In the late 1990s, about eight Ohio investor-owned utilities powered about 90% of electric customers. Those companies, including what was then Dayton Power & Light, oversaw how electricity was generated and sold. Yet, Ohio restructured its energy market in 1999 with an Ohio Senate bill that was designed to let consumers choose energy providers. Consumers could elect to buy power from retail suppliers instead of automatically getting it from a local utility.  In 2008, Ted Strickland signed into law a bill that required “incumbent utilities” to offer “standard service offers” for customers who had not chosen a unique retail supplier. DaytonDailyNews stated, “Power companies were expected to nail down energy capacity for SSO customers via competitive wholesale auctions. Those auctions set generation rates.”

In 2022, DaytonDailyNews reported, “Unfortunately, PUCO’s ability to mitigate that increase is limited, ‘Matt’ Schilling ‘spokesman for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio’ said.  Typically, the commission orders utilities to hold multiple auctions at different times, blending those auction results to “mitigate market volatility,” he said.  But recent federal regulatory and other actions delayed auctions to the point where utilities were unable to blend results, he said.  In an April 20 ‘2022’ release, AES Ohio said the PUCO accepted the results of an April 18 ‘2022’ wholesale auction.”

According to WDTN, “AES Ohio customers will see a bigger electricity bill in June after several factors caused the company to increase their rates. Starting on June 1, rates will increase by $0.06 per kWh, resulting in an approximately $60 adjustment for the typical residential customer using 1,000 kWh”

There is a way you could save, AES Ohio will calculate your budget billing amount based on your historic usage, and bill you that steady amount every month. For more information on budget billing, click here.”