As Introduced

136th General Assembly

Regular Session H. B. No. 265

2025-2026

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;

(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;

(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.