Ohio electricity rates & utilities

We track 6 Ohio utilities and the rate cases at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. You can shop your electricity supplier here — so the bill audit applies.

How electricity rates work in Ohio

In Ohio, delivery of electricity is handled by your local utility and regulated by PUCO. The electricity itself (generation) is open to competition — you can shop suppliers or stay on your utility's default rate.

That default rate is the Standard Service Offer (SSO), which Ohio utilities set through a competitive auction. PUCO runs an 'Apples to Apples' site so you can compare supplier offers to the SSO.

A rate increase in Ohio usually means a distribution rate case at PUCO, a new SSO auction result, or — if you're on a competitive supplier — the rate in your own contract changing.

What you can do: Compare your supplier's rate to your utility's Standard Service Offer. If you're paying more, you can return to the SSO through your utility or Energy Choice Ohio.

Who's who on your Ohio electric bill

Four different players decide what you pay. Here's each one, in plain English:

Your utility — the "distributor"

The company that owns the poles and wires and physically delivers power to your home — the name on your bill (in Ohio, one of the utilities listed below, like AEP Ohio). This part is a regulated monopoly: only it delivers in your area, and the PUCO sets what it can charge for delivery. You can't shop the delivery part.

Generation — the "supply"

The electricity itself (also called supply or generation). You can buy it from your utility's default rate — the Standard Service Offer — or from a competing third-party supplier. It's the identical electricity either way; only the price differs.

PJM — the "grid operator"

The independent operator that runs the regional high-voltage grid for Ohio and 12 other states. It's like air-traffic control for electricity — it keeps enough power flowing across the whole region. Its wholesale costs flow through your utility into your bill. (More below.)

The PUCO — the "regulator"

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is the state agency that reviews and approves utility rate increases. When a utility wants to charge more, it files a "rate case" here — which is exactly what we track.

Putting it together: when you turn on a light in Ohio, the electricity was produced by power plants, routed across the region by PJM, and delivered to your house over AEP Ohio's wires (your distributor). Your bill charges you for both the supply (the electricity) and the delivery (the wires). If you signed up with a third-party supplier, they set the supply price; if not, you pay your utility's Standard Service Offer. The PUCO approves the delivery rates and oversees the default supply rate.

What is "PJM" and its "capacity market"? (plain English)

PJM is the independent operator that runs the high-voltage power grid for 13 states and Washington, D.C. — including yours. Think of it as air-traffic control for electricity: it doesn't own power plants or your wires, but it makes sure enough electricity is flowing across the whole region every second of the day. The wholesale costs PJM sets get passed through your utility into your bill.

The capacity market is a separate, once-a-year auction PJM runs. Instead of paying for electricity you use, it pays power plants just to promise they'll be ready on the few hottest or coldest days when demand peaks. That promise is called "capacity." It's like paying a backup generator a retainer to stay on standby — you pay even in months you never need it.

Why it matters now: when PJM expects demand to jump, those standby payments spike. Demand is jumping largely because of data centers, and PJM's recent capacity auctions hit record highs three times in a row. Utilities pass that cost straight to customers — which is a big reason bills across all five states we cover are rising. Sources: PJM; PJM Independent Market Monitor (Monitoring Analytics).

Ohio electricity prices over time

The average Ohio residential electricity price went from 12.38¢/kWh in 2019 to 16.96¢/kWh in 2025 — up 37%.

Residential electricity price trend 2019 12.38¢/kWh rising to 2025 16.96¢/kWh, up 37%. 17.0 12.3 2019 2021 2023 2025 16.96¢/kWh
Average residential price, cents per kWh. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Why it's rising: Ohio is in the PJM grid, where capacity prices recently hit a record cap — and PJM's market monitor attributed roughly 40% of those costs, and 97% of the latest demand-growth forecast, to data centers. PJM expects this to add about 1.5–5% to bills. Sources: PJM; PJM Independent Market Monitor (Monitoring Analytics); Utility Dive.

Ohio utilities we cover

Coverage note: We track Ohio's six investor-owned electric utilities. We don't cover municipal electric systems or rural electric cooperatives, which are not regulated by PUCO the same way.

Where to find your supply rate on a Ohio bill

Your utility's standard rate is the Standard Service Offer. On your bill, find the supply / generation rate in ¢/kWh and compare it to that — if a supplier charges more, you're overpaying. Here's the exact line to look for:

Where is this on my bill?
Your Electric Bill Account ····1234 Supply / Generation Standard Service Offer 13.147¢/kWh ↑ This is the number you compare Your third-party supplier rate enter this figure in the audit __ ¢/kWh Delivery / Distribution You can't shop this part $ ··.·· Total $ ···.··

On your bill, find the supply rate in ¢/kWh. Your utility's standard rate is the “Standard Service Offer.” If your supplier charges more than that, you're overpaying.

Run the free Ohio bill audit →

Rate cases & increases

No active rate cases in our tracker for Ohio right now. We monitor the PUCO dockets — get an alert when one is filed.