Apples to Apples Duke Energy Ohio Gas: How to Read PUCO's Chart

How do you read the Apples to Apples chart for Duke Energy Ohio gas?

Open PUCO's natural gas Apples to Apples page and pick Duke Energy Ohio under Residential. Electric offers for Duke have their own chart under a separate category, so make sure the page says natural gas. Ohio Energy Savings is not PUCO. Small businesses choose the rate code on their bill, and Duke's is GS-S.

The chart has a default box, a filter panel and the offers. Duke's box differs from the other three in its name for the default and in how it states the formula. Our Apples to Apples guide defines the list's columns.

How does Duke's SSO box build its rate?

Duke's default is a standard service offer (SSO), not an SCO. PUCO's chart says in its box that the SSO is a monthly variable rate: the NYMEX month-end settlement price plus a retail price adjustment. It states that adjustment per dekatherm, a measure of the gas's heat content rather than its volume, and says it is "adjusted for the Btu and loss gas factors and adjusted quarterly for reconciliation".

The chart prints Duke's rate per Ccf, while the box states the adjustment in another unit, so the box does not convert straight across. PUCO's gas bill guide adds that a reconciliation rider "will be added to the Standard Service Offer Rate to equal the SSO price for Duke customers". Check which figure your bill shows.

PUCO's guide also says SSO customers keep buying gas from the utility, and the box names no suppliers. Our Duke Energy Ohio gas price to compare page covers the number and its reset, and natural gas rates defines the terms.

How do you read the GCR and SSO labels on Duke's history?

PUCO's note on the historical chart says that from April 1, 2026, Duke uses an SSO in place of the gas cost recovery (GCR) rate it used before, and that rates from then on are the SSO, not the GCR. In the 2026 table each row carries its label in brackets, (GCR) or (SSO). The 2025 and earlier tables are headed "GCR rates", and their rows carry no label.

Our dataset holds 56 dated Duke periods, starting January 2022. In our records 7 are SSO periods and 49 are GCR periods. When you set a past rate beside a recent one, note which name each carries, because the two are not the same formula.

The historical chart is PUCO's Duke SSO chart. PUCO says historic rates are not indicative of future market conditions or prices. For the territory picture, see Duke Energy Ohio gas rates, and for our series, Duke gas rate history.

On the historical chart, the SSO rows print four decimals per Ccf. The GCR rows print two, including the three GCR rows in the 2026 table.

Does a lower Duke offer still cost less in a light month?

Not always. A monthly fee costs the same whatever you use, so it can outweigh a lower rate in a light month, as the example below shows. Duke's chart prints both the default and every offer per Ccf, so set them side by side without converting. A Ccf is one hundred cubic feet of natural gas, and an Mcf is one thousand (Ohio Administrative Code 4901:1-29-01).

Here is a worked example in Duke's own unit. These inputs are made up. They are not Ohio averages and not your usage.

The SSO used is $1.0147 per Ccf, the rate for October 1 – November 1, 2026.

Picture a fixed offer $0.060 per Ccf lower, at $0.9547 per Ccf, with a monthly fee of $5.00. Use a light month of 25 Ccf (2.5 Mcf) and a heavy month of 100 Ccf (10 Mcf). The default charge below is the gas itself, before delivery.

In the light month the offer costs $3.50 more. In the heavy month it costs $1.00 less. The offer beats the default only above about 83 Ccf in a month, and the chart's rate column never shows that.

The offer column also leaves out sales tax. PUCO's gas bill guide says gas bought from a supplier is subject to Ohio sales or use tax, while gas bought from the local utility is not, so at Duke the real break-even sits above the one shown.

Where do the links under Duke's SSO box lead?

The filters work as our Apples to Apples guide describes. The price field on PUCO's chart for Duke is in dollars per Ccf, the unit of the box, and a field for your current rate sits above the ranges.

Four links sit under the box: PUCO's sign-up for Duke natural gas rate change alerts, a "Duke Energy Ohio Rate Sheet" link to a PDF on Duke's own website, PUCO's chart archive and its SSO historical chart. The archive is PUCO's Apples to Apples History Browser, and PUCO says offers found there may no longer be available and need not be honored.

What is missing from Duke's chart?

PUCO's chart is a snapshot of suppliers actively enrolling, not a ranking. The Apples to Apples guide above covers its limits, and Apples to Apples Ohio gas covers what an offer's rate leaves out.

For Duke's own default, PUCO's gas bill guide says SSO customers keep buying their gas from their local distribution company, which here is Duke. The same guide says gas bought from a local utility is not subject to Ohio sales or use tax, and that the utility's gross receipts tax is in its rate. It does not say how Duke labels this on a bill, so check yours.

What should you check before you pick a row on Duke's chart?

• Rate type and introductory price. A variable rate can move; ask how and how often.
• Term and early termination fee (ETF). An ETF is the charge for leaving a contract early.
• Monthly fee. A flat fee counts for most in a light month.

Staying on the SSO can be the better choice when every fixed offer sits above the recent months on the historical chart, when a monthly fee or an ETF erases the gap at your usage, or when you may move before the term ends (Energy Choice Ohio FAQs).

More guides: Apples to Apples Columbia gas, Apples to Apples Enbridge gas Ohio and Apples to Apples CenterPoint Ohio. See Ohio energy choice for who can shop, and Apples to Apples Duke Energy Ohio for the electric chart.