Ohio Democrats

Donate

News

WHAT OHIOANS ARE READING: ‘Husted backed the corrupt HB 6 bailout. Ohio households now pay $663 more a year.’

February 27, 2026

Husted at center of ongoing FirstEnergy corruption trial, mentioned more than 100 times

Columbus, Ohio — New reporting reveals that Senator Jon Husted “led the charge” to pass HB 6, the scandal-ridden bribery legislation that has contributed to Ohioans’ electric bills, rising by an average of more than $660 since the bailout passed in 2019.

As the FirstEnergy criminal corruption trial continues, Husted’s ties to the largest corruption scandal in Ohio history continue to deepen — with new phone calls, text messages, and previously unreported secret meetings placing him at the center of the scheme that delivered a billion dollar bailout to utilities while sticking Ohio families with higher energy bills.

Read more about the latest revelation on Husted’s role in the center of Ohio’s largest corruption scandal: 

TiffinOhio.net: Husted backed the corrupt HB 6 bailout. Ohio households now pay $663 more a year.

  • U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, who is running to keep his Senate seat in Ohio’s 2026 special election, allegedly played a central role in passing a utility bailout law that sits at the heart of the state’s largest-ever corruption scandal — and that has contributed to Ohio households paying $663 more per year for electricity in the years since.
  • The financial toll is direct and documented. When House Bill 6 took effect in October 2019, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio recorded the average monthly residential electric bill at $89.19 — $1,070.28 annually. By January 2026, that figure had climbed to $144.47 per month, or $1,733.64 per year. The difference: $55.28 per month, $663.36 per year.
  • Text messages and internal emails released in 2024 show that Husted allegedly led the charge with now-indicted FirstEnergy executives to pass the bill, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.
  • A FirstEnergy email stated that Gov. Mike DeWine “left the details of H.B. 6 to others — John [sic] Husted and Danny,” referring to Husted and Dan McCarthy, DeWine’s legislative director and a former FirstEnergy lobbyist.
  • House Bill 6 passed in 2019 and authorized a $1 billion ratepayer-funded bailout of the state’s nuclear power industry, with monthly surcharges paid by every Ohio residential electricity customer. 
  • Federal authorities later revealed it was secured through a nearly $61 million bribery scheme — described by U.S. Attorney David DeVillers as “the largest bribery money laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio.”
  • HB 6 required Ohio residential utility customers to pay a monthly surcharge of between $1.30 and $1.50 […]. From 2020 through August 14, 2025, Ohioans paid $527,808,043 in OVEC subsidies specifically under HB 6’s Legacy Generation Rider.
  • According to PUCO’s January 2026 Unit Costs data, the average Ohio household now pays $144.47 per month for electricity — $1,733.64 annually, based on the commission’s standard estimate of 750 kilowatt hours of monthly residential usage. 
  • When HB 6 took effect in October 2019, that same household paid $89.19 per month, or $1,070.28 per year.

Read more about Jon Husted’s role in Ohio’s largest corruption scandal:

  • New evidence at trial revealed nine calls between Jon Husted and Mike Dowling in the months preceding a $4.3 million bribe to former Utilities Commission Chair Sam Randazzo. 
  • New reporting reveals Jon Husted held secret meetings with indicted FirstEnergy executives, including with the “mastermind of Ohio’s largest public corruption scheme two days before scandal-ridden bribery legislation was introduced.”
  • Neil Clark, a FirstEnergy lobbyist and co-defendant with former House Speaker Larry Householder, referred to Husted as FirstEnergy’s “golden boy.”
  • Text messages between Husted and FirstEnergy Executives reveal that the trio were in constant communication “before, during and after his campaign.”
  • Just weeks after Husted and DeWine were elected in 2018, they had a dinner with FirstEnergy executives Jones and Dowling at the Athletic Club of Columbus that has become a focal point of the current criminal trial.
  • Public records show that FirstEnergy funneled $1 million in dark money to a nonprofit backing Husted in 2017 — part of the same corrupt scheme that led to federal indictments.

###