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Utility Files New Complaint Against Submetering Provider, Alleges Submeterer Does Not Allow Retail Customer Choice Contrary To Statute
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AEP Ohio (Ohio Power Company) has filed a new formal complaint against submetering provider Nationwide Energy Partners, LLC (NEP) alleging, based on an Ohio Supreme Court decision, that NEP is an "electric light
company" and a "public utility" under Ohio law, and alleging that NEP is not complying with various statutory requirements for public utilities, including offering retail electric choice
Nationwide Energy Partners, LLC (NEP) provided the following statement concerning the matter:
"NEP clients choose to work with PUCO licensed brokers and aggregators. By aggregating their load under a commercial meter, clients can reduce the impact of tenant turnover and maintain a stable, competitive energy supply arrangement. Our clients are choosing to participate in Ohio’s competitive energy market, and we believe AEP’s continued efforts to restrict that choice undermine the competitive market that Ohio has established."
--- Statement from Nationwide Energy Partners, LLC (NEP)
A remand proceeding at PUCO is addressing NEP's historical status at a discrete number of apartment complexes which was subject to a prior complaint filed by AEP Ohio, but AEP Ohio filed the new complaint to address NEP's ongoing operations across AEP Ohio's service territory
AEP Ohio said that R.C. 4928.03 provides that, "retail electric generation, aggregation, power marketing, and
power brokerage services supplied to consumers within the certified territory of an electric utility
are competitive retail electric services that consumers may obtain subject to this chapter from any
supplier or suppliers."
AEP Ohio alleged, "Despite the right to choose embodied in R.C. Chapter 4928, the consumers served by
NEP at the Complexes are not permitted to select their own retail electric generation supplier.
Instead, generation supply for the consumers at the Complexes is selected and controlled by NEP
pursuant to contracts between NEP and the property owners -- and the CRES supplier that NEP
selects can even be a self-dealing affiliate of NEP, according to the contract NEP signs with the
landlords it serves. The consumers at the Complexes have no choice, say, or input in the matter."
AEP Ohio alleged, "By unlawfully interposing itself between consumers and Ohio’s competitive retail electric
marketplace, NEP prevents those consumers from exercising the rights guaranteed by R.C.
4928.03. NEP’s involvement also blocks those consumers from receiving other benefits
conferred by Chapter 4928, such as unbundled pricing (R.C. 4928.07) and minimum service
requirements (R.C. 4928.10)."
AEP Ohio also alleged other violations of statutes governing utilities, such as a utility's right to an exclusive franchise service area, and various utility customer protections
In a separate proceeding filed in July, Nationwide Energy Partners, LLC sought from PUCO, "based upon new agreements that differ from those at issue in Case No. 21-990-EL-CSS [the case subject to the Ohio Supreme Court's decision]", a declaration that: (1) NEP is not an "electric light company" as defined by R.C. 4905.03(C); (2) NEP is not a "public utility" as defined by R.C. 4905.02(A); and (3) NEP is relieved from compliance with the obligations imposed by Ohio Revised Code Chapters 4901, 4903, 4905, 4909, 4928, and 4933
NEP said that its new agreements ("New Contracts") materially differ from the facts relied upon in the Ohio Supreme Court’s finding that NEP was acting as a public utility under the NEP's old contracts, in the following ways:
a. The Property Owners have sole control over the price of electricity charged to the tenants of the Complexes under the New Contracts. The end result is that NEP has no discretion over the price tenants are charged for electricity.
b. The New Contracts make clear that NEP is agnostic regarding the price or method of charging the tenants for electric billing service because NEP is compensated by the Property Owner.
c. The New Contracts provide the Property Owners’ sole discretion over disconnection of electric service due to non-payment.
As a result, NEP said, "both whether any utility service is 'resold' to tenants at all, and, if so, by whom, are now within the Property Owners’ exclusive control. NEP cannot have 'purchased a monopoly right to resell electric service to tenants' when it does not have a 'right' to 'resell' at all."
NEP said, "The New Contracts demonstrate that NEP is not an 'electric light company' under R.C. 4905.03(A) because it is not in the 'business of providing supplying electricity' to the tenants at the Complexes. Rather, NEP is acting as an agent on behalf of the Property Owners by providing electric utility billing services to the Property Owners."
NEP said, "A landlord submetering on its own without the assistance of a company like NEP may still hire an agent to procure its generation supply. The Commission previously found that NEP is not a broker under R.C. 4928. 21-990, ¶229 ('NEP exercises its authority under the CCSA [Commodity Coordination Service Agreements] to contract with a Commission-certified power broker or aggregator, which we find does not violate R.C. 4928.08(B)'). If the Commission subsequently finds that this action on Property Owners’ behalf renders NEP a broker, NEP will file for the appropriate license. But this action
alone cannot make the remainder of NEP’s business subject to the Commission’s jurisdiction."
In its new complaint, AEP Ohio alleged that NEP's contract changes were "cosmetic". AEP Ohio alleged, "the 'economic realities' of NEP’s business model at these four apartment complexes --
i.e., what the Supreme Court found was relevant -- are unchanged."
Case 26-1015-EL-CSS - AEP Complaint
Case 26-0788-EL-ARJ - NEP petition
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September 28, 2026
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Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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