Ohio · electric utility
The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) Standard Service Offer & rate increases
The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) is a FirstEnergy utility serving greater Cleveland (Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, Ashtabula, and Lorain counties) (about 755,000 customers). The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, founded in 1892, was an early electric utility whose rivalry with the municipal system shaped Cleveland's public-power debates. (source)
Standard Service Offer (current rate)
11.16¢/kWh
Effective (current) · last reviewed
Estimate for comparison — confirm the current rate and all charges with The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) before acting. Not advice.
Next scheduled reset: · Quarterly (Jan 1, Apr 1, Jul 1, Oct 1). Every utility's reset calendar →
Of the 6 Ohio utilities we track, The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy)'s Standard Service Offer is the highest — the range runs from 10.69¢ (Duke Energy Ohio) to 11.16¢ (The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy)). Compare all Ohio rates →
What it means: a The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) customer on a 17¢/kWh third-party supplier rate pays about $600 more per year than the Standard Service Offer (11.16¢), based on ~860 kWh/month. The audit below checks your actual rate.
The worth-it line: for a switch to save at least $10/month at ~750 kWh, a supplier offer must be a fixed rate below 9.83¢/kWh — with no monthly fee and no cancellation fee. Offers between 9.83¢ and 11.16¢ technically "beat" the Standard Service Offer but save too little to justify contract risk. The full math, all utilities →
The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) customer service & quick facts
The official ways to reach The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) for outages, billing, and account help. RateWatchdog is independent and not affiliated with The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) — these are the utility's own channels.
- Start, stop, or move service
- Start / stop service →
Verified · confirm on The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy)'s siteHere to check if your rate is too high? Jump to the audit ↓
Is your supplier charging more?
Runs entirely in your browser. We never see your numbers.
Where is this on my bill?
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.
Comparing suppliers against The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy)'s Standard Service Offer?
Ohio's official comparison tool is Apples to Apples, run by PUCO. Ohio's official comparison tool shows every licensed supplier's rate next to the default SSO — our guide explains how to read it and when switching actually saves money.
How to use Apples to Apples — the full guide →Is The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) a monopoly? Can you switch?
For delivery, yes — it's a monopoly. The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) is the only company that runs the poles and wires to homes in its territory, so you can't pick a different company to deliver your power. That part is a regulated monopoly: The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy), owned by FirstEnergy, can only charge what the PUCO approves in a rate case.
The electricity itself, though, is open to competition. You can buy your supply from a third-party supplier, or do nothing and stay on The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy)'s default rate — the Standard Service Offer the PUCO oversees. Switching suppliers doesn't change who delivers your power or who you call during an outage; it only changes the supply line on your bill. And if a supplier is charging more than the Standard Service Offer, you can drop it and return to that regulated rate, usually within one or two billing cycles — no fee to the utility.
How often does The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy)'s power go out?
Federal reliability data, reported by the utility to the U.S. government. SAIDI is the average total time a customer is without power in a year; SAIFI is the average number of outages.
In 2024, including major storms
31 hr 58 min
without power, across about 1.8 outages
What the average customer actually experienced.
On a typical day (storms excluded)
2 hr 30 min
without power, across about 1.1 outages
Normal operations, with major event days removed.
For The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy), major storms drove roughly 92% of 2024's total outage time — the gap between the two numbers above is weather the utility couldn't fully control.
On normal-day reliability, The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) is the 5th-most reliable of the 6 Ohio utilities we track — the range runs from 1 hr 35 min (Toledo Edison (FirstEnergy)) to 2 hr 38 min (AEP Ohio) of typical-day outage time per year.
Source: U.S. EIA Form EIA-861, 2024 reliability data (IEEE 1366 standard), for Cleveland Electric Illum Co. eia.gov →
How often does The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) disconnect customers for nonpayment?
Utilities report this to the federal government. It counts residential service disconnected for unpaid bills. A high rate isn't proof of wrongdoing — it's shaped by local poverty, climate, and how strong a state's shutoff-protection rules are, as much as by the utility itself.
Disconnections in 2024
21,684
times The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) disconnected residential customers for nonpayment
Per 100 households
3.2
disconnections for every 100 residential customers it serves
That's the 3rd-lowest disconnection rate of the 6 Ohio utilities we track — the range runs from 2.9 per 100 (Ohio Edison (FirstEnergy)) to 12.9 per 100 (AEP Ohio).
Counts disconnection events — one household can be shut off more than once. From The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy)'s own filings to the U.S. EIA (Form EIA-112, Residential Utility Disconnections Survey), first collected for 2024. eia.gov →
Where your bill money goes: how The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) earns its profit
Because The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) is a regulated monopoly, its profit isn't set by competing for customers — it's set by regulators. The PUCO authorizes a target return on equity (around 9.5% to 10.5% for U.S. electric utilities) on the money it sinks into poles, wires, substations, and meters. It's a target, not a guarantee — a utility can earn above or below it — but a low-risk regulated monopoly reliably lands close. You pay that return back, plus the investment itself, through the delivery charge on every bill.
The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) is owned by FirstEnergy. In 2024, FirstEnergy reported about $978 million in net income — its profit across all of the utilities it owns, not The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) alone. Source: FirstEnergy's annual report (SEC Form 10-K, fiscal year 2024). SEC EDGAR →
That authorized return is set by regulators on the utility's investment — independently of how reliable the service is or how many customers are disconnected, the two measures above.
Rate cases & increases
- 24-0468-EL-AIR effective
Part of the joint FirstEnergy Ohio case (24-0468-EL-AIR). The Illuminating Company (CEI) originally proposed about a $13.02/month (~7.5%) residential increase. Under PUCO's Nov. 19, 2025 order effective March 1, 2026, CEI increases its annual revenues by about $48.7 million — the only one of the three FirstEnergy Ohio companies to get an increase.
Common questions about The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy)
- What is The Illuminating Company's electricity rate per kWh?
- The Illuminating Company's Standard Service Offer (SSO) — the default supply rate — is 11.16¢/kWh for the July–September 2026 quarter, per PUCO's Apples to Apples: currently the highest default supply rate among Ohio's six utilities. Delivery charges are additional. It uses the same FirstEnergy auction-set supply mechanism as Ohio Edison, though its zonal costs price slightly higher. Verify the current figure at energychoice.ohio.gov before comparing any supplier offer.
- Why is my Illuminating Company bill going up?
- Ohio default supply rates are set by auction, and the record PJM capacity market results (the 2024 auction cleared at $269.92/MW-day — roughly 9× the prior year; 2025 cleared at the $329.17 cap) pushed all six Ohio utilities' SSO rates to the 10–11¢ range. On the delivery side, FirstEnergy has a separate multi-year rate plan pending at PUCO. Supply is a pass-through — the SSO increase is not FirstEnergy profit.
- How do I compare electricity suppliers in Cleveland?
- Use PUCO's free Apples to Apples tool at energychoice.ohio.gov. Select The Illuminating Company as your utility — every certified supplier's current offer appears next to the 11.16¢/kWh SSO benchmark (July–September 2026 quarter — currently Ohio's highest, which means more offers can undercut it here than anywhere else in the state). A fixed-rate offer below 11.16¢ with no monthly fee and no cancellation penalty beats the default. Also check whether your suburb has an opt-out aggregation program — you may already be on a negotiated supplier rate.
How Ohio deregulation works for Illuminating Company customers
Ohio deregulated its electricity market in 1999. The Illuminating Company delivers your power and maintains the lines, but the electricity itself is competitive: stay on the default Standard Service Offer (SSO) — set through PUCO-supervised auctions — or choose a certified retail supplier (CRES).
The Illuminating Company's SSO is currently 10.83¢/kWh for supply (June 2026), the same FirstEnergy auction mechanism as Ohio Edison. Like all Ohio default supply, it rose with the record 2024–25 PJM capacity auctions ($269.92/MW-day, then $329.17 — the FERC cap). The SSO is a pass-through: FirstEnergy earns no markup on it.
The benchmark question for any supplier offer, aggregation letter, or door-to-door pitch in Cleveland: does it beat 10.83¢ with a fixed rate, no monthly fee, and no cancellation penalty? Compare on PUCO's Apples to Apples tool at energychoice.ohio.gov — the only source worth trusting.
Cleveland's public-power quirk: some neighbors aren't Illuminating customers at all
Cleveland is one of the few big US cities with a side-by-side municipal utility: Cleveland Public Power (CPP) serves parts of the city with its own lines, in a rivalry with the Illuminating Company that goes back over a century. If your bill says Cleveland Public Power, you're on a municipal system — the SSO, Apples to Apples, and supplier shopping don't apply to you.
Everywhere else in the territory, the standard Ohio Energy Choice rules apply, and many suburbs (Cuyahoga County itself included) run opt-out government aggregation programs — check your supplier line before assuming you're on the default rate.
The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) service territory
The Illuminating Company (Cleveland Electric Illuminating, a FirstEnergy utility) serves greater Cleveland and Ohio's northeastern lakeshore.
- ▸ Core counties: Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, Ashtabula, and Lorain
- ▸ Anchored by Cleveland, its east- and west-side suburbs, and the Lake Erie shoreline corridor
- ▸ About 755,000 customers in northeastern Ohio
- ▸ One of FirstEnergy's three Ohio operating companies, alongside Ohio Edison and Toledo Edison
Source: FirstEnergy — Ohio service areas
What does a The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) bill look like?
ESTIMATE — see note below.
| Bill component | At 750 kWh/month |
|---|---|
| Supply / generation (11.16¢/kWh) | $83.70 |
| Delivery, transmission & other riders | see note → |
⚠ Supply charge only — Illuminating Company SSO 11.16¢/kWh (July–September 2026 quarter; source: PUCO Apples to Apples). Delivery charges (~5–6¢/kWh) are additional. Verify the current SSO at energychoice.ohio.gov.
The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy) rate alerts
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