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PUC Tells Retail Suppliers To "Take Full Advantage" Of Utility Bill Messaging Space To Inform Customers Of Expiring Fixed Rates; Rejects Separate Bill Line For Info
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The PUC of Ohio adopted without modification AEP Ohio's amended application for electricity bill format changes, as PUCO informed retail electric suppliers that PUCO expects retail suppliers to "take full advantage" of bill messaging space allocated to retail suppliers, for general purposes, as a means to inform customers of the expiration date of the customer's fixed rate
During the proceeding, PUCO Staff had recommended that a separate section be added to the bill, near the Generation Charges section, under which a retail supplier "can" list the expiration date for a customer's fixed price (based on Staff's language, it was unclear if such listing would have been mandatory, or discretionary)
This retail supplier fixed price expiration date section would have been separate from a retail supplier messaging section available on the bill
However, PUCO rejected creating a unique line on the AEP Ohio utility consolidated bill for the expiration date of a retail supplier fixed rate
Rather, PUCO said that retail suppliers are expected to inform customers of expiring fixed rates through the section of the bill provided to retail suppliers for supplier messages
PUCO said, "The Commission ... agrees with the Company [AEP Ohio] that it is not necessary for
AEP Ohio to provide competitive suppliers with space on the bill near the competitive
supplier’s rate for the competitive suppliers to list the expiration dates for fixed-rate
contracts. The Commission appreciates Staff’s and RESA/IGS’ comments that making this
change would allow customers to understand when their fixed rate will expire and foster
customer choice. However, we agree with the Company that no update is necessary to the
proposed bill formats to address this recommendation, as the proposed bill formats have a
box for supplier messages."
Notably, PUCO stressed that, "As there appears to be the existing functionality for suppliers to
list the expiration dates of fixed rate contracts already, it would be the Commission’s
expectation that suppliers take full advantage of this opportunity to provide customers with
the expiration date of fixed contracts in order to foster customer choice and align with Ohio’s
state energy policies. See, R.C. 4928.02(B)."
In discussing the message space on the bill provided to retail suppliers, AEP Ohio has stated, "there is no character
limit so long as the length of the message is within reason".
The Retail Energy Supply Association and IGS Energy had jointly represented that, in discussions with AEP Ohio, AEP Ohio had indicated that
this supplier message box has no specific character limit and will expand or compress as needed
so long as expansion does not cause the left column to extend onto another page based on the
content coming from the supplier.
In light of this limitation related to the left column described above, RESA and IGS asked that AEP Ohio first utilize the
placeholder message boxes on page two of the bill if necessary to avoid such spill-over.
AEP Ohio has said that AEP Ohio is amenable to this approach and plans to utilize the message boxes on page
two before utilizing the message box on page three.
The bill format changes (from AEP Ohio's amended application) were adopted without modification and were fully described in ECM's original story here
The revised proposed bills include for residential SSO customers, as well as residential and commercial shopping customers, a new statement 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".
Additionally, the revised proposed bills state, for residential SSO customers, as well as residential and commercial shopping customers, "For your rate schedule, the standard service rate (Price to Compare) is currently $0.098/kWh [example]. That means a generation provider must offer you a rate lower than $0.098/kWh for you to save money."
This differs from the current PTC disclosure which 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."
Additionally, AEP Ohio has agreed with a PUCO Staff recommendation of using bold font for the words "Price to Compare" in the
"Learn About Your Electric Generation" section of the bill
For the three bill types noted above, under a section of the bill labeled "AEP Ohio Electric Grid", which describes the costs for delivery, the revised bill states, "AEP Ohio's rates are reviewed and approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio."
As noted previously, 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
Case 25-0971-EL-UNC, 25-971-EL-UNC, Ohio Power
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April 1, 2026
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Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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