How rates work
Municipal electric utilities and Ohio retail choice — why some ZIPs can't shop
About 80 Ohio cities run their own electric utilities. Customers in those cities can't pick a competitive supplier through PUCO's Apples-to-Apples program. Here's what that means and how to know if you're affected.
Most Ohioans get their electricity from one of six investor-owned utilities — Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company (CEI), Toledo Edison, AEP Ohio, Duke Energy Ohio, or AES Ohio. Customers of these utilities are part of Ohio's retail electric choice program: they can pick a competitive supplier for the generation portion of their bill, with rates regulated by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO).
But there's a second, smaller world of Ohio electricity — about 80 city-owned ("municipal") electric utilities — and those customers don't participate in retail choice at all.
What's a municipal electric utility?
A municipal electric utility is a city-owned and city-operated electric provider. Instead of a private company like FirstEnergy serving the area, the city itself owns the distribution wires, the meters, and (in some cases) the generation. Customers in the city pay their electric bill directly to the city, and rates are set by the city's elected officials or a public utilities board, not by PUCO.
A few of the larger ones in Ohio:
- Painesville Municipal Electric (44077)
- Cuyahoga Falls Electric (44221, 44222, 44223)
- City of Hudson Electric (44236)
- Wadsworth Electric Department (44281)
- Westerville Electric Division (43081, 43082)
- Bowling Green Municipal Utilities (43402, 43403)
- City of Hamilton Utilities (45011, 45013)
- Piqua Power System (45356)
- Bryan Municipal Utilities (43506)
- Orrville Utilities (44667)
Plus dozens of smaller villages — Amherst, Lodi, Seville, Genoa, Pemberville, Versailles, Yellow Springs, and many more.
Why municipal customers can't switch suppliers
Ohio's retail choice law (Senate Bill 3, passed in 1999) deregulated the generation portion of electricity service for customers of the state's investor-owned utilities. Municipal utilities were explicitly carved out of that framework — they were already publicly owned, with rates set by local elected officials, so the legislature left them alone.
The practical result: if you live in a town with a city-owned electric utility, the PUCO Apples-to-Apples comparison site doesn't list any offers for your address. There's no "switch" option because there's no competitive market for you to switch into. Your rate is whatever your city decides to charge.
How to tell if your ZIP is municipal
The easiest way: enter your ZIP on this site. If your area is served by a municipal utility, you'll see an explainer rather than a list of offers. The ZIP page has a notice with the name of your city's utility and a link to their billing site.
If you want to verify directly, every Ohio municipal utility belongs to American Municipal Power (AMP) — a nonprofit wholesale power supplier and trade association based in Columbus. AMP's member directory lists all the city utilities in Ohio.
Are municipal rates better or worse?
It depends. Municipal utilities don't pay shareholder dividends and aren't regulated by PUCO, so they have different cost pressures than investor-owned utilities. Some municipal utilities run noticeably cheaper than the local investor-owned alternative; others run more expensive — particularly when a city has aging infrastructure or a thin reserve fund.
Because rates are set by city council or a public utilities board (not by PUCO's competitive procurement), changes happen on a different cadence — often once a year as part of a budget process — and there's no "Price to Compare" equivalent that resets every few months.
What about cooperatives?
Ohio also has a small number of rural electric cooperatives (member-owned utilities) — Buckeye REC, Hancock-Wood, and others. Co-ops are likewise outside PUCO's retail choice program. If your ZIP is in a co-op service area, you'll see the same kind of "no offers" result as a municipal customer.
What you can do
If you're a municipal or co-op customer:
- Check your bill carefully. You can't shop suppliers, but you can still use efficiency programs, time-of-use rates if offered, and any rebates your city or co-op runs.
- Get involved locally. Municipal rates are set by elected officials. Public utility board meetings are open to anyone.
- Track your usage. Even without supplier shopping, knowing your kWh patterns helps you size HVAC, EV charging, and solar decisions.