Yes, Ohio is a deregulated energy state for both electricity and natural gas. Since the early 2000s, state law has let you choose who supplies the energy delivered to your home, while your local utility continues to own the wires and pipes and handle delivery. Electricity choice sits under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4928, which sets a state policy of ensuring consumers have effective choices over electricity supplies and suppliers.1Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 4928.02 – State Policy Natural gas choice runs on a parallel framework under Chapter 4929, which promotes competitive retail natural gas service.2Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 4929.02 – Policy of State as to Natural Gas Services and Goods
What’s Deregulated and What Isn’t
Deregulation split the supply side of your energy away from the delivery side. Your local utility still owns the power lines and gas mains, still responds to outages, and still delivers energy to your meter. What changed is who generates or procures that energy. Dozens of certified retail suppliers now compete to sell it to you. A resident in the Cincinnati area, for example, can contract with one of more than 50 suppliers to buy electricity on their behalf from the wholesale market, while Duke Energy continues handling delivery.3Ohio Capital Journal. How Deregulation Made Electricity More Expensive in Ohio and the Nation, Not Cheaper
If you never pick a supplier, nothing goes wrong. You simply get energy at your utility’s standard service offer (SSO) rate, set through a competitive bidding process overseen by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO).
How Your Bill Works
An Ohio energy bill has two main parts. The supply charge covers generating or procuring your electricity or natural gas. If you’ve chosen a competitive supplier, that charge comes from them. If you haven’t, it comes from your utility at the SSO rate. The delivery charge covers moving that energy through local distribution to your home. Delivery always comes from your utility and is regulated by the PUCO no matter which supplier you pick.
The number to watch when shopping is your utility’s “Price to Compare.” It represents the generation supply portion of the SSO rate. Any competitive offer below that number saves you money on supply; anything above it costs more than doing nothing. The PUCO publishes the figure on its Energy Choice Ohio site and updates it for each utility territory.4Energy Choice Ohio. Apples to Apples
Fixed-Rate and Variable-Rate Plans
Competitive suppliers offer two basic pricing structures, and picking the wrong one is where many customers get burned.
A fixed-rate plan locks in your per-kilowatt-hour or per-therm price for the contract length, typically six months to three years. The rate stays put regardless of wholesale swings. The tradeoff is flexibility. If market prices drop, you’re stuck until the contract ends, and leaving early usually triggers a cancellation fee.
A variable-rate plan moves month to month with wholesale market conditions, seasonal demand, and other factors. There’s usually no cancellation fee, but bills can spike hard in high-demand months. Ohio’s administrative code requires suppliers to clearly disclose all contract terms, including any early termination fees and the specific factors that cause a variable rate to change.5Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Administrative Code Rule 4901:1-21-12 – Contract Disclosure Read the fee section before you sign, whether the amount is flat or calculated by remaining months.
How to Shop With Apples to Apples
The PUCO runs a comparison tool called Apples to Apples at EnergyChoice.Ohio.gov where you can browse current offers for electricity and natural gas.6Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Energy Choice Ohio The charts display live-feed comparisons in random order, listing the price per kilowatt-hour or per therm, contract length, whether the rate is fixed or variable, and any cancellation fees. Only certified suppliers actively enrolling new customers appear.
Start by finding your utility’s Price to Compare. Filter offers for your utility territory, then compare the listed supply rates against that benchmark. Pay close attention to contract length and cancellation fees, not just the per-unit rate. A rock-bottom introductory rate that doubles after three months is worse than a slightly higher rate locked in for two years. Suppliers are responsible for the accuracy of their own listed offers, and those offers can change at any time, so confirm the exact terms before you sign.4Energy Choice Ohio. Apples to Apples
Municipal Aggregation
Ohio law lets cities, villages, townships, and counties form governmental aggregation programs that negotiate bulk energy rates for residents and small businesses. Electric aggregation is authorized under ORC 4928.20, natural gas aggregation under ORC 4929.20.7Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code Chapter 4929 – Natural Gas
Most Ohio aggregation programs are opt-out. Eligible residents are enrolled automatically unless they actively decline. If your community has a program, you’ll get a notice explaining the terms and your right to opt out. You can also leave later to pick your own supplier or return to the SSO rate. One boundary to know: if you participate in PIPP Plus, Ohio’s income-based payment program, you can’t enroll with any alternate supplier, including through aggregation.4Energy Choice Ohio. Apples to Apples
Does Shopping Actually Save Money?
The theory behind deregulation was that competition drives prices down. Ohio’s record is mixed. Research from Ohio State University’s John Glenn College of Public Affairs found that over the past five years, the generation portion of a standard residential electric bill in Columbus increased by 110%. The same research found that 72.1% of open-market supplier offers exceeded the utility’s default rate. The majority of competitive prices were higher than what customers would have paid by doing nothing.
That doesn’t mean every competitive offer is a bad deal. Some fixed-rate plans do beat the SSO, especially when customers lock in during periods of low wholesale prices, and green energy plans give environmentally conscious customers options the default rate doesn’t carry. But the data suggests that shopping carelessly, or responding to a door-to-door pitch without comparing numbers, is more likely to raise your bill than lower it.
Avoiding Slamming and High-Pressure Sales
Slamming is the unauthorized switching of your supplier. It happens when a supplier enrolls you without genuine consent, usually after a misleading pitch at the door or by phone. The single most important rule: never share your utility account number with anyone unless you intend to switch. That number is all a supplier needs to initiate a transfer. If an unfamiliar company shows up on your bill, contact your utility right away, ask to be returned to your previous arrangement, request removal of all charges from the unauthorized switch, and file a complaint with the PUCO.8Ohio Consumers’ Counsel. Energy Choice: Know Your Rights!
Even without outright slamming, aggressive marketing is common. Salespeople may promise savings that never materialize or gloss over variable-rate escalation clauses and termination fees. You have the right to report high-pressure tactics to the PUCO even if you weren’t technically slammed. File online, by phone at 1-800-686-7826 (toll-free within Ohio), or by mail.8Ohio Consumers’ Counsel. Energy Choice: Know Your Rights!
Who Regulates the Market
The PUCO is the primary state agency overseeing the deregulated market. It certifies every retail electricity and natural gas supplier operating in Ohio, evaluating each applicant’s managerial, technical, and financial capability before granting certification.7Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code Chapter 4929 – Natural Gas It can suspend or revoke certification when a supplier fails to meet Ohio’s consumer protection standards. The PUCO also regulates the distribution utilities, setting delivery rates and overseeing the safety and reliability of the infrastructure that carries energy to your home.
At the federal level, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission oversees the wholesale electricity markets where Ohio’s retail suppliers buy power, including the regional transmission organization PJM Interconnection.9Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Energy Markets FERC doesn’t set your retail rate, but the wholesale prices it oversees feed into what competitive suppliers charge you.