Ohio legislators are continuing to hear conflicting testimony about whether they should keep having state government control electricity rates. At the moment, the Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to lose its regulatory power over electric bills, starting next year. But the Ohio Senate has approved a bill bringing back government price controls and a legislative committee in the house is now looking at it.

Ohioans who are having trouble keeping up with their utility bills won’t have to worry about having their heat shut off during this cold winter.

Ohio consumer advocates have won a key battle in the legislature over controlling electricity rates, but they’re worried they may lose a second battle and the result could be soaring monthly bills for customers.

Preventing Ohioans’ monthly electric bills from soaring. That’s a major goal of a complex measure that state senators passed Wednesday. If state representatives go along with the senate action, it will reverse a move that lawmakers made eight years ago, when they voted to phase out government control of electric rates.