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The owners of two downtown Youngstown buildings that could have their steam heat shut off filed requests with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to intervene in the SOBE Thermal Energy Systems LLC rate hike matter.
It will be up to the PUCO whether it grants intervener status, particularly because the deadline to make such a request was July 24 – 30 days after the commission approved significant emergency rate increases for SOBE's 23 customers, which make up downtown Youngstown.
Since the rate increases took effect, two of SOBE's customers - 22 Market Street Ohio LLC, which is developing the former Mahoning National Bank building, and FNB Youngstown LLC, which owns the First National Bank Building, also known as Central Tower - were disconnected for nonpayment.
Filing intervenor requests with the PUCO were West 34 Investors LLC, the owner of Wick Tower, and Erie Terminal Place LLC, which owns Erie Terminal Place. Both have received disconnection notices from SOBE.
But SOBE receiver John C. Collins said talks with Dominic Marchionda, whose companies own the two buildings, are ongoing and there is a hesitation to disconnect those buildings because they have residential tenants.
A Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge on Oct. 7 granted intervenor status to Marchionda's two companies in a case though the PUCO has exclusive jurisdiction over the emergency rate increases.
Gregg Rossi, the attorney who represents both companies, wrote to the PUCO in each filing to intervene that the "requested intervention is directed towards issues of continuing financial significance, including the prospective application of emergency rates and the allocation of ongoing operational and natural gas expenses. The proposed intervention will contribute materially to the development of the factual record and will not unduly prejudice existing parties."
Both filings state the building have "identified substantial questions concerning the accuracy and reasonableness of certain expenses included in the calculation of the emergency rates as well as the methodology employed by SOBE to allocate operational and natural gas expenses among its customers."
Rossi wrote Erie Terminal was assessed a $5,500 monthly charge for equipment that was never completed and didn't use any steam heat between June and September.
The PUCO on June 24 granted significant emergency rate increases for SOBE's then 23 customers, which make up a majority of downtown Youngstown. The rates took effect June 30.
For 13 of the SOBE's customers, the emergency rate increase for the non-heating season between May and October, was 93% with two at 92%, one at 91% and two at 36%. The five other customers are paying between 64% and 80% more.
Between November and April, the rate will increase by another 162% for 14 of SOBE's customers. One will pay 163% more during those six months with two paying 85% more. The six others will pay increases between 123% and 159%.
Marchionda said bills for his two buildings were considerably more than 92% and Erie has an accurate meter to show how little steam heat it is actually using.
Erie Terminal on Aug. 26 paid $8 - what it was billed monthly for August, September and October 2025 - for its invoice while SOBE states it owes $25,734.97 for two months, according to an Oct. 2 court report by SOBE.
SOBE records show Wick owes $10,752.72.
In Rossi's requests to the PUCO, he asked the commission to require SOBE to provide documentation to prove its calculations regarding the rate hikes were correct, which the two buildings dispute.
Rossi wrote that the two companies are not seeking a rehearing, which would be untimely, but rather "prospective relief based upon continuing charges, disputed expense assumptions, and the ongoing application of allocation methodologies that allegedly produce inaccurate and unreasonable rates."
The PUCO granted intervenor status to the city of Youngstown and the Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel in this matter.
Neither objected to the rate increases in a Sept. 4 filing, but asked the PUCO to provide an expiration date for them and customers could get refunds if the amount raised by the hikes "exceeds the level of charges found to be just and reasonable in SOBE's next rate case."
The PUCO hadn't ruled on the joint request as of Wednesday.