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Choice Utility Seeks Bill Changes, Would Inform Default Service Customers That Utility "Makes No Money" From Default Supply, Passes Charges Through To Customers "Dollar-for-Dollar"
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AEP Ohio has filed with the PUC of Ohio proposed bill format changes that would include informing residential Standard Service Offer customers that AEP Ohio is required to buy generation on behalf of SSO customers and that, "AEP Ohio passes these charges through dollar-for-dollar and makes no money from them".
Bill format changes in Ohio are automatically approved after 45 days unless PUCO directs otherwise. AEP Ohio plans to implement the new bill format effective on the forty-sixth day -- November 25, 2025.
AEP Ohio's current residential bill does not include any discussion concerning the lack of profit made by AEP Ohio on SSO sales, nor does it describe the SSO charges as a "dollar-for-dollar" pass through
While AEP Ohio does pass-through costs under SSO, the characterization of a "dollar-for-dollar" pass through is of note given the potential use of capacity proxy prices in retail default service rates, to the extent any PJM capacity price remains unknown by the start of the delivery year (which may be unlikely, but, given the tenor of prior capacity auction schedules, the scenario is not unfathomable).
The customary reconciliation of SSO rates versus actual costs is also notable given the proposed description of a "dollar-for-dollar" pass through, as while AEP Ohio ultimately recovers all SSO costs (as such costs are determined by PUCO), the timing of how the charges flow to customers may vary due to reconciliations
AEP Ohio has also slightly revised the language for residential SSO customer bills concerning the competitive retail rate that the customers must receive in order to save money by shopping. The revised bill also does not use the term "Price to Compare" to introduce this notice, as done currently
Under the proposed revised bill, the bill for SSO residential customers would state, "For your rate schedule, the
standard service rate is currently $0.105/kWh [example]. That means a generation provider
must offer you a rate lower than $0.105/kWh for you to save money."
The current residential SSO bill states, "Price-to-Compare: For tariff 013 [regular residential], in order for you to save money
off of your utility's supply charges, a supplier must offer you a
price lower than AEP Ohio's price of $0.059 per kWh for the same
usage that appears on this bill."
The revised AEP Ohio utility consolidated bill for residential shopping customers would also include the revised "to save money" language described above for SSO customers. The current utility consolidated bill's price to compare language mirrors the current language used in the SSO customer bill
In presenting charges to customers, AEP Ohio describes the major change to the revised bill as attempting to more clearly differentiate electric generation and electric distribution.
As one of the means to achieve this, the proposed bill change would replace the term "supply" with the term "electric generation", and would replace the terms "delivery" and "distribution" with the term "electric grid".
"These choices are based on customer feedback and service experience
indicating that residential customers often find terms like 'supply' and 'delivery'
confusing," AEP Ohio said
Under a section of the bill labeled "AEP Ohio Electric Grid", describing the costs for delivery, the revised bill states, "AEP Ohio's rates are
reviewed and approved by the Public Utilities
Commission of Ohio."
While this description is in the "Electric Grid" section of the bill, and is intended to refer to only delivery charges, the lack of any specific qualifier, such as, "AEP Ohio's rates for the electric grid are
reviewed and approved by the Public Utilities
Commission of Ohio," could lead customers to think that PUCO sets, in a traditional ratemaking manner, all of "AEP Ohio's rates", including the SSO
The same revised language concerning "to save money" described above, as well as the description of "AEP Ohio's rates" described above, would also appear on the bills for non-residential shopping customers
The revised bill for residential shopping customers does now include the retail supplier's name on the first page of the bill alongside the associated supply charges -- labeled as "[Supplier Name] Electric Generation". The first page of the residential shopping bill also now includes a small supplier logo (the current bill does not include a supplier logo on page 1)
Specifically, on the first page of the revised bill, a new diagram at the top of the
page illustrates the flow of electricity, from generation, through the grid, and ultimately to the customer’s home, with the supplier's logo appearing under the "Electric Generation" symbol
Under the current bill, the supplier's name and logo only appear on the third page of the bill in a line-item breakdown. The current bill has on the first page a summary of the retail supplier's charges, but the first page currently only labels these charges as "Supplier
Charges", and does not identify the supplier by name
Under the revised bill, the supplier's logo would also appear in an explanatory section regarding electric generation on page 2.
However, on both page 1 and page 2 of the revised sample bill, the sample supplier's logo appears a bit smaller than the space available for the supplier's logo on page 3 of the current bill. See examples linked below to view the difference.
Revised residential shopping customer bill
Current residential shopping customer bill
Revised residential SSO customer bill
Current residential SSO customer bill
AEP Ohio said that a primary goal of the revised bill is to help customers better distinguish
between generation supply, and charges from the electric distribution utility
"Although choice has
been available for many years, AEP Ohio continues to hear from customers who are
unaware of their right to choose a supplier or unclear about how choice works[...]," AEP Ohio said in a PUCO filing
AEP Ohio said, "Many customers -- especially those on the standard service offer (SSO) or who are
enrolled in a local government aggregation -- still do not seem to fully understand the
difference between supplier charges and delivery charges, and they mistakenly believe
that AEP Ohio provides generation or profits from generation."
"This, in turn, has led to a misperception among many customers that AEP Ohio -- rather than market forces of
supply and demand that are beyond the Company’s control -- is the cause of rising
electric generation costs," AEP Ohio said
As noted in the new samples linked above, the revised bill will include a link to a new AEP Ohio webpage about the bill and various rates and charges, which AEP Ohio plans to launch alongside the upcoming bill
format change.
"While the site is still under development, AEP Ohio is committed to
creating a user-friendly platform that allows residential customers to easily explore every
ratemaking component included in the PUCO-approved tariff, including the customer
charge, base rates, and all applicable riders—such as the kWh Tax Rider, Universal
Service Rider, gridSMART Rider, Basic Transmission Cost Rider, and others," AEP Ohio said
The new webpage is not yet online, and it was not clear what information such webpage may include about electric generation, SSO, shopping, etc.
AEP Ohio said in a PUCO filing concerning the revised bill, "By streamlining the bill and
focusing on this core message, AEP Ohio aims to educate customers about the portion of
their rate they can influence—specifically, their choice of generation provider."
Case 25-0971-EL-UNC
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New Bill Prompted In Part By "Misperception" That AEP Ohio, And Not Supply/Demand Market Forces, Are Responsible For Rising Generation Costs
October 10, 2025
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Copyright 2025 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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