CLEVELAND — By now you’ve probably heard the warnings. Your power bill could look drastically different next month. But not everyone is impacted. And, depending on where you live, there may be an easy way out of it.
Here’s what’s at stake: doubling your current electricity rates. Many residents in Northeast Ohio currently pay five to six cents per kilowatt-hour. On June 1, that could change.
The utility company FirstEnergy is increasing its rates to over 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. Cities like Bay Village say that number could look more like 12 cents per hour. In Northern Ohio, FirstEnergy’s electric companies include:
- Ohio Edison
- The Illuminating Company
- Toledo Edison
To offset utility costs, many cities work with an aggregator like NOPEC, which buys energy in bulk. That allows them to supply power to customers at a lower price. NOPEC has guaranteed its rates will remain at 6.5 cents per kilowatt-hour through December 2023. Enrollment is automatic.
“Utilities, especially over the winter, always go up a little bit. But that would be a big increase, especially over the summer when people are using electricity for their air conditioning and so on,” said Kathryn Kerber.
Kerber oversees utilities as the project manager in Bay Village, which works with the aggregator Energy Harbor.
“I’m getting a lot of phone calls because people see FirstEnergy price increases and they see FirstEnergy on your bill, and they get concerned that it’s going to apply to them,” she said.
Kerber is encouraging customers to check their energy bill. She said what many residents don’t realize is there are two parts to your bill: the provider and the supplier.
In Bay Village, FirstEnergy’s The Illuminating Company is the provider for everyone. Kerber said if they can also see Energy Harbor listed as the supplier on their bill, “FirstEnergy price increases will not apply to you.”
But not every city uses an aggregator. About two thirds of Cleveland, for example, use Cleveland Public Power (CPP). The remaining one third are stuck with FirstEnergy’s rate hike, said Councilman Brian Kazy.
“Ah, it’s a huge impact,” he said.
Kazy is the chair of the Utilities Commission. He also represents Ward 16, which does not have access to CPP and falls under FirstEnergy. He said Ward 17 and parts of wards 12 and 13 are in the same boat.
Kazy argues the blame falls on Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration, which he says has the task of finding an aggregator for the city to help offset costs of those not within CPP’s jurisdiction.
“Pretty much, yeah. They’re stuck until the administration brings something over to council. And as soon as it comes over to council—as the chair of utilities—I’ll hear it because it’s affecting our residents,” he said.
Mayor Bibb’s press secretary Marie Zickefoose told 3News that “the city is involved in an active procurement process for our community choice aggregation. We look forward to sharing details at Thursday’s utilities committee hearing.”
Until something changes, Kazy said residents in those areas of Cleveland can shop around for another power supplier, but they’ll have to do it on their own.
“The problem with that is though, it’s like a used car salesman, right? Everybody is going to have the best rates right now. No one is going to get better rates than we will once we get an aggregator because we can do it for more people.”