After taking punches Friday from multiple opponents of his plan to regulate Ohio’s electricity industry, House Speaker Jon Husted yesterday offered a point-by-point defense of the complex measure.

The 10 page response insisted that the measure ensures that if state-approved rate plans are lower than market rates, that is what customers will pay. “There is no opportunity for an above-market outcome in the House bill,” Husted’s office wrote.

A coalition of manufacturers and advocates for the poor are concerned that the bill would be a boon to utility companies at the expense of consumers.

American Electric Power customers currently pay a below-market rate, but Husted has acknowledged that prices are going to rise. “There is no market-based or cost-based system that can defy fundamental forces,” his office wrote.

As of last night, Gov. Ted Strickland had not heard anything to change his plan to veto the bill, though he still hopes to work out an agreement, spokesman Keith Dailey said.

Strickland said Friday that the bill exposes consumers and businesses to “unwarranted and unjust rate increases.”

Husted defends electricity proposal