Ohio · Updated August 28, 2026

Apples to Apples Ohio: what the PUCO tool shows a business, and what it doesn't

Verified August 28, 2026. Source: PUCO's Apples to Apples listings and the Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel guidance on comparing supplier offers. Reviewed at the start of each month.

What Apples to Apples is

It is the supplier comparison the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio publishes and maintains. It lists every certified retail supplier actively enrolling customers in your utility's territory, with the rate, whether it is fixed or variable, the contract length and any fees, next to your utility's own default rate.

Two things make it worth using. It is free, and it is neutral — PUCO does not take a commission from the suppliers it lists, which is not true of most private comparison sites. You can find it at energychoice.ohio.gov.

What it is not is personal. The chart reports what suppliers file about their own offers; it holds nothing at all about the business reading it. That distinction runs through the rest of this page.

How to use it, in four steps

1. 1.Choose electric rather than natural gas — the tool covers both, and the lists are separate
2. 2.Choose your utility territory: AEP Ohio for Columbus and central Ohio, AES Ohio for Dayton, Duke Energy Ohio for Cincinnati, Ohio Edison for Akron and the northeast
3. 3.Choose the rate class. Residential and commercial are listed separately, and picking the wrong one shows you rates you cannot buy
4. 4.Read the list against your own Price to Compare, not against the lowest number on the page

That fourth step is where most people go wrong. The lowest rate on the list is only meaningful if the contract term, the fees and the rate type match what you actually want.

What a listed rate means for a home, and for a business

This is the pivot of the page, and it is not a criticism of PUCO. The tool reports what suppliers file with it. The gap is that a commercial supply contract has more variables than a listing can hold.

Why a commercial rate on the list may not be the rate you get

Three things move a business quote away from the listed number, and none of them are visible on the chart.

• —Load profile — a restaurant that peaks hard at dinner and a warehouse that draws flat both use electricity, but they cost a supplier different amounts to serve
• —Peak demand — above roughly 10 kW you are usually billed on your highest short interval as well as your total consumption, and demand charges commonly add 1.5 to 3 cents per kWh on top of the headline energy rate
• —Contract term — a rate quoted for 12 months and one quoted for 36 are different products, and the list may show either

The Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel warns that offers for short periods, such as one or two months, may be teaser rates that increase quickly, and that consumers should watch for monthly fees and high early termination charges. PUCO makes the same point in different words: suppliers are responsible for the accuracy of their own offers, and those offers can change at any time.

A plan at 3.9 cents for the first month that resets to 12 cents by the third costs more across six months than a steady 7 cents. Compare the total across the full term, never the opening rate.

What the chart cannot know about you

The list is a snapshot of the market. Everything that decides whether switching is worth it for your business is on your bill, and the chart has never seen it.

That last row matters more than it looks. A supplier prices a commercial account after seeing the meter data, so two businesses reading the same chart on the same day can be quoted different numbers — and neither will match the listing.

The chart is also comprehensive rather than complete: certified suppliers can carry plans on their own sites that never appear on it. That is not a flaw in the tool, it is what a filing-based listing is. But it means a business that shops only the chart has seen part of the market, not all of it.

None of this is a reason to skip Apples to Apples. It is the reason a business should not stop there.

What your utility charges by default

The number worth comparing against is your own utility's default supply rate, taken from its filed tariff.

When the list says switch and the answer is still no

If you are already on a fixed contract below your utility's default rate, stay put — an early termination fee will erase months of savings. If your contract ends within 60 days, wait and switch at renewal. And if a demand charge caused the spike, no supplier on the list can help: that charge is set by your utility and the fix is operational, not contractual.

Comparison sites paid by the suppliers they list cannot publish that section. We are paid by the businesses we work for, which is the only reason this page can say it.

How to get a number you can act on

1. 1.Find your monthly kWh and, if it appears, your billing demand in kW — both are printed on your bill
2. 2.Find your current supply rate and, if a supplier already appears on your bill, the contract end date
3. 3.Ask any supplier to quote all-in against that profile, not just the energy component
4. 4.Compare total cost across the full term, including fees