How Energy Choice Ohio Works

What is the Ohio energy choice program?

Ohio's energy choice program lets eligible customers pick who sells them electricity or natural gas. PUCO says Ohioans have been able to shop for electricity supply since 2001. The supplier you pick must be certified by PUCO, and PUCO's Energy Choice Ohio site lists current offers from certified suppliers that are enrolling new customers. Ohio Energy Savings is not PUCO and does not run Energy Choice Ohio.

CRES provider. A Competitive Retail Electric Service provider, which is a PUCO-certified company that sells electricity in competition with your utility's default rate.

CRNGS provider. A Competitive Retail Natural Gas Service provider, which is a PUCO-certified company that sells natural gas in competition with your utility's default rate.

Apples to Apples chart. PUCO's side-by-side list of live supplier offers for one utility territory, with each offer's rate, term and fees in the same columns.

Your bill has two main parts. Supply is the energy itself, and a supplier can change it. Delivery is the grid or pipes, the meter and outage response, and your utility keeps it whichever supplier you pick. For electric, delivery covers transmission, the high-voltage grid, and distribution, the local poles and wires.

Ohio electric choice and gas choice work alike, but the rules and the cancel window differ by fuel. This page covers both and points you to the guide for each.

Who can use energy choice in Ohio, and who cannot?

Customers of PUCO-regulated electric and gas utilities can shop, with a few exceptions. PUCO's FAQ says members of electric co-ops, customers of municipal power systems and customers in energy assistance plans such as the Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) are not eligible.

• Municipal and co-op customers. PUCO does not regulate municipal or co-operative utilities, so they do not take part in energy choice.
• PIPP customers. PIPP is a payment plan based on household income. PUCO's chart notice says a customer enrolled in PIPP Plus cannot enroll with or switch to a supplier.
• Customers already under contract. You can still shop, but leaving a supplier contract early may bring an early termination fee (ETF), a charge for ending a contract before its term is up.

PUCO's residential charts cover six electric utilities and four gas utilities. Your bill names yours. If you are not sure which one serves you, our price to compare lookup matches a ZIP code to an electric utility.

What changes on your bill when you switch?

Only the seller of the energy changes. Your utility still delivers it, reads your meter, bills for delivery and answers outage calls. PUCO says you keep paying into the same delivery system, and your utility treats you the same as before.

Standard service offer (SSO). The electric generation service you get from your local utility if you do not choose a supplier.

Price to compare. The per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) amount of the SSO, which is the number a supplier's rate has to be set against.

Standard Choice Offer (SCO). The default natural gas rate at Columbia Gas of Ohio, Enbridge Gas Ohio and CenterPoint Energy Ohio, which changes every month.

Ohio's billing rules require your utility to print the price to compare on your residential electric bill. Duke Energy Ohio's gas default has been a standard service offer since April 1, 2026, and before that it was gas cost recovery (GCR), a charge that passed the utility's own gas cost through. Our Ohio price to compare guide explains each default.

What does each Ohio utility call its default service?

Each utility sets a default rate for customers who do not shop. The blocks below show the rate, the period it covers and the next scheduled change, read from PUCO's charts. A utility with no figure for today shows a notice and a link to PUCO's chart instead.

Electric rates here are in cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), the unit your meter counts. PUCO's chart prints the same rate in dollars, so divide cents by one hundred to match it.

Gas rates are in dollars per Mcf or per Ccf, the way each utility's chart prints them. An Mcf is a thousand cubic feet of gas and a Ccf is a hundred, so one Mcf equals ten Ccf. Convert one figure before you set a Ccf rate beside an Mcf rate.

For each electric utility's rate and history, see our guide to Ohio electric rates. Gas customers can start with the Ohio natural gas rates comparison.

How does opt-out aggregation fit into Ohio energy choice?

Ohio law lets a city, township or county buy energy for its residents as a group. The legal name is governmental aggregation, and PUCO must certify the aggregator. A community can choose opt-in, where each resident signs up, or opt-out, where residents are enrolled automatically unless they say no.

Opt-out aggregation needs a majority of voters to approve it, then a plan and at least two public hearings (Ohio Revised Code 4928.20). Before enrolling you, the community must tell you in advance, state the rates and terms, and give you a way to opt out. PUCO says residents usually have 14 to 21 days to respond. PIPP customers are not eligible.

The program must give you a chance to opt out every three years for electric, and every two years for gas, without a switching fee (Ohio Revised Code 4929.26 covers gas). PUCO says that if you miss the notice, your utility's switch letter gives you seven days from its postmark to object. PUCO's electric Do Not Aggregate list keeps you out of future electric opt-out programs. It does not cover gas, and it does not remove you from a program you are already in.

Our Ohio electric aggregation guide covers programs by community.

What protections do you have when you choose a supplier?

Ohio sets rules for suppliers, and PUCO enforces them. These are the ones that matter most when you shop.

• Certification. PUCO says every energy marketer and supplier must be certified. PUCO's FAQ points to its list of certified suppliers.
• A cancel window. For electric, your utility mails a confirmation notice, and you have seven days from its postmark to call and cancel (Ohio Administrative Code 4901:1-10-29). For gas, the rule says seven business days (Ohio Administrative Code 4901:1-29-10).
• Service stays on. If your supplier fails, Ohio law makes your utility the provider of last resort. It keeps your service running and tells you in writing.
• No switching without your approval. Slamming, which is switching your supplier without your approval, is illegal, and PUCO enforces the ban.
• Somewhere to complain. Call the PUCO Call Center at (800) 686-PUCO (7826).

None of this makes an offer a good one. Read each contract for its term, its fees and the rate it moves to when the term ends.

How do you start with energy choice in Ohio?

1. Find your utility and its default rate on your latest bill. For electric, look for the price to compare.
2. Open PUCO's chart for your utility, and set the offers against that rate. Our electric chart guide and gas chart guide link to each one, and our Apples to Apples guide explains every column.
3. Add up the real cost. Count the monthly fee, the term, the early termination fee and the rate after any introductory period.
4. Read the supplier's terms, and ask what happens when the contract ends.
5. Sign up with the supplier. It sends your utility an enrollment request, so you do not have to call the utility.
6. Watch for your utility's confirmation notice. If anything is wrong, contact the utility inside the cancel window.

Our guide to how to switch electric suppliers in Ohio goes through each step in more detail.

When is staying on your utility's default the better choice?

Energy choice is an option, not a requirement. PUCO says there is no deadline to pick a supplier, and you keep the same service if you do not. PUCO also says a new supplier is no sure way to pay less.

• Every offer on the chart is at or above your default rate.
• An offer's monthly fee or early termination fee wipes out its lower rate at your usage.
• You may move soon and do not want to pay to leave a contract.
• You do not want to track a contract end date or a rate that turns variable.
• You are a municipal, co-op or PIPP customer, so the program does not apply to you.

If you do want to compare, see our pages on electric suppliers and Ohio natural gas suppliers.