Fixed vs variable electricity rates in Ohio — how to choose

When you shop for a competitive electricity supplier on Ohio's Apples-to-Apples site, every offer falls into one of three buckets:

Fixed rate — the per-kWh price is locked for the contract length (commonly 6, 12, 24, or 36 months).
Variable rate — the supplier can change the rate every month, with little or no advance notice.
Indexed — the rate is tied to a published market price, with a stated formula. Less common in residential offers; we group it with variable for this guide because the customer still bears the price risk.

Picking the right one isn't really about which is "cheaper" today. It's about who's bearing the risk of price changes between now and the time you'd realistically switch again.

Fixed-rate plans: you pay a premium for certainty

A fixed-rate offer is, mechanically, a hedge contract. The supplier locks in a wholesale electricity supply for the contract term and resells it to you at a known per-kWh rate. If wholesale prices rise during your term, the supplier eats the difference — that's their risk. If wholesale prices fall, you're stuck paying the locked-in rate.

Suppliers price this risk into the rate. A 24-month fixed rate is almost always slightly higher than a 6-month fixed rate from the same supplier because the supplier is hedging more time and demanding a bigger premium for it. That's normal, not predatory.

When fixed makes the most sense:

You expect the Price to Compare to rise meaningfully — for example, when capacity-auction prices have just spiked and the next utility procurement hasn't yet absorbed that increase.
You value bill predictability for budgeting. A fixed rate makes your electricity cost a known input.
You're not planning to move or change suppliers in the next year-plus.

Variable-rate plans: you're betting on stability or on shopping

A variable-rate plan can change every billing period. Some variable plans follow the wholesale market; others are pure marketing instruments where the supplier sets the rate at whatever the market will bear.

The honest case for variable: if the PTC is on a downward trend (recent capacity-auction prices have dropped, generation supply is abundant), a variable plan from a reputable supplier may track the falling market and beat a long fixed-rate lock.

The dishonest case — and unfortunately the more common one in Ohio's residential market — is the teaser-rate trap: the supplier offers a low intro rate for the first month or two, then ratchets the rate upward in subsequent months while counting on the customer not noticing. Ohio's H.B. 15 (2025) added some teaser-rate disclosure rules, but the underlying mechanism is still legal. Variable rates can move freely.

When variable makes the most sense:

You actively monitor your bill every month and you'll switch if the rate spikes.
You've decided rates are likely to fall and you want the upside.
You're between fixed contracts and don't want an early-termination fee on a long lock.

For most customers, a fixed rate at or below the current PTC is the safer default.

Don't ignore the structural traps

Three things in the contract matter as much as the headline rate:

1. Auto-renewal language

Ohio law requires suppliers to give you advance notice before a fixed-term contract auto-renews. But after that notice, if you don't act, the contract typically rolls into either a new fixed term or a month-to-month variable rate — and that variable rate is the supplier's discretion.

H.B. 15 strengthened this for high-ETF contracts: suppliers can't auto-renew an early-termination-fee contract without your affirmative consent. That's a real protection. But for low-ETF or no-ETF contracts, auto-renewal into a worse rate is still legal.

Always calendar your contract end date. Even better, calendar the date 60 days before the end so you can shop again before the renewal letter arrives.

2. Early termination fees (ETF)

A fixed-rate contract usually has an ETF — somewhere from $50 to $250+ — if you cancel early. The math on whether the ETF is worth eating is simple:

ETF break-even months = ETF ÷ monthly savings of switching elsewhere

If a $150 ETF and a competitor saves you $20/month, you break even in 8 months. If you have 4 months left on your contract, paying the ETF doesn't make sense. If you have 18 months left, it probably does.

3. Monthly service fees

Some plans add a flat fee per month (commonly $5 to $15) on top of the per-kWh rate. At low usage, this fee can wipe out the savings from a low rate. The math:

Effective rate = headline rate + (monthly fee ÷ kWh used)

A 6.99¢ rate with a $9.95 monthly fee, at 700 kWh/month of usage, has an effective rate of 6.99 + (995 ÷ 700) = 8.41¢. At 1,500 kWh/month, the same plan effectively costs 7.65¢. If your usage is below 800 kWh/month, monthly-fee plans are usually a worse deal than they look.

The comparison page factors in your monthly kWh when computing the "Est. Monthly" column, so the savings figure you see already accounts for the monthly fee.

A quick decision tree

Are you a municipal-utility customer? Then none of this applies — you can't switch suppliers. See the municipal utilities guide.
Is the current PTC trending up? Lean fixed.
Is the current PTC trending down? Lean variable, but only with a reputable supplier and an active willingness to switch again.
Are you risk-averse or budgeting tightly? Lean fixed.
Do the numbers — Estimated Monthly column on the compare page — show a meaningful gap (more than $10/month) versus your current rate? If yes, it's worth switching. If no, the savings probably don't outweigh the hassle.