AEP Ohio Electric Rate Savings Potential by Todd Yasbin
Its been a tough summer for AEP Ohio electricity customers as energy price hikes have caused a sticker shock for many customers as their electric bills have arrived. AEP Ohio customers on the default rate saw the price they pay for electricity supply increase by 58% on June 1, 2023. Many customers haven’t fully appreciated what that increase will do to their electric bill, and likely won’t until they receive their AEP Ohio electric bills in July or August for the June service period.

AEP Ohio recently released their new price to compare default rate, also referred to as standard service offer, that will go into effect on July 1, 2023 and likely stay in effect for several months. The new July rate will drop slightly from the June rate, but only by 5%. The 58% increase in June saw the price to compare rate jump to 11.82¢ per kWh, and that price will drop to 11.20¢ in July.

Meanwhile, competitive Ohio electricity suppliers continue to offer rate plans well below even the new lower July default rate. The lowest AEP Ohio electric rates are offerings savings as high as 40% versus the standard service offer default price. This presents a clear path for customers on the default rate to easily lower their Ohio electric bills simply by switching from AEP Ohio to a lower electric rate plan.

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission’s last electricity choice activity report released in May stated that 56% of AEP Ohio customers were still on the default rate. This represents more than 850,000 customers who will experience the shock of higher than expected electric bills as they arrive in July and August.

These customers should waste no more time in shopping for a low AEP Ohio electric rate so that they can bring their electricity expenses back down to levels experienced before the summer rate hike. In 2022, the AEP Ohio price to compare that went into effect on July 1 stayed the same through October 2022. The same is expected for this year, meaning that default rate payers who do not shop for a competitive Ohio electric rate can expect to pay 11.20¢ per kWh through October instead of competitive rates that are available below 7¢.

Locking in a low fixed Ohio electric rate will not only save AEP Ohio customers in the near term, but could also protect them from potential future increases in the price to compare in the future and add further protection resulting in lower AEP Ohio electric bills. AEP Ohio expects to change their price to compare rate again in October of 2023, followed by rate changes in January and April of 2024. As of now there is no way of knowing what those rates will be set at.

AEP Ohio customers can save money now and protect themselves from volatility and electric bill surge surprises by locking in a low fixed electricity rate plan. The lowest rates available are listed below and are updated in real time.

PPL Electricity Rates June 2023 by Todd Yasbin

If you live in Pennsylvania and have not educated yourself about the energy choice laws in the state then you are missing out on a bunch of savings. Put another way, if you haven’t taken the time to shop for lower electricity rates, then you are vastly overpaying on your monthly electric bill.

While technically speaking electricity choice has been around in Pennsylvania since the early 2000s, it wasn’t until the beginning of 2010 when people throughout the state really started to take notice. It was then that a decade long low price lock in the state’s second largest electric utility expired and opened up the floodgates of new electricity suppliers entering the state market.

Pennsylvania Power & Light (PPL), the utility company that delivers power to around 1.2 million customers throughout the central part of the state, had to increase their default rate for electricity generation supply. The previous default rate had been locked in a decade prior when wholesale energy rates were very low. When the rates finally expired, wholesale rates were now much higher and caused the price their customers were paying to increase around 20% overnight.

1. The previously low rates had two major effects on Pennsylvania electricity choice:
   For the first decade of the 21st century, competitive electricity suppliers could not offer rates to customers below the default rate and thus didn’t bother entering the market.
2. Because rates were low customers didn’t feel the need to educate themselves about electricity choice. They may have read an article that a new law created a new energy choice market in Pennsylvania, but from their perspective nothing had changed. They still received their bill from their utility and there were no other companies marketing their service.

But that changed in 2010 when the default rates spiked. Now competitive electricity companies had a reason to enter the Pennsylvania market as they could offer customers with lower electric rates and savings on their PPL electric bills.

Electricity companies rushed into the PPL service area market with billboards, TV commercials, online advertising, and even door to door salesmen. More people started to familiarize themselves with electricity choice and the savings available by shopping for the cheapest PPL electric rates.

The following year in 2011 the same thing occurred in the state’s largest electric utility service area PECO Energy. PECO Energy, the utility that delivers power to the city of Philadelphia, had their decade long default rates expire and were forced to charge their customers a much higher rate for electricity supply.

Meanwhile, as was the case in PPL, competitive electricity companies could offer PECO Energy customers rate plans that were much lower than the default rates. Customer started comparing Philadelphia electricity prices and switching. The industry of electricity choice was starting to take shape.

Dissecting Myths about Pennsylvania Electricity Choice by Todd Yasbin

Over the next eight years customers in the other utility service area markets in the state started to see savings opportunities offered by competitive electricity suppliers. Many of the suppliers were slow to enter into the smaller First Energy areas at first, but once they could offer savings to those customers and choice awareness picked up, it make sense for them to go in and acquire a pool of new customers.

From 2010 until 2019 electricity suppliers were able to offer savings to at least some pool of Pennsylvania customers at any given time. The market was maturing as more people began to realize that they can not only shop for savings, but for price security and even renewable options.

Electricity Shopping Activity Stops

But everything seemed to change around the time of the pandemic. From early 2020 until the summer of 2023 the default rates became very low and competitive suppliers became unable to offer savings. For the last three and a half years, the growth in electricity shopping in Pennsylvania completely stopped.

Worst yet was that many customers went back onto the default rate with their utility. The number of active customers on a competitive plan began shrinking quite rapidly.

A lot can happen in 42 months. Over the last three plus years hundreds of thousands of people in Pennsylvania have moved into new homes, and without competitive electric rates offering savings to incentivize people to shop, most consumers have forgotten that Pennsylvania electricity choice exists and have reverted back to the days of regulated energy.

2023 Pennsylvania Electricity Rates are Competitive Again

In recent months the electricity suppliers have been able to start offering competitive rates that are lower than the utility default rates. At first the savings were slight, but in the summer of 2023 savings have really started to expand.

Customers of the two largest utilities - PPL and PECO Energy - are able to lower their electric bills by more than 20%. As of April of 2023 only 21.4% of PECO Energy residential customers were purchasing their power from a low Pennsylvania electricity supplier even though savings were as high as 30% off of the PECO price to compare rate.

There is absolutely no reason why a PECO Energy customer who can save 30% should remain on the price to compare rate, and yet there are more than 1.2 million residential customers who are paying that high default electric rate.

Ohio Edison Savings Potential by Todd Yasbin

Ohio Edison customers are in a race to find lower electric rates in order to avoid the effects of a 110% rate increase that went into effect on June 1, 2023.  Ohio Edison is raising their default Standard Service Offer rate due to high prices in the wholesale energy market that occurred several months ago.

In order to avoid the Ohio Edison rate increase customers need to learn about the benefits of electricity shopping in Ohio.

Ohio Edison Standard Service Offer Rate

The Standard Service Offer (SSO) is the default rate that Ohio Edison customers – who have not selected a competitive electric rate plan – pay for electricity supply.  The SSO rate went from 5.876¢ per kWh to 12.394¢ on June 1, which represents the 110% increase.

SSO rates are only charged to those who do not shop and participate in the Ohio electricity choice market.  For those customers who have not selected a competitive energy plan, taking the time to do so could help them prevent the 110% increase on their electric bill.  The increase should be expected for those SSO rate payers who do not take the time to shop for lower Ohio Edison electric rates.

How to Shop for Lower Ohio Edison Rates?

Participating in Ohio Edison electric choice is a simple process that can save customers a lot of money in as little as five minutes.  Here are the steps:
1. Go to an electric price comparison site
2. Enter in your zip code
3. Compare offers in your area which include price, term, termination fee, and generation source
4. Select the offer that best fits your desires
5. Enter in your information and Ohio Edison Customer Number
6. You’re finished.  The switch will occur at your next available meter read date

What is the Ohio Edison Customer Number

When switching electric suppliers you will need your Ohio Edison Customer Number and not the account number.  This serves as a high level of confusion for many customers.

The Ohio Customer number is a 20 digit number that starts with 08.  It is not your 12 digit account number.  In order to process the switch, the utility company needs the 20 digit customer number which can be found on your electric bill right above the line item charges.

The Customer Number can be found at the letter “H” below:

Ohio Edison Bill and Where to Find the Customer Number

Ohio Edison Customer Shopping Activity

n May of 2023 the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio reported that 45% of Ohio Edison customers, accounting for around 476,000 customers, were on the Standard Service Offer rate and thus going to be effected by the more than doubling of the price they pay for electricity supply.  That number had decreased from 542,000 customers in April of 2023, indicating that word was starting to get around about the drastic Ohio Edison rate increase.

Current low competitive rates in Ohio Edison are well below the SSO default rate.  In reality, there is no reason for any customer to be on the default rate this summer.  Below are current Ohio Edison competitive electric rates that are updated daily.