LOCAL BUSINESS
B&W unit gets contract
Babcock & Wilcox Co.’s Power Generation Group Inc. in Barberton has been awarded a contract worth more than $60 million to design and supply a coal-fired boiler for a power plant in Colombia.
B&W will design a 180 megawatt boiler, coal pulverizers, air heater, structural steel and other boiler auxiliary equipment for the Termotasajero Unit 2 power plant near Cucuta for South Korean contractor Hyundai Engineering Co. Ltd. The plant is owned by Termotasajero S.A.
Engineering work for the project starts in June. B&W expects its deliveries will be completed in early 2014, with the plant scheduled to start up in late 2015.
OSU tax program set
The Ohio State University Extension will offer its popular OSU Income Tax Schools locally at Kent State University and Ashland University. The schools are for people who prepare income tax returns. The cost is $335. The teaching team includes three OSU Extension faculty and two current and two retired employees of the Internal Revenue Service. Three of the seven will be at each location.
Locally, the school will be Nov. 19-20 at the Kent State Student Center and Nov. 29-30 at the John C. Meyers Convocation Center at Ashland University. The schools, which will be offered at eight sites around the state, fulfill the new 15-hour requirement for registered tax return preparers, and offer continuing education credit for attorneys, enrolled agents, certified public accountants and certified financial planners.
For details and the full schedule, go online to http://go.osu.edu/taxschools.
REAL ESTATE
Cost of homes going up
A measure of U.S. home prices jumped 5 percent in September compared with a year ago, the largest year-over-year increase since July 2006. The gain reported by CoreLogic offered more evidence of a sustainable housing recovery.
Akron-area home prices, including properties called distressed sales, increased by 3.8 percent in September compared to September 2011, CoreLogic reported. Home prices, including distressed sales, fell 1.9 percent from August to September.
Excluding distressed sales, Akron-area prices went up 2.8 percent in September from a year ago and increased by 2 percent in August compared to August 2011. Akron-area non-distressed home prices decreased by 0.4 percent in September compared to August, CoreLogic reported.
The real estate data provider also said Tuesday that prices nationally declined 0.3 percent in September from August, the first drop after six straight increases. The monthly figures are not seasonally adjusted. CoreLogic says the monthly decline reflects the end of the summer home-buying season and not a softening in the housing recovery.
UTILITIES
Natural gas price increase
The monthly natural gas price for customers who have chosen Dominion’s Standard Choice Offer (SCO) or those who don’t choose their own supplier is increasing for November.
Effective Thursday, the identical SCO and Standard Service Offer (SSO) prices will be $4.07 per thousand cubic feet (mcf). The new rates are 45 cents (or 12 percent) higher than the October SCO/SSO price of $3.62/mcf. It is 10 percent or 45 cents/mcf lower than the price a year ago of $4.52/mcf.
The average SCO/SSO residential customer’s bill for the month of November was projected to be $74.76, down $3.38 or 4.3 percent from the price a year ago, said Dominion East Ohio.
Residential customers pay the same usage-based charges (to deliver gas to a residence) and monthly service fee, regardless of whether customers choose their own supplier or stay with Dominion. The usage-based charge, $1.17/mcf is going up by 6 cents/mcf for a transportation migration rider. The flat fee, approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, is $20.95.
AUTO INDUSTRY
Suzuki distributor troubled
American Suzuki Motor Corp. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and says it will cease selling automobiles in the U.S. as part of a plan to restructure its business. The company, based in Brea, Calif., is the sole distributor of Suzuki Motor Co. vehicles in the continental U.S. It said it will focus on selling Suzuki motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and marine outboard engines once it exits bankruptcy protection.
The company estimates its debts and liabilities range from at least $100 million to as much as $500 million. American Suzuki Motor says it decided to exit the car business because of slow sales, unfavorable foreign exchange rates and high costs due to U.S. regulatory requirements.
The bankruptcy and reorganization are unrelated to Japan-based Suzuki Motor Corp.
Compiled from staff and wire reports