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Ohio Gov. Wants To Postpone Light Bulb Giveaway

Ohio's governor wants to postpone an electric utility's plan to distribute low-energy light bulbs over concerns about passing the cost along to consumers without notice.

Gov. Ted Strickland said Wednesday that the three-year cost of $21.60 for each FirstEnergy Corp. customer was more than the retail price of the two bulbs each customer would get.


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U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland also questions the cost and has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has asked the Akron-based utility to postpone giving out nearly 4 million bulbs to residential electricity customers of Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. and Toledo Edison.

The PUCO said it hadn't approved passing along the cost to consumers. The program was meant to reduce electricity usage.

FirstEnergy spokeswoman Ellen Raines said the program was approved by PUCO, but the company plans to cooperate with the commission and answer any questions it may have.

Although there are two FirstEnergy plants in the Ohio Valley -- the W.H. Sammis Plant in Jefferson County and the R.E. Berger plant in Belmont County -- FirstEnergy is not a power company used by Ohio Valley customers.

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