Fixed charges in Ohio

What are fixed charges?

Your utility bill contains various types of charges. Some of these charges increase or decrease depending upon how much electricity you use. Other charges, known as fixed charges, do not.

Fixed charges in Ohio

Several Ohio utilities, including American Electric Power (AEP), Dayton Power & Light (DP&L), Duke Energy, and FirstEnergy, have asked the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to allow them to increase these charges. Doing so would make it harder for Ohioans to go solar, because making fixed charges a larger percentage of a customer’s utility bill reduces the amount customers can save by using less energy. This is true if they go solar or simply try to reduce consumption. This is also why raising fixed rate charges penalizes low- and fixed-income users who already struggle to pay their utility bills. Boosting fixed charges locks customers into paying more.