Ohio Supplier vs Utility: Compare Choice Rates at 1,000 kWh
If you are shopping electricity in Ohio, the real question is not “supplier or utility?” It is whether a competitive supply rate beats the utility’s default generation price at the usage level you actually use—most often measured at 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) a month. The poles, meters, and outage trucks stay with your local distribution company either way. What changes is who sells you the power itself, and at what cents-per-kWh price.
That distinction matters because Ohio already runs a large share of retail sales through competitive, energy-only arrangements. According to the ¹, the state recorded about 153.7 million megawatthours of total retail sales, with roughly 115.5 million attributed to energy-only provider sales and about 38.2 million to full-service provider sales. Shopping is normal market behavior here, not a niche hobby. The rest of this guide shows how to compare supplier offers against the utility default using the same 1,000 kWh yardstick regulators and shoppers rely on.
Supplier vs utility is really supply vs delivery
In competitive retail markets, “choosing a supplier” does not mean building a second set of wires to your house. The U.S. Department of Energy’s ² describes retail choice this way: customers may choose between their current utility supplier and other competitive suppliers for the generation portion of electric service, while states still regulate delivery over distribution systems. DOE’s ³ draws the same line between a bundled rate (one provider for supply and delivery) and an unbundled rate (supply and delivery from different providers, sometimes shown as separate charges on one bill).
Ohio fits that unbundled model for most investor-owned utility territories. As ⁴ puts it, retail customers may choose a supplier but still receive delivery over the local utility’s power lines—the EIA restructuring definition restated for shoppers. Your electric distribution utility (think AEP Ohio, Duke Energy Ohio, AES Ohio, or a FirstEnergy Ohio company, depending on address) keeps the meter and the wires. A competitive retail electric service (CRES) supplier, if you pick one, replaces the default generation charges with its contract price and terms.
So when a door hanger or email says “switch utilities,” translate it. You are usually being asked to switch generation suppliers. Misreading that sales pitch is how people end up comparing the wrong numbers.
One more boundary condition: retail choice rules are not identical for every Ohio meter. A U.S. Department of Energy ⁵ notes that where states allow retail competition, customer choice of energy supplier is typically required for customers served by investor-owned utilities, while municipal and cooperative utilities may be treated differently and sometimes only opt in. If your bill comes from a muni or co-op, confirm whether competitive supply is even on the menu before you waste time rate-shopping.
How Ohio’s default rate and Price to Compare work
If you do not enroll with a CRES supplier, you stay on the utility’s standard service offer (SSO)—the default generation supply procured under state oversight. That default is not an arbitrary monopoly sticker price pulled from thin air. ⁶ explains the mechanism plainly: auction results help set retail generation rates for standard-service-offer customers, and those results are blended into a price-to-compare that shoppers use against competitive options. In Ohio’s deregulated electric market, consumers who do not switch still take service under those auction-linked default rates.
The shopper-facing label for that default generation benchmark is the Price to Compare (PTC). ⁷ quotes PUCO’s explanation: the price-to-compare is the amount per kilowatt-hour you would no longer pay to the local utility when you enroll with a retail supplier; that amount is replaced by the supplier’s rate. The same report notes PUCO’s practice of stating residential prices for consumers using 1,000 kWh per month—exactly the comparison volume in this article’s title.
⁸ summarizes the consumer choice in one clean split: SSO is default generation without a separate supplier contract; a CRES supplier is a licensed provider whose rate and contract replace SSO generation charges, while the distribution utility stays put. Starting supplier service assumes you already have (or are establishing) a utility delivery account at the address. A supplier enrollment is not a substitute for calling the utility when a vacant home needs service turned on.
Why 1,000 kWh is the comparison yardstick
Regulators and shopping tools keep returning to 1,000 kWh because it is a round, mid-range residential volume that makes plan-to-plan math comparable. Ohio’s own PTC postings are framed that way: ⁷ “reflect residential consumers using 1,000 kWh per month,” with caveats for special heating rates and nonresidential classes. Duke Energy Ohio’s PTC discussion makes the block structure explicit: ⁹.
Texas shoppers see the same benchmark on Power to Choose, the Public Utility Commission of Texas comparison site. The commission’s ¹⁰ tells customers to ask what they will pay per kWh based on 1,000 kWh of average monthly usage, and to confirm whether that quoted rate includes energy, transmission and distribution, and recurring fees. Ohio’s bill layout differs from Texas’s all-in shopping display, but the discipline is portable: pick a usage anchor, then force every offer through the same arithmetic.
Your real usage may sit above or below 1,000 kWh. That is fine. Use 1,000 kWh for apples-to-apples screening, then re-run the math at your 12-month average. Power to Choose’s ¹¹ is a useful caution even outside Texas: some plans add fees or credits around 500 or 1,000 kWh thresholds, so the average price you pay can change with actual consumption. Ohio offers are not carbon copies of Texas Electricity Facts Labels, but threshold pricing and teaser math show up in competitive markets elsewhere too.
What your bill is really comparing
Before you chase a “lower rate,” separate generation from delivery. DOE’s ³ are the right mental model. Delivery charges—distribution, transmission riders that stay with the wires company, customer charges tied to the utility account—generally remain whether you are on SSO or a CRES plan. The PTC is the bypassable generation benchmark. Beat the PTC on a like-for-like supply comparison and you can save on the generation slice. Ignore delivery and you will “save” on paper while the rest of the bill barely moves.
Statewide averages help with context but can confuse the shopping math if you treat them as PTC substitutes. EIA’s ¹² shows Ohio residential customers at 15.99 cents per kWh and an all-sectors average of 11.29 cents per kWh, versus a U.S. residential average of 16.48 cents per kWh. Those figures blend supply and delivery across many customers and rate designs. They tell you Ohio’s overall price level; they do not replace the PTC printed for your utility class. The ¹ repeats the 11.29 cents per kWh statewide average retail price for 2024 and ranks Ohio first in energy-only provider sales volume—another reminder that competitive supply is already deeply embedded in the state’s book of business.
Practical rule: for supplier-versus-default decisions, start with the PTC on your bill (or the current utility PTC for your rate class), not the statewide residential average.
Current utility generation benchmarks around the 10¢ mark
PTC components move on utility schedules—often with a major annual reset and smaller quarterly rider updates—so treat any published figure as dated the day you read it. Still, recent filings show why a careful 1,000 kWh comparison is worth the ten minutes.
For Duke Energy Ohio, ⁹ a residential RS (non-PIPP) electric PTC of $0.107016 per kWh effective June 1, 2026, up about 6% from $0.100819 per kWh, with the PTC built from retail energy and capacity riders plus alternative-energy and reconciliation riders. At exactly 1,000 kWh, that June PTC alone implies about $107.02 in generation charges before other bill lines.
For AEP Ohio, ¹³ were filed at 10.167 cents per kWh for the June 1, 2026–May 31, 2027 period, up slightly from 9.986 cents. The same reporting stresses that the full PTC also includes other bypassable riders updated on a separate calendar. A follow-up ¹⁴ shows how quickly the all-in SSO can shift midstream: for an RS non-PIPP residential customer, the June 1 all-in SSO rate of 10.11717 cents per kWh was set to rise to 10.96883 cents per kWh on July 1, 2026—nearly a 1 cent per kWh swing from a reconciliation factor flipping from credit to charge.
For FirstEnergy’s Ohio utilities, ¹⁵ lifted residential combined rates to about 10.1386 cents per kWh at Cleveland Electric Illuminating, 10.0253 cents at Ohio Edison, and 10.1870 cents at Toledo Edison, with additional bypassable riders still layered into the PTC on their own schedule.
None of those numbers is a total home electric bill. They are generation-side benchmarks. At 1,000 kWh, a supplier offer at 9.5 cents beats a 10.5-cent PTC by about $10 that month on generation. A supplier offer at 12 cents loses by about $15—before early termination fees, monthly supplier fees, or a post-teaser variable spike enter the picture.
How to compare a supplier offer at 1,000 kWh
Use a boring, repeatable worksheet:
- Write down your utility and rate class, then your current PTC (or SSO generation rate) in cents per kWh.
- Multiply PTC × 1,000 ÷ 100 to get default generation dollars at the standard yardstick.
- For each supplier offer, compute the same 1,000 kWh generation dollars using the offer’s supply rate, then add any monthly supplier fee that applies even at that usage.
- Subtract. Positive difference means the supplier is cheaper at 1,000 kWh on generation; negative means SSO wins that round.
- Re-run steps 2–4 at your actual average kWh if you are far from 1,000.
That is the same spirit as Power to Choose’s ¹⁰, adapted to Ohio’s PTC-versus-offer frame instead of Texas’s often all-in plan display. ⁷, pushes the same benchmark logic: use the price-to-compare on the bill to know whether a retail supplier offer will save money.
Watch the contract dimensions while you do the arithmetic. Fixed-rate offers lock a supply price for a term; variable or indexed offers can move. Power to Choose’s checklist specifically asks whether an offer is fixed, variable, or indexed, how it can change, what happens at expiration, and whether breaking the contract triggers a penalty. Those questions travel well to Ohio CRES shopping even though the disclosure forms differ.
Also confirm enrollment mechanics. ⁸ notes that Ohio enrollment rules emphasize identity verification and documented consent, and that switching fees can still appear in some utility territories depending on tariff history and whether a fee is passed through. A “cheap” rate that costs you a switching charge plus a stiff early termination fee is not cheap if you move in six months.
Fine print that can erase a 1,000 kWh “win”
Introductory rates. Some offers look brilliant for one or two months and then reset higher. Compare the post-intro rate—or the full first-year average—at 1,000 kWh, not only the teaser.
Variable rates after a fixed term. Auto-renewal into a floating product can undo a year of savings in a single nasty shoulder season. Know the renewal notice rules in your contract before you sign.
Fees and thresholds. Minimum bills, monthly service charges, and usage credits that kick in only above a threshold can rearrange the ranking between 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh. The ¹¹ is blunt about cutoffs “less than 500 or 1,000 kWh” on some plans; do not assume your Ohio offer is immune to similar structures just because the brand is local.
Mid-period SSO rider changes. The ¹⁴ is the cautionary tale: a reconciliation rider alone can move the default nearly a cent per kWh between June and July. A supplier contract that looked like a stretch against a June PTC can look better—or worse—after a July SSO update. Re-check the PTC when riders refresh.
Pressure tactics that impersonate your utility. Competitive choice markets are fertile ground for fraud pitches. The FTC warns that ¹⁶, and that you should hang up and call the number on your bill. Its ¹⁷ repeats the same red flags around threatened shutoffs and unusual payment methods. A legitimate supplier enrollment does not require you to panic-pay a stranger on the phone.
The 1,000 kWh math, in dollars you can feel
Every 0.1 cent per kWh (one mill) difference equals $1 per month at 1,000 kWh. Every full 1 cent per kWh difference equals $10 per month, or about $120 per year, on the generation line alone.
Walk a simple example with rounded figures grounded in the benchmarks above. Suppose your utility PTC is 10.7 cents per kWh. Default generation at 1,000 kWh is $107. A fixed CRES offer at 9.9 cents with no extra monthly fee costs $99 at the same usage—an $8 monthly generation edge, roughly $96 a year if the gap holds. Flip it: an 11.9-cent variable that looked fine in a mild month costs $119 at 1,000 kWh, a $12 monthly loss against that same 10.7-cent PTC.
Now layer fees. A $9.99 monthly supplier charge is another cent per kWh at 1,000 kWh usage. An offer advertised at 9.5 cents with that fee behaves like 10.5 cents in your worksheet. Suddenly it no longer clears a 10.3-cent PTC.
Annualize only after you trust the monthly comparison. A 12-month fixed that beats SSO by $8 a month is real money. A three-month teaser that saves $15 a month and then costs $20 extra for nine months is a net loss. Do the ugly arithmetic on purpose.
For small businesses on general-service secondary rates, the same worksheet applies, but use the commercial PTC block that matches your tariff—not the residential 1,000 kWh PTC. Duke’s small commercial example in the ⁹ shows a different first-block rate than residential; FirstEnergy’s ¹⁵ likewise differ from residential RS. Wrong class, wrong answer.
When staying on the utility default is the smart call
Competitive supply is optional. ⁷ frames the marketplace as a chance to shop ahead of default-rate increases—not a requirement to leave SSO. Stay on the standard offer when:
- No credible fixed offer beats your current PTC after fees at your real usage.
- You are moving soon and an early termination fee would erase the savings.
- You do not want contract administration and are fine riding auction-based SSO changes.
- The only “deals” in your inbox are variable teaser rates with vague reset language.
- You are on a municipal or cooperative system that never opted into retail choice, or another eligible-class restriction applies—confirm before you chase supplier mailers.
Conversely, shopping harder makes sense when your PTC just stepped up (as in several June 2026 utility updates), when you can lock a fixed rate below the all-in SSO for a term that matches how long you will stay, or when you specifically want a renewable product and accept paying for that attribute.
Ohio’s market structure supports either path. EIA’s state profile shows competitive energy-only sales already dominating statewide volumes, while the residential average price sits near the national pack. The winners are not the people who switch the most. They are the people who keep a current PTC, force every offer through a 1,000 kWh worksheet, and walk away when the math shrugs.
A short decision checklist
Pull last month’s bill and highlight the Price to Compare.
Compute SSO generation dollars at 1,000 kWh, then at your average kWh.
Shortlist only licensed offers you can explain in one sentence: fixed or variable, term length, exit fee, monthly fees.
Run the 1,000 kWh worksheet including fees.
Read renewal and variable-rate language twice.
If the supplier wins by a thin margin, ask whether a mid-year SSO rider update or a single fee would flip the result.
Enroll only through channels you initiated, and never pay a threatened “shutoff” demand by gift card or crypto—¹⁶ is unambiguous on that point.
Supplier versus utility, at 1,000 kWh, is not a loyalty test. It is a recurring spreadsheet problem with a clear benchmark, moving default rates, and enough fine print to punish haste. Do the comparison on the generation line that actually changes. Keep the utility for the wires. Pick the supply price that wins in dollars—not in slogans.