The Robert F. Manifold Award is the highest honor of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, recognizing a lifetime of public service. It was awarded to Bruce Weston for "Dedication and Meritorious Service to the People of Ohio and to NASUCA."
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) requires Ohio energy marketers to list their electric and natural gas offers on its Energy Choice Ohio website, also known as "Apples to Apples." Some offers are good apples. But many offers are bad or even rotten apples.
The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC) wants the PUCO to remove all outrageously-priced energy offers from its Apples-to-Apples website. But, for now, some very rotten offers are still listed.
In Ohio, you generally don't get to choose your local utility, the company that delivers your energy through wires or pipes. But you can choose which company supplies the electricity or natural gas that runs through those wires or pipes. You can choose to get your energy supply through your utility. This is called the standard offer.
Or you can also choose to get your energy from a marketer or government aggregator. Learn more about the different types of offers and how to choose the right one for you with OCC’s “How to Make Wise Energy Choices” fact sheet.
Picking Natural Gas “Apples” from a Marketer |
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Dominion Energy’s Standard Offer (SCO) |
$3.154 per Mcf |
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Bad Apple Example: Tomorrow Energy Corp. |
$15.362 per Mcf |
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Good Apple Example: New Wave Energy |
$4.750 per Mcf |
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What this means: A typical household would pay more than $1000 more per year at the Bad Apple rate compared to Dominion’s Standard Choice Offer (SCO) rate! |
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Picking Electric “Apples” from a Marketer |
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AEP Ohio’s “Price to Compare” |
$0.1091 per kWh |
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Bad Apple Example: Median Energy Corp. |
$0.1300 per kWh |
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Good Apple Example: Better Buy Energy |
$0.0609 per kWh |
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What this means: A typical household would pay almost $250 more per year at the Bad Apple rate compared to AEP’s Standard Service Offer (SSO) or “Price to Compare” rate! |
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*Price data above was found at energychoice.ohio.gov in Fall 2023. Sample good apple rates are fixed priced rates. Consumers may prefer variable prices, however they should watch variable price agreements carefully for unexpected spikes.
When considering a new electric or natural gas supplier, it's important to compare different offers. The PUCO’s "Apples to Apples" website can help you do this. You can also read OCC’s "How to Make Wise Energy Choices" fact sheet to learn more about different offers and how to choose the right one for you.
Switching to an energy marketer can be risky. Government aggregation can be a safer way to save money on your monthly energy bills. It's also historically been safe to choose your utility's standard offer. The natural gas Standard Choice Offer (SCO) prices are still a good option for consumers.
When selecting marketers, pay attention to any monthly fees and consider avoiding contracts with high termination fees. Offers for short periods of time such as one or two months may be teaser rates that will increase quickly.
A rare set of events caused electric utility Standard Service Offers (SSO) to go up significantly in the summer of 2023. However, recent auction results suggest that electricity Standard Service Offer (SSO) prices may return to their typical lower pricing over the next year.
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