Supreme Court rules against Reynoldsburg in power-line case

By The Columbus Dispatch  • 

Reynoldsburg has lost a case in which it hoped to recover nearly $1.2 million the city spent to move power lines underground as part of its Main Street streetscaping project.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that the city was not entitled to recover the money from Columbus Southern Power Co., a subsidiary of American Electric Power.

An electric utility tariff making cities responsible for the costs of power-line relocations takes precedence over a 2005 ordinance adopted by Reynoldsburg that requires utilities to pay, the justices ruled.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio heard the dispute last year and sided with Columbus Southern Power in a 3-2 vote, ruling it would be unfair for the utility’s customers to pay the costs of a project benefitting only Reynoldsburg.

Reynoldsburg argued that its ordinance was lawful under its home-rule powers, but the Supreme Court found that the law was not an exercise in home rule.

The justices said that the ordinance was an exercise of the city’s police powers to promote “ the public health, safety and welfare” and thus did not overcome “the general law” of the state attached to the tariff.

Reynoldsburg agreed to pay the costs of moving the power lines underground pending later court rulings in the case.