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Ohio Supreme Court Finds Submetering Company Is A "Public Utility"
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The Ohio Supreme Court found that Nationwide Energy Partners, L.L.C. (NEP), which provides electric submetering services, is a "public utility" under the definition in statute, and that the PUC of Ohio erred in finding that Nationwide Energy Partners was not a public utility
The Court remanded a case concerning regulation of submetering companies and services back to PUCO in light of the Court's finding
Statute provides that a public utility, or specifically here a public utility electric light company, includes an entity, "engaged in the business of supplying electricity . . . to consumers within this state."
Under this broad definition, retail suppliers are considered electric light companies under Ohio statute (but most relevant statutory provisions distinguish retail suppliers into a narrower category of "electric services company", and distinguish monopoly utilities into the narrower category of "electric distribution utility")
In brief, the court found that NEP provides service to "consumers" (the submetered customers), as the Court rejected an argument that submetered customers are not consumers due to the landlord being the consumer
The Court further found that NEP is, "engaged in the business of supplying electricity."
The Court contrasted NEP's business model with that of landlords, where the landlord's resale of electricity is incidental to renting a domicile
The Court said, "Reselling electricity is by no means 'ancillary' to NEP’s business."
The Court rejected arguments that NEP was serving as the landlord's agent, and thus the landlord, not NEP, was reselling the electricity
The Court said, "in most important respects, the landlords do not have the right to control NEP’s actions. NEP has the sole discretion, for example, to choose the supplier from which it purchases electricity. It also has discretion over the price it charges when reselling electricity to tenants, subject only to the limitation that it not charge more than AEP Ohio’s residential default rate. Nor is NEP compensated for its services by the landlords in the way one would expect an agent to be."
The Court's ruling has no immediate impact on the retail market given that PUCO must address the matter on remand
However, submetering, and any potential regulations governing submetered service or protections for submetered customers, may potentially impact the retail market, including which consumer(s) has the right shop for competitive supply (the landlord for all tenants, or each submetered tenant individually).
Furthermore, because PUCO had found that it could not regulate a submetering company as a public utility (and submetered customers thus did not have typical utility customer protections), PUCO had alternatively imposed a price cap on service to submetered customers equal to the default service rate, which has the effect of skewing landlord decisions for supply given that their reseller rate to submetered customers may not exceed the SSO. To the extent PUCO is now empowered to place other regulations on submetering companies since NEP and submeterers with similar business models are public utilities, this blunt price cap approach may be revisited
As previously reported, HB 173 would address several provisions concerning submetering and regulation thereof, but the bill remains pending in the Senate
Slip Opinion No. 2026-OHIO-1406
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April 22, 2026
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Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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