How to Switch Electric Supplier in Ohio

How do I switch my electric supplier in Ohio?

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) sums up switching in four steps: compare offers, contact suppliers, read the contract and receive your utility's confirmation. PUCO's steps to switching say you sign up by calling the supplier, and the supplier then contacts your utility for you. In practice, six actions cover it.

1. Check that you can shop. Co-op members, municipal power customers and people in the Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) cannot use choice. Our energy assistance guide explains PIPP.
2. Find your price to compare on a recent bill, and look at a few bills, because it can change from month to month.
3. Compare offers on PUCO's Apples to Apples chart for your utility. Our guide to the chart explains each column.
4. Contact the suppliers you like and ask PUCO's questions.
5. Read the whole contract before you agree to it.
6. Watch for your utility's confirmation notice. If it is right, do nothing. If it is wrong, call the utility within seven days of the postmark.

Each step has its own section below, along with how long the change takes and what happens when the contract ends.

What should you have in hand before you compare offers?

Start with your price to compare. PUCO's glossary calls it the price for an electric supplier to beat, and Ohio rules require the notice on residential electric bills (OAC 4901:1-10-22). Our price to compare guide shows where it prints and the figure for each utility.

Then check two more things. If you already have a supplier, find the early termination fee, the charge for leaving a contract early. If your city or county runs an opt-out aggregation program, you may already be in it. Our Ohio energy choice guide covers who can use choice and how aggregation works.

Each block below gives a utility's default rate, the dates it covers and when that period ends, taken from PUCO's charts. Where no rate covers today, the block says so and links to the chart.

How do I choose my electric supplier in Ohio?

Choose by the whole offer, not the headline rate. Set each rate beside your price to compare, then add the fees and weigh the length of the term. PUCO says suppliers update the chart with new offers, so today's rows can disappear (Energy Choice Ohio FAQs). Our guide to the electric chart shows how to read one offer.

Before you sign, PUCO says to ask questions such as these:

• Is the supplier certified by PUCO?
• What is the price per kilowatt hour, and is it fixed or does it change? If it changes, how?
• Is there a switching fee, or a fee if you cancel early?
• How long does the rate hold, and what happens at expiration?
• Will you get one bill or two, and who does the billing?
• Are there built-in price increases, incentives or add-on services?

Staying on your utility's default can be the better call: when every offer you would accept is above your price to compare once fees are counted, when an early termination fee or monthly fee would erase the gap, or when you may want to leave before the term ends. PUCO says you are not required to shop (Energy Choice Ohio FAQs).

PUCO certifies suppliers, but certification does not tell you whether an offer's price suits you. Add up any monthly fee yourself, because it raises the cost whatever your usage. We do not rank suppliers by name. See our page on electric suppliers in Ohio for how certification works.

What do Ohio's enrollment rules require before you sign?

If you sign by mail, fax or with an agent at your door, the supplier must first give you enrollment documents with understandable pricing, the terms, the dollar amount of every recurring and one-time charge, including any fee for ending the contract early, and the contract's length (OAC 4901:1-21-06). You must also get a reasonable chance to read them and ask questions before you sign. A phone sale must cover the price, the term and any cancellation fee on a recorded call, and the written contract must follow within one business day.

The contract itself must state, among other items (OAC 4901:1-21-12):

• The price per kilowatt hour for a fixed offer, or the formula or factors that move a variable price.
• How many days you have to cancel without penalty, and that you cancel by contacting your utility.
• The penalties for ending the contract after that window.
• The estimated start and end dates, and a commitment that service begins with your next available meter reading after processing.
• A statement that your utility's service and delivery charges are additional.
• A highlighted statement if the supplier can renew the contract without your consent, even when the rate changes.
• A statement that a return to your utility may or may not put you on the rates and terms its other customers pay.
• The supplier's toll-free number and a complaint notice that gives PUCO's number.

When you sign by mail, fax or face to face, your signature counts as your consent to enroll. Read first. If a fee or term is missing from the contract, ask the supplier to add it before you agree.

What do the supplier and your utility have to do once you agree?

A supplier may not start the switch with your utility until your enrollment is complete (OAC 4901:1-21-06). It then sends the utility an enrollment request, an electronic message asking the utility to move your account to the supplier. The table shows the timing the rules set.

The utility's notice must name the supplier, give the date service is expected to begin, give the utility's toll-free number, and say you have seven days from the postmark to cancel or to tell the utility you did not ask for the change. The utility may not use the notice to talk you out of the switch (OAC 4901:1-10-29).

How long does it take to switch electric supplier in Ohio?

The rules cited on this page set no fixed number of days from signing to the start of service. Your contract must commit to begin service with your next available meter reading after the utility and the supplier process the request, and the utility's notice gives the expected start date. Because the start follows a meter reading, the wait depends on where you are in your billing cycle.

The Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel (OCC), the state's advocate for residential utility customers, says it can take two to three months for a supplier's charges to appear on your utility bill, and that some suppliers bill you directly. Ask whether you will get one bill or two before you agree. If a high bill is why you are shopping, see why an electric bill may be high.

What if the confirmation notice is wrong or you change your mind?

Call your utility, not your supplier. You may rescind within seven calendar days following the postmark date on the utility's confirmation notice, by phone or by written notice, and a written notice counts from the date it is postmarked (OAC 4901:1-21-11).

A utility must take these calls 24 hours a day and give you a unique cancellation number. It must start the cancellation within two business days and confirm it to you (OAC 4901:1-10-29). Write down the number and the date.

After the seven days, your contract's own cancellation terms apply, and an early termination fee may come with them. If you never agreed to a switch, call the utility at once. Switching a customer without approval is called slamming, and our guide to Ohio energy scams explains what to do.

What happens when your electric contract ends?

Your supplier must send a written notice of pending expiration 45 to 90 calendar days before the contract ends, marked "Important notice regarding your electric service contract's expiration," unless the contract lasts a month or less (OAC 4901:1-21-11). If the contract has no automatic renewal, the notice must warn that you go back to your utility's standard service offer, the default electric service, unless you sign up again or pick another supplier.

If the contract renews on its own for a term longer than a month, the notice rules depend on the early-exit fee. A renewal with no fee needs one separate notice. A renewal with a fee of $25 or less needs two. A renewal with a larger fee, or no early exit, needs your affirmative consent, and no response sends you back to your utility.

Going back to your utility because your term ended carries no cost or penalty for the return (OAC 4901:1-10-29). OCC suggests setting a calendar reminder and asking what the renewal rate would be. If a fixed rate turns variable when the term ends, see our guide to fixed and variable electric rates.

Does this work the same way for natural gas?

Not quite. PUCO gives the same four steps for natural gas, but the cancel window is seven business days after the postmark on your gas utility's notice (OAC 4901:1-29-10). Our natural gas rates guide covers gas defaults and units.

Does using a broker change the seven-day cancel window?

No. The seven-day window runs from your utility's notice however you enroll, and you cancel through the utility. PUCO's steps say you can also call a supplier yourself, and how we get paid explains our side.