Ohio Medical and Dental Offices: How to Compare Business Power Rates
If you run a medical or dental practice in Ohio, your electric bill is not just another overhead line. Imaging, sterilization, HVAC that keeps procedure rooms comfortable, and long clinic hours all push kilowatt-hours higher than a quiet professional suite. In a choice state like Ohio, you can usually shop the generation portion of that bill — but only if you compare offers the same way a careful buyer compares any contract: against a clear baseline, with fees and renewal terms in plain view.
This guide walks through what Ohio commercial power costs look like, how clinic energy use differs from a generic office, and how to use official Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) tools to compare business supply rates without getting tripped up by teaser prices or early-exit fees.
Why clinic power bills feel outsized
A dental operatory or outpatient exam wing is still a commercial account, but it behaves like a small clinical facility. Lighting stays bright for procedures. Equipment cycles on and off throughout the day. Waiting rooms and staff areas add plug load. ENERGY STAR’s medical-office score¹ explicitly covers “facility space used to provide diagnosis and treatment for medical, dental, or psychiatric outpatient care,” which is the right mental model for most private practices comparing themselves to peers.
That matters for rates because shopping electricity is a two-variable problem: the price per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and how many kWh you burn. A supplier offer that looks a tenth of a cent cheaper can still lose to a clinic that leaves exam-room lights and idle equipment on after hours. Conversely, a slightly higher fixed generation rate can still win if it is stable and paired with lower usage.
Ohio’s retail structure also means “the utility rate” and “your generation rate” are not the same thing. Eligible customers can choose a competitive supplier for generation while the local distribution utility keeps delivering power and responding to outages, a split the PUCO explains in its energy choice overview². For a practice, that means you can change who sells you kilowatt-hours without changing who owns the wires to your suite.
How an Ohio business electric bill is built
Think of the bill in three buckets. Generation is the energy commodity — the electricity itself. Transmission and distribution are the wires and local delivery. In Ohio’s choice program, shopping targets generation supply; delivery stays with the electric distribution utility, and you still call that utility for outages, as summarized in PUCO guidance on how generation rates are set³.
If you do not enroll with a competitive supplier or an eligible aggregation arrangement, you stay on the utility’s standard service offer (SSO) — the default generation rate secured largely through wholesale auctions, with PUCO-approved riders and fees layered on, according to that same PUCO explanation³. The shopping benchmark printed on bills is the Price to Compare (PTC): the amount per kWh you would no longer pay the utility for generation if you switch to a competitive supplier.
PUCO shopping advice is blunt: start with the PTC on your bill, then compare supplier offers against it on Energy Choice Ohio, and remember that fixed and variable products behave differently month to month (PUCO shopping tips⁴). One important nuance for clinics: published PTC tables often highlight residential tariffs. PUCO has noted that PTCs can vary by customer class⁵, so a practice should use the commercial PTC and tariff code on its own bill, not a residential screenshot from a neighbor.
Choice itself is limited to customers of PUCO-regulated distribution utilities. The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC) lists electric choice for customers of AEP Ohio, AES Ohio, Duke Energy, and the FirstEnergy utilities (The Illuminating Company, Ohio Edison, and Toledo Edison), and notes that municipal systems, co-ops, and Percentage of Income Payment Plan Plus (PIPP Plus) participants are outside the program (OCC wise-choice fact sheet⁶). If your clinic sits behind a municipal utility, rate shopping of this kind may simply not apply.
What Ohio commercial rates look like today
Statewide averages will not match your suite, but they set expectations. For 2024, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports Ohio’s average commercial electricity price at 10.66 cents per kWh⁷, compared with a U.S. commercial average of 12.75 cents per kWh in the same table. EIA’s Electric Power Annual state map repeats those 2024 commercial figures for Ohio at 10.66 cents and the U.S. average at 12.75 cents⁸.
On monthly bills, EIA’s commercial average-bill table for 2024 shows Ohio commercial customers averaging about 6,749 kWh per month at 10.66 cents per kWh, or roughly $719.67⁹. The U.S. commercial average in that table sits higher on price (12.75 cents) with a larger average monthly bill around $791.56. A busy multi-operatory dental practice or a diagnostic medical office can sit well above those averages; a compact specialty suite with limited hours can sit below them.
Those EIA figures are all-in retail averages — generation plus delivery and other charges rolled together across the commercial class. Competitive offers on Energy Choice Ohio are different: they advertise the generation portion only, while distribution and transmission remain with the utility, which the Apples to Apples comparison pages state explicitly¹⁰. That is why a supplier price of, say, 10 cents per kWh is not automatically “cheaper than EIA’s 10.66 cents.” You are comparing generation apples to generation apples against your PTC, not against the statewide all-in average.
How medical and dental offices use energy
Before you obsess over the third decimal place on a supply offer, know what drives your kWh. ENERGY STAR treats medical offices — including dental outpatient care — as a distinct property type for benchmarking and scoring (medical office score overview¹). The score adjusts for floor area, weekly operating hours, workers on the main shift, MRI machines, surgical operating beds, and climate based on ZIP code. In plain English: longer hours, denser staffing, and specialized clinical equipment move the needle.
Energy use intensity (EUI) — yearly energy use divided by floor area — is the common yardstick. EPA’s national median table lists medical offices at a site EUI of 51.2 kBtu per square foot and a source EUI of 121.7¹¹, the same figures shown under both the Healthcare and Office market-sector rows for medical office. Site EUI is closer to what you feel on bills; source EUI folds in upstream losses so different fuel mixes can be compared fairly.
EPA’s medical-office checklist also reminds tenants that even leased suites pay for utilities one way or another, and it points practices toward Portfolio Manager benchmarking and an ENERGY STAR score of 75 or higher for certification eligibility (medical office efficiency checklist¹²). If you cannot yet shop a better generation rate — or if you already have a solid fixed contract — lowering EUI is still cash flow.
Comparing offers on Energy Choice Ohio
The official comparison home is Energy Choice Ohio¹³, the PUCO site where certified suppliers post offers. PUCO describes it as the place consumers can compare electric or natural gas competitive offers and open the Apples to Apples charts (PUCO Energy Choice Ohio page²).
For clinics, do not stop at the residential charts. The electric category page separates residential utilities from small commercial tariffs such as AES Ohio Secondary; AEP Ohio GS-1 and GS-2; Duke Energy Ohio DS and DM; and FirstEnergy companies’ GS and GP schedules for Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company, and Toledo Edison, plus a large commercial/industrial path (Apples to Apples electric categories¹⁴). Your bill’s tariff or rate code is the key. Energy Choice Ohio tells small-business users to select the tariff/rate code shown on the billing statement, and to call the utility if it is missing (same category page disclaimer guidance¹⁴).
Charts are live feeds of certified suppliers actively enrolling customers; offers can change at any time, appear in random order, and must be read against full terms before enrollment (Apples to Apples disclaimer¹⁴). PUCO also states that certified suppliers must post offers to the site and that those offers can change every day (PUCO review of supplier options⁵).
A concrete example: the Duke Energy Ohio small-commercial DS chart instructs users to compare listed generation offers with the Price to Compare on the current utility bill and notes that distribution and transmission stay with the local utility (Duke DS Apples to Apples chart¹⁰). On that same live chart, fixed generation offers commonly clustered near or below roughly 10–11 cents per kWh for multi-month terms (for example, fixed products around 0.0994 to 0.1059 dollars per kWh with 12-month terms from multiple suppliers), while some variable or short-term products showed much higher prices or promotional intro structures. Treat those figures as a snapshot of generation-only offers for that tariff path on the day you look — not a statewide clinic rate card.
OCC adds a practical warning that applies equally to a practice manager shopping online: confirm you are on the official site ending in .gov, because look-alike shopping sites exist (OCC wise-choice fact sheet⁶).
Fixed rates, variable rates, fees, and renewal traps
A lower headline rate is not automatically a better contract. PUCO’s Apples to Apples columns flag rate type (fixed versus variable), term length, renewable content, introductory pricing, early termination fees, monthly fees, and promotions (PUCO shopping tips⁴; Duke DS chart columns¹⁰). For a clinic with fairly steady weekday load, a fixed generation rate for a defined term often makes budgeting easier. Variable rates can move with the market and change the monthly bill even if your kWh barely change.
OCC’s checklist of questions is the right script for a practice owner or office manager: Will this beat the utility standard offer? Is the rate fixed, variable, or a teaser that starts low and rises? What is the early termination fee? Does the contract auto-renew, and how is the renewal price set? Will charges appear on the utility bill or a separate invoice? What happens if you move locations? (OCC wise-choice questions⁶).
Watch three traps in particular. Teaser rates that reset higher after a short intro period. Evergreen or automatic renewals that roll into a worse price if nobody calendars the end date. Early termination fees that can erase savings if you need to exit early — OCC and PUCO both flag these issues (OCC wise-choice fact sheet⁶; Energy Choice Ohio disclaimer on early termination fees¹⁴). On the Duke small-commercial chart snapshot, some fixed offers carried early termination fees such as $100 or $150 while others listed $0 — details that belong in your spreadsheet next to the cents-per-kWh figure (Duke DS chart¹⁰).
If you already have a supplier and want to return to the utility SSO, you generally can, but you must check cancellation terms first because an early termination fee may apply (PUCO generation-rate FAQ³).
Government aggregation is another Ohio pathway, but treat it carefully for businesses. OCC explains that local governments may buy supply in bulk, often through opt-out programs for residents after voter approval, and that participating does not guarantee savings (OCC aggregation fact sheet¹⁵). That same OCC page states that only residential consumers served by a PUCO-regulated utility can participate in government aggregation programs. A medical or dental corporation account should not assume it is automatically covered by a residential aggregation mailing; verify eligibility with the local government and your utility, and still compare any offer to your commercial PTC and Apples to Apples small-commercial rows.
Marketing, slamming, and where to get help
Competitive supply can save money, but OCC is frank that buying from a marketer without homework can mean overpaying by hundreds of dollars, and it advises against signing up during door-to-door or in-store pitches or sharing a bill or account number casually (OCC wise-choice fact sheet⁶; OCC know-your-rights fact sheet¹⁶).
PUCO certification is meant to screen suppliers for financial, technical, and managerial capability, with renewals and reporting requirements (PUCO shopping tips⁴). Consumer protections include bans on slamming — switching your supplier without permission — and a cancellation window after the utility sends a confirmation notice: seven calendar days from the postmark for electric enrollments, per PUCO (PUCO shopping tips⁴). OCC similarly describes a seven-day grace period after the utility confirmation notice (OCC wise-choice fact sheet⁶).
If something looks wrong on the bill, or marketing felt deceptive, PUCO’s consumer call center is the documented complaint path at 800-686-7826, and outages still go to the local utility (PUCO shopping tips⁴). OCC also outlines slamming remedies: contact the utility to reverse an unauthorized switch, seek removal of related charges, and report the marketer to PUCO (OCC know-your-rights¹⁶).
Cut kilowatt-hours while you shop the rate
Rate shopping changes the price tag. Efficiency changes the quantity. ENERGY STAR’s commercial checklists start with low-cost operations: nighttime audits for equipment left on, thermostat setbacks when the building is empty, filter changes, and clearing blocked vents (ENERGY STAR ways-to-save checklists¹⁷). Lighting guidance is especially relevant to clinics: turning lights off when daylight is enough can cut lighting expenses meaningfully, and LED upgrades plus occupancy sensors in low-traffic rooms are classic rapid-payback moves on the same checklists.
The medical-office checklist gets more clinic-specific: upgrade aging fluorescent and CFL lamps to LED, hunt for exterior “day-burners,” use occupancy and daylight controls, maintain HVAC on a preseason schedule, set back temperatures when unoccupied, power-manage office electronics, and power down imaging equipment overnight when clinically appropriate (medical office checklist¹²). None of that replaces comparing generation offers, but a 10% load reduction applies to every kWh price you will ever pay — SSO or competitive.
If you lease space, the same checklist notes ENERGY STAR Tenant Space pathways for non-diagnostic medical office suites and stresses benchmarking in Portfolio Manager so you can see whether you are an efficient medical office or an outlier before you blame the supplier (medical office checklist¹²).
A practical checklist for practice owners
- Pull the last 12 months of electric bills. Note annual and monthly kWh, the utility name, the tariff/rate code, whether you are already on a competitive supplier, and the commercial Price to Compare.
- Confirm you are eligible for choice (PUCO-regulated utility territory, not a municipal/co-op/PIPP situation) using the boundaries described by OCC⁶ and PUCO³.
- Open Energy Choice Ohio¹³, choose Electric, then the matching small-commercial tariff path for your utility (category page¹⁴).
- Build a short comparison table: cents per kWh, fixed vs variable, term, monthly fee, early termination fee, intro/teaser language, renewable content, and what happens at renewal — the fields PUCO already surfaces on Apples to Apples (shopping tips⁴).
- Multiply serious contenders by your recent average monthly kWh, then add monthly fees. Compare that modeled generation cost with staying on the SSO/PTC path. Remember delivery charges continue either way.
- Read the full contract. Calendar the end date. Prefer clear fixed pricing if your clinic needs predictable overhead. Avoid same-day door-to-door decisions (OCC rights guidance¹⁶).
- After any enrollment, watch for the utility confirmation letter and use the seven-day electric cancellation window if you change your mind (PUCO⁴).
- Parallel-track efficiency: lighting, HVAC setbacks, and plug-load discipline from ENERGY STAR’s medical-office checklist¹² so you are not buying a nicer rate for wasted kilowatt-hours.
Ohio medical and dental offices do not need a mystique-heavy power strategy. They need a commercial tariff match, a PTC baseline, an official Apples to Apples scan, and a refusal to sign anything that cannot beat that baseline after fees. Do that once a year — or whenever your contract nears renewal — and the generation line on the bill stops being a surprise.