Home/Bills/SB 151Ohio · 136th General Assembly (2025–2026)

Senate BillPassed first house

SB 151: Allow certain natural gas suppliers to offer carbon offsets

Ohio · Senate · 136th General Assembly (2025–2026) · last verified September 24, 2026

What SB 151 does, verified September 24, 2026

The bill aims to allow competitive retail natural gas service suppliers to offer carbon offsets to customers. This policy promotes the availability of adequate, reliable, and reasonably priced natural gas services and goods, as well as diversity of natural gas supplies and suppliers. Retail natural gas suppliers must work with recognized carbon offset registries and provide customers with information about the environmental impact of carbon offset products. The bill ensures that environmental marketing claims are substantiated by competent and reliable evidence, and accurate information is made available to consumers. Voluntary carbon offset programs must be transparent and allow customers to opt in and out of the program, with no costs incurred by customers who do not participate. The public utilities commission may conduct audits to ensure that carbon offsets are being applied correct…

Bill journey

✓IntroducedComplete

✓In CommitteeComplete

✓First Chamber FloorComplete

4Second ChamberCurrent

5GovernorPending

6ChapteredPending

Last action: Referred to committee: Energy (2026-02-18)Alert me

Author and sponsors

Sen. Shane WilkinAuthor · Ohio Senate

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Coauthors

Nickie AntonioJerry CirinoHearcel CraigWilliam DeMoraPaula Hicks-HudsonCatherine IngramGeorge LangThomas PattonBill ReinekeKristina RoegnerJane Timken

Recent actions6 total · showing 5

Feb. 18, 2026	Referred to committee: Energy
Feb. 17, 2026	Introduced
Feb. 11, 2026	Passed
Oct. 22, 2025	Reported - Amended: Public Utilities
Mar. 19, 2025	Referred to committee: Public Utilities

Full action history, 1 earlier actionConnect Plus

Latest bill textEngrossed version, February 19, 2026 · 1,301 words

As Passed by the Senate

136th General Assembly

Regular Session

2025-2026

Am. S. B. No. 151

Senator Wilkin

Cosponsors: Senators Antonio, Cirino, Craig, DeMora, Hicks-Hudson, Ingram, Lang, Patton, Reineke, Roegner, Timken

To amend section 4929.02 and to enact sections 4929.51, 4929.52, 4929.53, 4929.55, 4929.57, and 4929.59 of the Revised Code to allow for competitive retail natural gas service suppliers to offer carbon offsets to customers.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section 1. That section 4929.02 be amended and sections 4929.51, 4929.52, 4929.53, 4929.55, 4929.57, and 4929.59 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 4929.02.

(A) It is the policy of this state to, throughout this state:

(1) Promote the availability to consumers of adequate, reliable, and reasonably priced natural gas services and goods;

(2) Promote the availability of unbundled and comparable natural gas services and goods that provide wholesale and retail consumers with the supplier, price, terms, conditions, and quality options they elect to meet their respective needs;

(3) Promote diversity of natural gas supplies and suppliers, by giving consumers effective choices over the selection of those supplies and suppliers;

(4) Encourage innovation and market access for cost-effective supply- and demand-side natural gas services and goods;

(5) Encourage cost-effective and efficient access to information regarding the operation of the distribution systems of natural gas companies in order to promote effective customer choice of natural gas services and goods;

(6) Recognize the continuing emergence of competitive natural gas markets through the development and implementation of flexible regulatory treatment;

(7) Promote an expeditious transition to the provision of natural gas services and goods in a manner that achieves effective competition and transactions between willing buyers and willing sellers to reduce or eliminate the need for regulation of natural gas services and goods under Chapters 4905. and 4909. of the Revised Code;

(8) Promote effective competition in the provision of natural gas services and goods by avoiding subsidies flowing to or from regulated natural gas services and goods;

(9) Ensure that the risks and rewards of a natural gas company's offering of nonjurisdictional and exempt services and goods do not affect the rates, prices, terms, or conditions of nonexempt, regulated services and goods of a natural gas company and do not affect the financial capability of a natural gas company to comply with the policy of this state specified in this section;

(10) Facilitate the state's competitiveness in the global economy;

(11) Facilitate additional choices for the supply of natural gas for residential consumers, including aggregation;

(12) Promote an alignment of natural gas company interests with consumer interest in energy efficiency and energy conservation;

(13) Ensure that environmental marketing claims, whether explicit or implied, are substantiated by competent and reliable evidence so as not to deceive or mislead consumers about the environmental impact of carbon offset products;

(14) Ensure that accurate and useful information about the environmental impact of carbon offset products is made available to consumers.

(B) The public utilities commission and the office of the consumers' counsel shall follow the policy specified in this section in exercising their respective authorities relative to sections 4929.03 to 4929.30 of the Revised Code.

(C) Nothing in Chapter 4929. of the Revised Code shall be construed to alter the public utilities commission's construction or application of division (E) of section 4905.03 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 4929.51.

As used in sections 4929.50 to 4929.59 of the Revised Code:

(A) "Carbon offset" means an instrument certified by a carbon offset registry that represents one metric ton of greenhouse gas removed from the atmosphere by any method of mitigation including: planting and maintaining trees that absorb carbon dioxide and providing long-term forest management, capturing and burning methane gas produced by landfills or farms before the methane enters the atmosphere, and improving energy efficiency to reduce energy use and lower the associated carbon dioxide emissions.

(B) "Carbon offset registry" means a nationally recognized entity that engages primarily in the development of carbon offset standards, methodologies, program registration, verification oversight, and issuance of carbon offsets, whether for profit or not.

(1) Sells the same carbon offset to two or more customers;

(2) Attributes the carbon offset produced from a single method of mitigation to two or more methods of mitigation.

Sec. 4929.52.

A retail natural gas supplier that intends to establish a voluntary carbon offset program shall do the following:

(A) Enter into an agreement with one or more carbon offset registries that can provide the following:

(1) Information to identify carbon offset projects;

(2) Serial numbers for each carbon offset credit generated by each project;

(3) A system to identify the original owner that generated the carbon offset credit;

(4) A system to check the status of a carbon offset credit.

(B) Submit a notice to the public utilities commission stating its intention to begin a voluntary carbon offset program that allows all customer classes to enroll and purchase carbon offsets to offset any emissions that are the result of the customer's consumption and use of natural gas services.

Sec. 4929.53.

(A) A notice to begin a voluntary carbon offset program that a retail natural gas supplier submits to the public utilities commission pursuant to section 4929.52 of the Revised Code shall include the following:

(1) A copy of an agreement between the retail natural gas supplier and one or more carbon offset registries that at a minimum states that the carbon offsets being sold meet the necessary criteria to be considered a carbon offset and that the registry or registries will conduct regular verification to assure that the offsets are being applied correctly by the supplier;

(2) A description of the types of carbon offsets the supplier will offer to customers and a description of how the supplier will prevent double counting.

(B) The public utilities commission shall maintain a publicly available record of each notice described in division (A) of this section once the commission has verified that the supplier is working with the carbon offset registry or registries it lists in the notice.

Sec. 4929.55.

No voluntary carbon offset program offered by a retail natural gas supplier under sections 4929.52 to 4929.59 of the Revised Code shall require a natural gas company to incur costs related to the program. No such carbon offset program shall require customers who do not participate in the program to incur any costs related to the program.

Sec. 4929.57.

A retail natural gas supplier's voluntary carbon offset program under sections 4929.52 to 4929.59 of the Revised Code shall include procedures to allow for customers to opt in and out of the program.

Sec. 4929.59.

(A) The public utilities commission, at its discretion, may conduct an audit of a retail natural gas supplier's voluntary carbon offset program under sections 4929.52 to 4929.59 of the Revised Code to ensure the carbon offsets are being applied correctly to a customer's account and to ensure that no costs incurred under the program are charged to, or collected from, the natural gas company or customers who do not participate in the program.

(B) A retail natural gas supplier that is subject to an audit as described in division (A) of this section shall provide the commission any information it determines is necessary to complete the audit.

Section 2. That existing section 4929.02 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.

Text of SB 151 as engrossed, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions