Ohio Electric Aggregation: What Your Opt-Out Letter Means

What is Ohio electric aggregation?

Ohio electric aggregation means a city, village, township or county buys electricity as a group for the homes and small businesses inside its borders. A county program covers only the areas outside its cities and villages. Ohio Revised Code 4928.20 calls it governmental aggregation.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) describes two kinds. In opt-in aggregation, each resident signs up individually. In opt-out aggregation, all local residents are enrolled automatically unless they individually opt out. This page covers the opt-out kind, which sends a letter you did not ask for.

CRES provider. A Competitive Retail Electric Service provider, the supplier a program hires to sell the electricity.

Your utility does not change. It still delivers the power, reads your meter and sends your bill. What changes is who sells you the electricity itself, which the bill calls supply. PUCO says every aggregator must be certified (its aggregation page on Energy Choice Ohio, PUCO's consumer site).

How does a community set up an opt-out program?

Ohio law sets steps that a community must finish before it can enroll anyone (Ohio Revised Code 4928.20).

1. The city council, township trustees or county commissioners adopt a measure that says whether the program is opt-in or automatic.
2. For an automatic program, voters decide at a special election held on the next primary or general election day. A majority of those voting must approve.
3. The community writes a plan of operation and governance and holds at least two public hearings, with notice published first.
4. Before it enrolls you, the community must tell you in advance that you will be enrolled automatically, state the rates, charges and terms, and give you a stated way to say no.

Two limits matter. Mercantile customers, the law's term for large commercial and industrial users (definitions), can join only if they say yes. A community also cannot aggregate homes in an electric co-op's territory or homes served by a municipal electric utility.

What does the opt-out letter have to tell you?

The written notice must be marked "important notice regarding your electric service" on the outside and written in plain language (Ohio Administrative Code 4901:1-21-17). The rule lists what is inside.

• The price for generation service. A fixed rate is stated per kilowatt-hour (kWh). For a variable rate, the notice must explain what makes it vary and how often it changes.
• An itemized list of every fee not built into the rate, including any early termination fee (ETF), a charge for leaving a contract early. An ETF cannot apply if you move out of the program's territory.
• The dates the program covers, the estimated start date, and a notice that you may opt out at least every three years without penalty.
• What happens if you opt out before the program starts, and a warning that if you later return to your utility, you may not get the same rates and terms as other utility customers.
• Credit or deposit rules, limits on who may join, how to opt out, and a phone number with calling hours.

No program may add a term, fee or charge that the notice did not clearly disclose when you chose not to opt out. It must send a new opt-out notice at least every three years.

How do you opt out of aggregation in Ohio?

To opt out of aggregation in Ohio, return the opt-out postcard or form from your notice before the deadline. The rule says every program must let you return a postcard or similar notice, and it may add phone or internet opt-out if the choice can be verified. A card postmarked before the deadline counts as an opt-out (rule 4901:1-21-17).

The rule sets a floor of 21 days from the postmark date on the notice. PUCO's aggregation page describes the response time as usually 14 to 21 days, so read the dates on your own letter. PUCO also says not to discard the notice (PUCO).

Not sure whether you are in a program? Your bill names your supplier, and our aggregation lookup points to programs we have researched.

What if you miss the opt-out deadline?

PUCO says you get one more chance. Once the switch is scheduled, your utility mails a notice that names the supplier you will be switched to, and you have seven days from the postmark to contact the utility if the information is wrong or you want to opt out (PUCO). The utility's notice rule says the same (rule 4901:1-10-29).

After that, your exit depends on the program's terms. Ohio law gives every enrolled customer an opt-out chance at least every three years without a switching fee. Some programs let you leave at any time, so check what your notice says.

What supplies your electricity if you opt out?

If you opt out before the program starts, you are served by your utility's standard service offer (SSO), its default electric supply service, until you choose another supplier (Ohio Revised Code 4928.20). The price to compare is the per-kWh benchmark for that default, and your utility prints it on your residential bill (rule 4901:1-10-22).

Opting out is not the same as picking a new supplier. PUCO says that to stay with your local utility, you must opt out and switch to the utility.

What if you already buy from a supplier you chose?

PUCO says customers already under their own supplier contract are not eligible, and they should not get the opt-out notice (PUCO). The rule lists a customer in contract with a supplier other than the program's own as ineligible.

PUCO adds that your name may still be on the list if you switched recently. In that case, PUCO says to return the opt-out notice if you do not want to be moved to the program's supplier. PUCO also says that if you do not opt out and then choose a new supplier, you remain a customer of the aggregation program.

PUCO's advice turns on what you want, and the window is short. To keep the supplier you chose, return the opt-out notice before the deadline. To join the program instead, ask your supplier first about any ETF.

Who is left out of an opt-out program?

The rule says a program may not include these accounts (rule 4901:1-21-17):

• Accounts outside the community's boundaries.
• Customers on PUCO's do not aggregate list.
• Customers who already opted out of that program.
• Customers in contract with a certified supplier other than the program's current supplier.
• Customers with a special arrangement with the utility.
• Mercantile customers who have not agreed to join.
• Customers enrolled in the Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP).

If a program switches one of the first six kinds of account, it must tell you and switch you back. It must also pay you the difference if your former rate was lower.

How do you stay out of future opt-out programs?

Register on PUCO's electric do not aggregate list, either with the electric form or by calling PUCO at (800) 686-PUCO (7826). Your name and service address then show publicly on PUCO's site, while your account number stays confidential. You must register again if you move, and once for each account.

The list covers electric programs only, so it does not stop a gas program from enrolling you. PUCO says registering will not remove you from an electric program you are already in. The rule adds that the program must remove you at the next opt-out opportunity open to you.

How do you compare a program's rate with your price to compare?

The price to compare covers supply only, and so does a program's rate. Each block below shows a utility's current price to compare and its dates. Where a block says no rate is current, that period has ended, so read the figure now in force on PUCO's chart.

1. Find the program's rate in your letter, and whether it is fixed or variable.
2. Find your utility's price to compare and its dates on PUCO's chart or your bill.
3. Put both in the same unit. PUCO's chart prints dollars per kWh, and we show cents.
4. Multiply each rate by your monthly kWh, then add any fee in the program's terms.
5. Repeat when either rate changes.

Our Apples to Apples guide explains the chart column by column, and the price to compare guide covers the default.

Take a household in Ohio Edison territory that uses 700 kWh in a month. This is an example, not your usage. The current price to compare is 11.07¢ per kWh, for October 1 – December 31, 2026. At that rate, 700 kWh costs $77.49 in supply charges.

None of these program rates is real. Your letter states the real rate and whether it is fixed or variable. Add any fee the notice lists. A variable rate can change monthly, while the default changes when its period ends, so repeat the test when either moves.

What do we know about programs in your community?

Our registry holds 167 programs across 51 counties. We researched the newest rows on September 9, 2026. Only 53 have enough evidence, at medium confidence or better, for us to show a supplier, rate or term. For the rest we say "We have not verified this yet" and never guess.

Every row carries the date we researched it. A rate is a snapshot from that date, and the program's own notice is the source of record. One program has its own page: NOPEC.

Does Ohio have natural gas aggregation too?

Yes. Ohio Revised Code 4929.26 lets a community aggregate natural gas on the same model. The opt-out chance comes every two years, not three, and a customer who opts out defaults to the gas utility until choosing another supplier. A gas supplier is a CRNGS provider, short for Competitive Retail Natural Gas Service.

That default is the Standard Choice Offer (SCO) at Columbia Gas of Ohio, Enbridge Gas Ohio and CenterPoint Energy Ohio, and a standard service offer at Duke Energy Ohio. See natural gas rates in Ohio. PUCO's list does not cover gas, so a gas program's own notice is the way to opt out.

Should you stay in the program or opt out?

Energy aggregation is one choice among several in Ohio, and either answer can be right. Staying fits when the program's rate sits below your utility's price to compare at your usage, it carries no monthly fee or early termination fee, and you may leave without penalty.

• Stay if the rate, fees and dates in your letter beat the default on your own arithmetic.
• Opt out if you already have a supplier contract you want to keep.
• Opt out if a fixed offer on PUCO's chart beats the program after fees, or if the program's rate is variable and you want one that does not move monthly.
• Check the default too. If every offer sits above it, your utility's default can be the better choice.

Our Ohio energy choice guide covers who can shop and how the cancel window works.