Avoid the 2023 Ohio Edison Rate Increase
Shop for Lower Ohio Edison Rates Online
Customers of Ohio Edison are about to see a huge increase on their monthly electric bills as a rate hike goes into effect on June 1, 2023. If you pay receive your home electric bill from the utility Ohio Edison of First Energy, there is a chance that your bill will more than double during the summer of 2023 and beyond. Fortunately, there is a simple way to avoid the rate increase and keep your bills from rising.
Those customers on the SSO rate will see the price they pay for electricity go up by 110% from $0.058766 per kWh to $0.12394 per kWh in June. While the rate hike will occur in June, many customers who aren’t aware of the price hike won’t notice anything has changed until they receive their electric bill in July that will include at leas part of the June service period. Since it can take up to a month for an electricity switch to occur, the sooner Ohio Edison customers start shopping for lower Ohio electric rates the better.
The electricity rate hike will affect those residential Ohio Edison customers who are on the SSO rate structure by the utility. SSO stands of Standard Service Offer and is essentially the default rate consumers pay for power who have not shopped the competitive market for a rate from a licensed Ohio electricity supplier. By simply taking the time to shop and compare competitive Ohio rates, consumers who are set to experience the price hike can avoid the higher electric bills.
About Ohio Edison Electricity Choice
Ohio Edison PTC vs ElectricRate Graph by ElectricRate
In order to understand what is happening and what the options are, consumers need to familiarize themselves with how the Ohio electricity choice market is structured. This is especially true for those new to Ohio who might have moved from a state or country where electricity is still regulated and there is only one company that handles all aspect of power production and distribution.
As an energy choice state, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is still the governing body that oversees the electricity market throughout the state. Ohio Edison is still a regulated company in charge of distributing power to all electricity consumers within their service territory, as well as taking care of any power line repair and emergencies that might need tending towards. As a regulated utility company, Ohio Edison charges all of their customers a rate for distribution services which are regulated by the state utility commission.
Ohio Edison is not responsible for the actual electricity, or generation service, that consumers can buy which accounts for the majority of the charges on the electric bill. Ohio electricity choice laws allow consumers to shop and purchase their electricity generation supply from competitive energy suppliers who are licensed in Ohio. These competitive energy companies can offer a variety of rate products focusing on length term, generation type such as renewables, rewards programs, and of course low prices.
Competitive electricity suppliers in Ohio are now offering low electricity rate plans that can help consumers avoid the Ohio Edison rate hike for generation supply service.
Why is Ohio Edison Raising their 2023 Rates?
While Ohio Edison is no longer responsible for providing competitive supply rates to their customers, they have been tasked with providing a default rate service for those customers who haven’t chosen a competitive supplier. This is the SSO, standard service offer, that can be found on the Ohio Edison electric bill.
The SSO rate is determined by a series of auctions that Ohio Edison holds for competitive suppliers who want to bid for the right to provide supply service to the pool of customers who do not shop for electricity. The high default rates are the result of recent auctions occurring when wholesale energy prices were very high, causing the licensed electricity suppliers to have to bid high. The suppliers have to buy futures contracts for energy in order to service the default rate paying pool of customers.
Electricity prices in the wholesale markets have since come down which allows competitive suppliers to purchase and sell contracts to individual customers at much lower rates than what was procured several months ago.
Ohio Edison Electricity Rates June 2023 by ElectricRate
What Happens when a Competitive Electricity Rate Plan is Chosen?
When an Ohio Edison customer chooses a competitive electricity rate plan, the price of that plan simply replaces the SSO rate on the invoice. Therefore, if the competitive rate plan has a price that is lower than the SSO rate, the customer will pay less for electricity. They will continue to receive their monthly electric bill from Ohio Edison even after switching to a competitive plan. The bill will simply state that the consumer is being charged by whichever electricity supplier is chosen and at the rate chosen.
The SSO rate is also referred to as the Ohio Edison Price to Compare, as it represents the rate that competitive offers are measured against to determine if there are savings. Ohio Edison’s Price to Compare includes charges for generation and transmission, and these are the exact same things that will be included on competitive rate offers from Ohio third party electricity suppliers as stipulated in the Ohio energy choice law.
Ohio Edison Savings Potential by ElectricRate
When a competitive rate plan is chosen the only thing that changes is the amount of money you pay for generation and transmission service. If you do not shop you pay the SSO or Ohio Edison Price to Compare, and if you do shop you pay the rate plan from the competitive supplier that you have chosen. Customers continue to receive their electric bill from Ohio Edison and there is no interruption of service.
Current competitive rates are available below. Rates are updated daily and are a direct comparison against the Ohio Edison SOS default rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ohio Edison raised their electricity rates on June 1, 2023 by 110%. The rate rise is for customers who pay the Ohio Edison default price to compare rate for electricity. This rate increase can be avoided by shopping for a competitive rate plan.
If you do not choose an alternative electric supply rate plan then you will automatically be on the Ohio Edison price to compare which is a fixed rate plan, but only for a few months.
Competitive Ohio energy suppliers give you the ability to not only lock in fixed rates that are lower than the price to compare, but to also lock in fixed rate plans for up to three years in order to give you price security on your bill.
On June 1, 2023 the Ohio Edison rate for residential customers went up to $0.12394 per kWh from the price of $0.058766 where it had been since January 1, 2023.
The Ohio Edison customer choice program allows all Ohio Edison customers to shop for competitive electricity rate plans for the generation supply portion of their electric bill. By shopping for a lower Ohio electric rate customers can greatly reduce their Ohio Edison electric bill.
With the recent default rate increase, the easiest thing to do to lower your Ohio Edison bill is to choose a low competitive Ohio electric rate plan. Current savings are as much as 50%
The 2023 Ohio Edison rate increase is a result of higher than normal wholesale energy prices during the auction held for energy companies to bid for the right to service default paying customers.
In reality, Ohio Edison passes on the charges of their price to compare rates onto the energy companies who bid to service default standard service offer customers. Since wholesale electricity prices have come down since the auction electricity suppliers can now offer electric rates that are much lower than the default price to compare rate.
