Apples to Apples Electric: PUCO's Chart for Ohio Utilities

What is the Apples to Apples electric chart in Ohio?

The Apples to Apples electric chart is PUCO's list of live supplier offers for six Ohio electric utility territories. Each territory has its own chart on Energy Choice Ohio, and the chart for yours lists offers you can compare with your utility's default. It is the electric half of the PUCO Apples to Apples tool.

Residential offers are grouped by utility. Small-business offers are grouped by rate code instead (PUCO's electric chart page). Municipal and co-op customers are not covered, because those utilities do not take part in energy choice. Our Ohio energy choice guide explains who can shop.

Each seller on the chart is a CRES provider, short for Competitive Retail Electric Service provider. It competes with your utility's default rate.

Which Apples to Apples electric chart is yours?

Your electric bill names your utility. Match it to a row below, then open that utility's chart on PUCO's site. Three of the utilities share one parent company, FirstEnergy, but have their own charts and their own rates.

If your city, township or county runs an opt-out aggregation program, which Ohio law calls governmental aggregation, your bill may name that program's supplier. Your utility is still named on the bill, and its default is the one to compare. Not sure which utility serves your ZIP code? Use our price to compare lookup.

What default rate does the electric chart compare against?

The default is your utility's standard service offer (SSO), which is the electric supply it provides if you do not choose a supplier. Its per-kWh amount is the price to compare. PUCO says utilities buy the supply at wholesale auctions, and the average auction price is the main part of the SSO (How are electric generation rates set?).

PUCO states each utility's residential price to compare near the top of its chart, for the supply part of your bill, with the dates it covers. The price to compare also sits on your bill, because Ohio's billing rules require it there. It covers supply only, so you pay delivery on top whichever supplier you use.

If your home has a qualifying electric-heating rate, your price to compare may differ in some months. PUCO's Ohio Edison and AES Ohio charts both say so, so use the price to compare printed on your bill.

The chart prints rates in dollars per kWh, and our pages show cents. For example, AEP Ohio's default of 10.19¢ per kWh appears on the chart as $0.1019 per kWh. To convert, move the decimal point two places.

What period does each electric chart's price to compare cover?

The length of the period differs by utility. PUCO's chart states the period the current rate covers, and the list gives the period we hold for each utility.

• AEP Ohio. The current period is October 1 – December 31, 2026, so the next one starts January 1, 2027.
• Ohio Edison. The current period is October 1 – December 31, 2026, so the next one starts January 1, 2027.
• Illuminating Company. The current period is October 1 – December 31, 2026, so the next one starts January 1, 2027.
• Toledo Edison. The current period is October 1 – December 31, 2026, so the next one starts January 1, 2027.
• Duke Energy Ohio. The current period is October 1 – October 31, 2026, so the next one starts November 1, 2026.
• AES Ohio. The current period is June 1, 2026 – May 31, 2027, so the next one starts June 1, 2027.

Read the dates on the chart before you compare. A fixed offer holds its rate for its term, while the default can move at the next reset.

How do today's electric defaults compare with a year ago?

Where we hold a period from a year earlier, the change is below. A past change does not predict the next one.

• AEP Ohio. The default is up 4% from 9.80¢ per kWh (October 1 – December 31, 2025), the same period a year earlier.
• Ohio Edison. The default is up 21.5% from 9.11¢ per kWh (October 1 – December 31, 2025), the same period a year earlier.
• Illuminating Company. The default is up 22.7% from 9.16¢ per kWh (October 1 – December 31, 2025), the same period a year earlier.
• Toledo Edison. The default is up 19.4% from 9.43¢ per kWh (October 1 – December 31, 2025), the same period a year earlier.
• Duke Energy Ohio. The default is up 2.8% from 10.20¢ per kWh (October 1 – October 31, 2025), the same period a year earlier.
• AES Ohio. The default is up 14.9% from 9.45¢ per kWh (June 1, 2025 – May 31, 2026), the same period a year earlier.

How do you read one offer on the electric chart?

Read across the whole row, then work out what it costs for your usage. This example uses a made-up offer so you can see how each column changes the answer.

Picture a made-up offer in AEP Ohio territory. Its rate is 9.19¢ per kWh, which the chart prints as $0.0919 per kWh. It is fixed for 12 months, has no promo and no monthly fee, and carries an early termination fee of $150.00. The default for comparison is 10.19¢ per kWh.

The chart does not total this for you. At 750 kWh a month, the default supply charge is $76.43 and the made-up offer is $68.93. Over 12 months that is $917.10 on the default, if it never changed, against $827.10 on the offer.

The default may reset during the term, up or down, so the default lines are not a forecast. Leaving at month 6 puts the early termination fee on top of what the offer already cost, and the offer then costs more than the default over those months.

A monthly fee changes the math too. Our Apples to Apples Ohio guide has a fee-by-usage table. To run your own usage and rate, use our electric bill calculator.

What do electric offers leave out?

Offers on the chart price the supply part of your bill. PUCO says your distribution and transmission rates are set through your local utility, so those charges come on top. A supplier's rate is not your all-in rate per kWh.

Check what the rate becomes when the term ends. If an offer has a fixed introductory rate that turns variable, the supplier must send you two notices first (Ohio Administrative Code 4901:1-21-20). Our guide to fixed and variable electric rates in Ohio explains the difference.

What should you ask an electric supplier before you sign?

The chart cannot answer everything, so ask the supplier directly. PUCO's What to Ask Suppliers checklist covers these points, among others.

• Are you certified by PUCO?
• Is the price fixed? If it can change, how, and how often?
• Does the price depend on how much power I use, or when I use it?
• Is there a switching fee, and what do you charge if I cancel early?
• How long does the rate last, and what happens when the contract ends?
• Will I get one bill or two, and who sends it?
• Are there built-in price changes, sign-up incentives or add-on services?

Get the answers in writing, and match them to the contract before you agree. If a supplier cannot say what the rate becomes after the term, treat that as a warning sign.

What happens after you pick an electric offer?

You sign up with the supplier, and the supplier sends your utility an enrollment request. PUCO says the supplier contacts your utility for you (steps to switching). Your utility then mails a confirmation notice.

You have seven days from the postmark date on that notice to call your utility and cancel the switch. The utility must take cancellation calls at any hour and give you a cancellation number (Ohio Administrative Code 4901:1-10-29). If you later want to go back to the default, ask your supplier or your utility, and check your contract for an early termination fee first.

Is a fixed electric offer worth it if the price to compare may fall?

A fixed offer is a bet on where the default goes. If the price to compare falls at its next reset, an offer fixed above it costs more for the rest of its term. Staying put is a fair call when no offer on your utility's chart sits below the price to compare, or when a fee cancels the gap.

It also fits if you may move soon or dislike tracking a contract end date. Customers in the Percentage of Income Payment Plan Plus (PIPP Plus) have no choice to make, because PUCO says they cannot shop for electricity.

For the number to measure against, see our Ohio price to compare guide, or look at Ohio electric rates by utility. The matching guide for gas is Apples to Apples Ohio gas.