NOPEC Selects New Supplier for 500,000 Customer Aggregation

The Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC) has reached an agreement for NextEra Energy Services Ohio, LLC (NESO) to become the supplier of electricity for an opt-out municipal electric program that currently serves almost 500,000 customers in 13 Northern Ohio counties within the FirstEnergy Ohio utility service areas, effective January 2017

FirstEnergy Solutions, the current supplier for the aggregation, had previously announced that it was cancelling its contract with NOPEC effective January 1, 2017.

"Under the NOPEC-NESO retail electric aggregation supply agreement, customers will receive initial pricing from January 2017 through the summer high-demand period that will generate savings comparable to the expiring NOPEC contract savings. After the initial price period, customers will receive competitive variable rates based on favorable wholesale purchase prices then available in the market," NOPEC said

There will be no early termination fee.

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the residential NOPEC rate at Cleveland Electric Illuminating will be 4.982¢/kWh for January through August, and the small commercial will be 5.25¢/kWh. The NOPEC rate at Ohio Edison will be 4.906¢/kWh for January through August, and the small commercial will be 5.26¢/kWh.

NOPEC also said, "NOPEC-NESO electricity customers also will have the option to choose a variable rate that will mirror the percentage off utility price savings contained in the expiring contract. That variable rate will be available for as many as 10,000 customers."

Pricing under the expiring FirstEnergy Solutions contract was a 6% discount to the utility generation rate for residential customers, and a 4% discount for commercial customers.

In addition, NOPEC has funded an additional 1 percent discount that shows up on your electric bill as a NOPEC Customer Credit.

NOPEC said that it also entered into a separate agreement with NextEra Energy Services under which NextEra will provide NOPEC with additional RECs for 2017 that, when added to the RECs specifically required by applicable Ohio Renewables Portfolio Standard, will equal 50% of NOPEC customers’ energy usage in NOPEC’s footprint. Additionally, $10 million of revenue under this agreement is guaranteed to be spent on building new renewable energy generation. This separate agreement will not result in any additional costs to NOPEC customers.

NextEra Energy Services currently supplies a NOPEC natural gas aggregation as well as electric to NOPEC's electricity customers within the AEP Ohio service area.

NOPEC expects that with the new agreement, most customers should not be transitioned to default service. NOPEC sought a waiver of PUCO rules concerning the timeline for public docketing of opt-out notices to allow a faster implementation of the opt-out period for the new contract to facilitate a transition to NextEra Energy Services without dropping customers to default service.