Ohio Electric Rates: Default Rates, Bill Parts and How to Compare

What is a good rate per kWh in Ohio?

There is no single good rate for all of Ohio, because the number to beat is your own utility's price to compare. A rate is worth a closer look when an offer's total price per kWh sits below that number, with fees counted, for a term you are willing to commit to.

The table lists each utility's default rate in cents per kWh, the period it covers and how it compares with a year earlier. PUCO prints the same rates in dollars per kWh, so move the decimal two places to compare.

The gap between utilities says little about which supplier to pick. It reflects each utility's own auctions, riders and period, and a rate for one territory does not apply in another. Use the price to compare for your own utility, and see Ohio electric suppliers for how we approach supplier offers.

What are electric rates in Ohio today?

The cards below show each utility's current default rate, the period it covers and the source. We enter each figure by hand from PUCO's Energy Choice Ohio charts and PUCO's historical price-to-compare charts, and keep the dates with it. If no published period covers today, a card says so rather than showing an old number as current.

What is the default electric rate in Ohio?

The default rate is the Standard Service Offer (SSO), the supply service your utility must offer if you do not choose a supplier. PUCO says the auction price is its main part, and the per-kWh figure for it that you hold offers against is the price to compare.

CRES provider. A Competitive Retail Electric Service provider, which is a supplier PUCO certifies to sell electricity in competition with your utility's default.

You get the default rate unless you pick a CRES provider or your community buys supply for you through an aggregation program. Your utility keeps delivering your power either way.

What does a month of electricity cost at each default rate?

For an example home that uses 750 kWh in a month, the table shows the supply portion at each current default rate. It is an example, not your bill. It covers supply only and leaves out delivery charges and taxes.

To try your own usage, multiply the kWh on your bill by your utility's rate, then divide by 100 to turn cents into dollars. This is arithmetic, not a forecast, and it says nothing about any supplier's offer.

Why do electric rates differ between Ohio utilities?

AEP, AES and Duke each buy default supply through their own competitive auctions, and FirstEnergy's three utilities buy through one shared auction. An outside consultant runs each, according to the auction sites PUCO links. At the four auction sites we read, new supply contracts start delivery on June 1.

PUCO says the auction price is the main part of each default rate, and the rest is bypassable riders that PUCO approves, plus administration fees. Our data shows some utilities changing their rate within the year as well, so check the period PUCO's chart gives for yours.

Distribution rates, the cost of the local poles and wires, are set utility by utility too. A utility needs PUCO permission to raise them, and Ohio law lets it recover its costs plus a reasonable return on its investment.

How have Ohio electric rates changed from a year ago?

Every current rate we can compare is above the rate for the matching period a year earlier. Each comparison uses the earlier period that overlaps most with the same dates a year before. The "Against a year earlier" column in the first table names that period, its rate and the percentage.

For the full run of periods, open a utility's rate history from the table above. PUCO ties the 2022 and 2023 increases largely to the pandemic, inflation and global conflict, and the summer 2025 increase largely to higher capacity prices at PJM, the regional grid operator. Each utility page explains what its own default rate contains.

A default rate can rise or fall at a reset, while a fixed offer holds one price through its term. That is why a comparison should cover the whole term, not one month.

What does an Ohio electric rate cover?

PUCO says an Ohio electric bill has three main parts: generation, transmission and distribution. The default rate is the supply side of that bill, and distribution, the local poles and wires, is billed on top whichever supplier you use.

Each utility describes its price to compare a little differently, in its own words:

• AEP Ohio says in its own workbook that the figure leaves out distribution charges and some transmission charges.
• FirstEnergy's three utilities divide their bypassable generation and transmission related charges, which FirstEnergy says you avoid when you switch to a certified supplier, by the kWh you used that month. FirstEnergy's tariffs put non-market-based transmission charges in Rider NMB, which shoppers keep paying.
• AES Ohio says its annual price to compare is the amount you no longer pay AES when you choose a supplier, and it describes supply charges as generation, including market-based transmission and ancillary services.
• Duke Energy Ohio says its price to compare includes six riders, among them Rider RTO, its Regional Transmission Organization Rider.

So the utilities' numbers are not perfectly like for like. Compare an offer with the figure for your own utility only, and read the Ohio Energy Choice guide for how the program fits together.

How do you find Ohio electric rates by ZIP code?

A ZIP code points to a utility, and the utility has the rate. Our price to compare lookup matches a ZIP code to a utility and its current default rate, and your bill names your utility too.

Utility territories do not follow county lines neatly. FirstEnergy's own tariffs, for example, list several of the same counties under more than one company. If a city-owned utility or a cooperative sends your bill, none of the six utilities here applies, because PUCO says those utilities are not PUCO-regulated and do not take part in energy choice.

How do you compare electric rates in Ohio?

Set each offer's total price per kWh beside your utility's price to compare, in the same unit, and add every fee. We do not rank offers or name a best rate, because the right choice depends on your usage, the contract term and the fees.

1. Find your price to compare and the dates it covers on your bill or on PUCO's Apples to Apples chart for your utility.
2. Read each offer's rate, whether it is fixed or variable, its term, its monthly fee and its early termination fee (ETF), the charge for leaving the contract early.
3. Ask what rate the offer moves to when the term ends.
4. Multiply your monthly kWh by each rate and add the monthly fee. Use the same usage for both sides.
5. Compare the totals for a month and across the whole term.

Small gaps add up slowly. At 750 kWh in a month, a difference of one cent per kWh is $7.50 a month. That is arithmetic for an example household, not a forecast, and a monthly fee can wipe out a small gap.

We are a broker. Suppliers pay us a commission when a household enrolls, and we also charge a service fee. There's no cost to check, and you see the fee terms in your offer.

Where do you go next for your own utility?

Each utility page has the latest rate in our data and its dates, the rate history and the parts of that utility's bill. The table in the first section links to all six, so pick the one named on your bill.

Natural gas works differently, with its own default rates and utilities. See natural gas rates in Ohio, and Ohio natural gas suppliers for gas offers.