ruling

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission must reconsider its determination that retail customers have to pay power companies’ commercial activity tax on top of a fee to subsidize solar power, the state’s top court ruled.

The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association Energy Group had challenged the commission’s order authorizing the solar-generation-fund rider, which power companies charge their customers each month.

The Ohio Supreme Court largely upheld the order, but in a Wednesday decision remanded the case to the commission to clarify whether the revenue recovered by the fee is subject to commercial activity tax and billable to customers.

The association ...