Ohio

Ohio Electricity Rates

Ohio’s consumers of retail electricity use almost 150 million megawatt hours of electricity each year. (For those of you keeping score at home, that’s over 10¹² watt/hours). Of this amount, almost 13 million megawatts are purchased through the deregulated electricity market. That’s an impressive amount, but it still means that most Ohioans are getting their electricity from their default provider—most likely their local utility company.

Since 2001, Ohioans have been allowed to switch from this company to another electricity provider from their choosing. Executed correctly, making this change more or less guarantees that a household will save money. There’s no change to the electrical wires or the physical bill; for these services, customers still dealing with your utility company. The only real difference for customers of alternate providers is that they pay less money for electricity every month!

If you haven’t taken advantage of deregulation—for electricity or for natural gas—ElectricityRates.com can help you with the process of finding a new provider.

Switch Well

Rates are important, but the rate you see advertised isn’t necessarily the one you’ll be paying for the duration of your contract. Here are some questions to ask about the new electricity contract you’re signing.

How will the rate change each month? Does it stay the same or vary with the market? A variable-rate plan is going to save you money relative to your existing plan—but maybe a fixed rate would be better than both.

How long does the contract last? Six months, one year, two years, or longer? You have to decide how long you’ll want to stay with this specific company with these specific terms.

Does the company offer a signup bonus? Will this bonus have been worth it after the full contract with this company?

And finally: where does your electricity come from?

Energy Diversity for Ohio

Ohio and its huge industrial sector are mostly powered by coal. However, the state’s goal is to have a portfolio containing 25% renewable energy by 2025. The major plan for meeting this goal is wind power, but there’s solar, hydroelectric, and biomass in the mix as well. There’s also a pipeline in the works that will increase Ohio’s access to natural gas; a fortunate development, since Ohio’s natural gas market is also deregulated.

If you’re switching electricity providers, you have the opportunity to help Ohio and the world even as you’re helping yourself. Previously, you got electricity produced by whatever means your utility company felt like using. Now, you have the ability to find out where your energy comes from and to influence the generation process. You can scan the market for green energy offers and comparison shop—not only will you find a good price, but you can support an energy source you like, such as a local solar plant or wind farm. That’s real power!