|
|
|
|
|
Bill Which Includes Price Cap For Certain Electric Customers Sent To Governor
The following story is brought free of charge to readers by VertexOne, the exclusive EDI provider of EnergyChoiceMatters.com
The Ohio Senate and House have both agreed on a Substitute version of HB 173, governing submetering and submetered electric rates, and the bill has been sent to the governor
As substituted, HB 173 now provides that a submetered utility service provider that resells electricity to a tenant based
on metered consumption at the tenant's dwelling unit shall provide the tenant a discount resulting in
the tenant's bill being at least three per cent less than the total bill for the standard service offer (default service) and all
tariffed charges and riders that the applicable electric utility would charge.
Due to the use of the term tenant and the specific reference to a definition in an existing section of the Ohio Revised Code, the price cap is only applicable to service to submetered residential consumers of electricity (as a tenant is specifically defined as the occupant of a residential premise)
An earlier version of the bill would have capped the submetered rate at the SSO rate plus utility delivery charges (a policy which PUCO had already adopted), but Substitute HB 173 now requires the total bill to be 3% lower than the bill that would result from the SSO plus utility delivery charges
The bill's new requirement for submetered rates to beat the total bill of an SSO customer places increased pressure on costs, skewing the supply procurement decision for the master meter entity reselling via submetering
The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel opposed the substitute version of the bill that was before a Senate committee, in light of the recent Ohio Supreme Court decision which had held that a company providing electric submetering services is a "public utility" under the definition in statute (details here)
OCC stated that deeming submetering companies to be public utilities, as the court ruled, provides greater consumer protection than Substitute HB 173, as the bill would exclude submetering companies from being designated as public utilities
Addressing a version of the substitute bill before a Senate committee, OCC had noted that, under Substitute HB 173, submetered customers would not have the ability to shop for service from a competitive retail electric supplier
OCC had said that, "Under the Supreme Court’s ruling, submetered consumers would have the same right to shop for a competitive supplier that the General Assembly granted Ohioans in electric restructuring. Under Substitute HB 173-3, they would not. Proponents have compared this limitation to municipal aggregation programs. But that comparison misses an important distinction: consumers in aggregation programs generally retain the ability to opt out and shop independently. Submetered residents do not have that choice."
The substitute bill retains a provision requiring utilities to offer bill calculators on their website, with the calculators not required to be specific to submetering
The bill provides, "Each electric utility shall maintain up-to-date reference tools on the utility's
web site, or in another conspicuous and publicly accessible location, that permit automatic
calculation of what the electric utility would charge its residential customers with a specific
kilowatt-hour usage during any of the most recent twelve months".
Substitute HB 173 does not explicitly require that such tool list the cost for individual components of the bill (i.e., the SSO)
The Ohio EDCs have varying levels of bill calculators on their websites currently; certain EDCs require the download of a spreadsheet, and some calculators require additional input other than a single monthly kWh total
ADVERTISEMENT Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com. Unauthorized copying, retransmission, or republication
prohibited. You are not permitted to copy any work or text of EnergyChoiceMatters.com without the separate and express written consent of EnergyChoiceMatters.com
June 23, 2026
Email This Story
Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
NEW Jobs on RetailEnergyJobs.com:
• Refreshed 5/27/26 -- Manager, ISO Coordination (electricity), Retail Supplier
• NEW -- Channel Partner Manager -- Retail Energy
|
|
|
|
|