YOUNGSTOWN – A Mahoning County Common Pleas Court magistrate agreed to permit Youngstown to intervene in a case involving SOBE Thermal Energy Systems LLC’s receivership.

Magistrate Nicole Butler wrote in her Thursday order that the motion, which was initially filed Feb. 2 and amended March 17, is “well-taken” and agreed to let the city “intervene in this case as an intervening ratepayer.”

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, which filed the case Sept. 19 against SOBE in order to put a receiver in charge of the troubled utility company, didn’t oppose Youngstown’s motion to intervene, but wanted the court to reject the city’s cross-claim alleging “breach of account.” The cross-claim was for $11,213.57 the city contends SOBE owes in unpaid water bills.

In the city’s March 17 amended request, the water bill issue was removed.

The city sought injunctive relief to intervene to have SOBE “provide necessary and adequate service to customers as required by Ohio law, order the receiver to inform SOBE customers and counsel for the PUCO of any maintenance issue that could affect customers within eight hours of said issue, order the receiver to inform this court and the PUCO within 24 hours of any temporary outage of SOBE Thermal’s systems, direct the receiver to escrow funds payable to the receiver and the receiver’s counsel with the clerk of courts until SOBE has proven it is consistently operational, and any other relief this court deems just and equitable.”

In a Feb. 23 response, the PUCO didn’t object to granting the city intervener status, but asked for the cross-claim to be rejected.

Julian P. Johnson, an assistant Ohio attorney general and PUCO’s legal counsel, wrote the state agency “acknowledges the city’s valid interests, which align with those of the PUCO. The PUCO appreciates the city’s strong leadership and consistent advocacy for SOBE’s customers and looks to continue to engage collaboratively with the city to achieve stability of the utility. Therefore, the PUCO does not object to the city’s participation in the proceeding.”

The city’s motion stated it should be allowed to intervene because SOBE, through former receiver Reg Martin, was unable to provide steam service as ordered by the court; the city “possesses direct and substantial interests in the continued provision of necessary and adequate steam service within the city, interests that are not adequately represented by the existing parties and which may be impaired by the disposition of this action.”

With repeated failures to provide steam heat under Martin’s leadership to SOBE’s 28 customers, which make up a majority of downtown Youngstown’s buildings, the PUCO filed a Feb. 11 motion to remove Martin as the utility’s receiver less than five months after his Sept. 26 appointment by Judge Anthony Donofrio at the behest of the state agency.

Donofrio granted the request Feb. 17 and also removed attorney Kenneth R. Goldberg as the receiver’s legal counsel.

Also at the request of the PUCO, John C. Collins, an Akron attorney originally from Youngstown, replaced Martin as receiver and Michael J. Moran, a Cuyahoga Falls attorney, replaced Goldberg.

On Feb. 13, two days after the PUCO asked that Martin be removed, Goldberg filed an objection to the city’s request to intervene in the court case.

Martin was appointed Sept. 26 as SOBE receiver and Goldberg as his legal counsel by Donofrio as the company was insolvent and unable to provide heat to its customers. A rented 800-horsepower boiler was removed Sept. 30 from SOBE because the company defaulted on paying for the equipment that provided heat and hot water to its customers. SOBE owed $383,214 in back payments to the steam plant’s owner, Wabash Power Equipment Co. of Wheeling, Illinois. The repossession would have made the company unable to provide utilities to its customers.

The equipment rented by Martin proved to be unreliable during some of the coldest periods in years.

SOBE’s boilers repeatedly failed to provide proper heat and hot water for its customers, forcing a number of them to shut down.

Several buildings were without heat for five days, starting Feb. 7, after the failure of two SOBE boilers, including an 800-horsepower one that arrived Feb. 1.

That came only days after SOBE couldn’t provide heat from Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, and Feb. 3 in some buildings, during days when the temperature was well below zero. Even after steam heat started flowing, some businesses couldn’t get it because of broken pipes.

Without the repossessed boiler, Martin was able to rent a 650-horsepower steam plant that was hooked up about 10 days after the other was taken away.

Because of $750,000 Martin received for SOBE from Enbridge Gas Ohio’s settlement of the 2024 Realty Tower gas explosion investigation by the PUCO, he rented a 200-horsepower boiler. But the two boilers couldn’t provide enough heat for customers starting Jan. 27 and lasting for a week.

Martin also used the Enbridge settlement money to rent an 800-horsepower boiler, which arrived Jan. 30. But that and the 650-horsepower boiler failed Feb. 7 with heat not restored to buildings until Feb. 12.