On November 4, 2026, the state’s comparison chart for AES Ohio customers listed 115 offers from electric suppliers. 65 of the 109 fixed-rate offers, 60%, charged more per kilowatt-hour than AES Ohio’s own default rate of 10.86¢, and 21 added a monthly fee. Switching suppliers can save money, but right now the savings are small and the ways to overpay are many. This guide explains how the offers work, so you can tell them apart.
What switching changes, and what it doesn’t
An AES Ohio bill has two parts. Delivery covers the poles, wires, meters and outage repair; every customer in AES Ohio’s territory pays AES Ohio for delivery, whoever supplies their power. Supply, or generation, is the electricity itself. That’s the part Ohio lets you shop for. If you sign with a supplier, AES Ohio still delivers the power, still reads the meter, still restores outages and still sends the bill, with the supplier’s charge on it as a separate line. Your service doesn’t change; only the price of the supply portion does.
That means any offer can only change the supply part of your bill. Delivery charges, taxes and AES Ohio’s customer charge stay the same either way, so a supplier’s rate should be compared with AES Ohio’s supply rate, not with the total on your bill.
The Price to Compare
AES Ohio’s default supply rate is called the Price to Compare. It’s what you pay if you never choose a supplier. AES Ohio doesn’t generate the power itself: the rate is set by auctions in which wholesale suppliers bid to serve AES Ohio’s default customers, and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio lists it on its comparison chart. For June 1, 2026 through May 31, 2027, the chart gives AES Ohio’s residential Price to Compare as 10.86¢ per kilowatt-hour. It resets each June after the next auctions, so the number to beat changes once a year.
Your bill shows the same thing in its own terms. Look for the generation or supply charges and your usage in kilowatt-hours for the month; many bills also print a Price to Compare. Your usage matters for the math below: a home using 1,000 kWh a month is a common benchmark, but an all-electric house in January can use two or three times that, and an apartment much less. The 12-month usage history on your bill is the best guide.
How to read the state’s comparison chart
The PUCO’s Energy Choice Ohio site (energychoice.ohio.gov) has an Apples to Apples chart for each utility. Pick AES Ohio and residential, and each row is one supplier’s offer: the price per kWh, whether it’s fixed or variable, the term in months, any early termination fee, any monthly fee, whether it’s an introductory or promotional offer, and the share from renewable sources. You can sort and export the whole list. Our electric rates page tracks two numbers from that chart every month: AES Ohio’s Price to Compare, and the cheapest offer that is fixed for 12 months with no monthly fee and no introductory or promotional terms.
Fixed, variable and introductory rates
A fixed rate holds the same price per kWh for the whole term. On the November chart, 109 of the 115 offers were fixed, with terms from a few months to three years. A fixed rate protects you if wholesale prices rise; it also means you won’t benefit if they fall, and the default rate itself changes only once a year.
A variable rate can change from month to month. Ohio’s rules require the supplier to disclose either a formula tied to a public index or a plain explanation of what makes the price change and how often (OAC 4901:1-21-12). Variable offers made up 6 of the 115 on the chart. Some start low.
Introductory and very short offers are the ones to read slowly. The chart’s lowest prices on November 4, 2026 were a one-month introductory variable rate and fixed rates for three months. Those can be fine if you know what happens next: when a short term ends, the contract’s renewal terms decide your price, and that price is often higher.
Fees, terms and promotions
Monthly fees change the math more than the headline rate suggests. A flat fee is the same whether you use 300 kWh or 3,000, so it costs small users the most. One offer on the chart combined a 9.49¢ rate with a $19.99 monthly fee; at 1,000 kWh that works out to 11.49¢ per kWh, above AES Ohio’s default. To compare, add the monthly fee divided by your usage to the rate.
Early termination fees appeared on 20 offers, mostly from $25 to $150. Contracts must disclose them and itemize every fee (OAC 4901:1-21-12). You can’t be charged one for moving out of the supplier’s service area, and an offer whose variable price is explained only by general factors, rather than a formula, can’t carry one at all.
Promotions, such as gift cards or bill credits, were part of 22 offers. They’re legal, but a $50 card on a contract that costs $4 more a month for 24 months isn’t a deal. The chart marks them, and our tracked “cheapest” figure leaves them out so it compares like with like.
Renewable content is listed as a percentage. Some offers are 100% renewable, usually through renewable energy certificates; if that matters to you, it’s a fair reason to pay more, and the chart makes it easy to see how much more.
Renewals: the part that costs people the most
When a contract ends, Ohio’s rules decide what happens next (OAC 4901:1-21-11). The supplier must send an expiration notice 45 to 90 days before the end date. If the contract renews automatically and has no termination fee, one notice is required, in an envelope marked as an important notice about your electric service contract, and you stay on at the stated renewal terms unless you cancel. If the renewal carries a termination fee of $25 or less, a second notice must come at least 35 days before the end, giving the renewal rate or the formula for a variable one. If the fee would be more than $25, the supplier needs your affirmative consent; without it, you go back to AES Ohio’s default rate. A renewal term can’t be longer than the original one.
Renewals are often at variable rates. That’s allowed if it’s disclosed, and it’s the most common way a good first year turns into expensive years after. Put the end date of any contract on your calendar, and open every envelope from your supplier.
The math today: small savings, real risks
At 10.86¢, 1,000 kWh of supply from AES Ohio costs $108.60 a month. The cheapest plain 12-month fixed offer on November 4, 2026, at 10.59¢ with no monthly fee, would cost $105.90: about $2.70 a month less, or about $32 over a year. At 2,000 kWh a month, double those figures. The median fixed offer, 11.29¢, would cost about $112.90, more than staying put.
In other words, when the default rate is this competitive, the main reason to shop isn’t to save a few dollars; it’s to avoid being moved onto an expensive variable rate when a contract ends, or signing an offer whose fees outweigh its rate. That can change: the default resets each June, and when it rises, the gap to the best fixed offers can widen. Our electric rates page records the gap every month; delivery charges, which are the same either way, aren’t part of it.
Community aggregation
Some cities, villages and townships buy electricity in bulk for their residents through governmental aggregation (R.C. 4928.20). Most programs are opt-out: households are enrolled automatically unless they decline, after a notice that gives at least 21 days to opt out (OAC 4901:1-21-17). Residents can leave without a switching fee at least every three years, and only fees disclosed at enrollment can be charged. If you get an aggregation notice, compare its rate with the Price to Compare the same way you’d compare any offer.
A one-minute checklist before you switch
1. Find your average monthly usage on your bill. 2. Compare the offer’s rate with AES Ohio’s Price to Compare, not with your whole bill. 3. Add any monthly fee, divided by your usage. 4. Check the term, the early termination fee and the renewal terms: what rate you move to when it ends. 5. Note whether it’s introductory or promotional. 6. Write down the end date. If any of that isn’t clear in the contract, don’t sign yet.
Changing your mind, or going back
After you enroll, AES Ohio mails a confirmation notice, and you have seven calendar days from its postmark to cancel by calling AES Ohio (OAC 4901:1-21-06, OAC 4901:1-10-29). After that, you can return to AES Ohio’s default rate or pick another supplier whenever you choose, with the change taking effect at a later meter reading; your current supplier’s disclosed early termination fee may apply if you leave mid-contract. If a supplier drops you or stops serving customers, or a contract expires without your consent to renew, you go back to AES Ohio’s default without penalty.
Natural gas works the same way
Gas choice follows the same pattern. National Fuel, which took over CenterPoint Energy Ohio’s Dayton-area gas business on Oct. 1, 2026, delivers the gas; if you don’t choose a supplier you pay the Standard Choice Offer, a monthly variable rate tied to the wholesale market, which was 46.64¢ per hundred cubic feet for November 2026. The cheapest plain 12-month fixed gas offer that month was 56.9¢, more than the default. Fixed gas offers trade a higher price now for protection from winter price spikes. Gas contracts carry a seven-business-day cancellation window (OAC 4901:1-29-06), and the same expiration and renewal notice rules (OAC 4901:1-29-10).
Where to find it
To check which utility serves an address, use our utility lookup. To compare offers, use the PUCO’s Energy Choice Ohio site; for complaints about a supplier, the PUCO’s call center is 1-800-686-7826. This guide names no supplier and recommends none: the right offer depends on your usage and how much price certainty you want.
Sources: Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Energy Choice Ohio Apples to Apples chart for AES Ohio residential service, exported November 4, 2026; Ohio Administrative Code Chapters 4901:1-10, 4901:1-21 and 4901:1-29 and Ohio Revised Code 4928.20, as of November 4, 2026. Not legal advice; the contract and the rules control.
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