Columbus business electricity: AEP and choice

AEP Ohio's territory, and the wholesale sub-zone Columbus sits in

Almost every commercial address in the city of Columbus takes delivery from AEP Ohio, and the way the wholesale market still identifies that load is a useful reminder of why the utility's predecessor matters commercially. AEP Ohio is a trade name: the company registered to do business in Ohio is Ohio Power Company, and its state-jurisdictional tariffs are filed under that name. PJM's load forecast report carries Columbus Southern Power as a sub-zone inside the AEP zone, years after the two Ohio operating companies were combined. The zone is where transmission congestion and capacity costs land, and no two Ohio metros share one: Columbus is the AEP zone, Cleveland's utility is CEI inside the ATSI zone, and Duke Energy Ohio's load is the DEOK zone. A supplier pricing a Columbus site is therefore pricing a different grid path from one pricing Cleveland, and AEP Ohio's distribution charges are set in its tariff and are not negotiable with a supplier.

• AEP Ohio delivers in Columbus; a competitive supplier bills only the supply half of the same invoice.
• AEP Ohio is the trade name of Ohio Power Company, which files the state tariffs.
• PJM's January 2026 load forecast report lists CSP, Columbus Southern Power, as a sub-zone of the AEP zone.
• The same report carries CEI as a sub-zone of ATSI and DEOK as the Duke Energy Ohio/Kentucky zone, so the state's three biggest metros price on different grid paths.
• AEP Ohio's distribution charges are set in its tariff and are not negotiable with a supplier.

Clean Energy Columbus, and the ceiling that decides eligibility

The city's aggregation programme is the one route to Columbus supply that has nothing to do with shopping around, and its terms were written in ordinance rather than in a contract a business negotiates. Voters authorised the programme on 3 November 2020 under Ordinance 1642-2020, the supply agreement followed, and the programme began serving participating accounts on 1 June 2021 as Clean Energy Columbus. Its supplier of record is AEP Energy, Inc., the competitive retail arm rather than AEP Ohio the delivery utility. The covered class is narrow: household accounts and small businesses using at or below a stated annual ceiling, with national accounts excluded. Ordinances in 2023 and 2025 restated the agreement and set a floor for Ohio-sourced clean supply. The practical point for a business is that the programme is not a market a mid-size site can opt into by asking; it is an opt-out class defined by usage.

• Authorised by ballot on 3 November 2020 under Ordinance 1642-2020; supply began 1 June 2021.
• Supplier of record: AEP Energy, Inc., the competitive retail arm, not the AEP Ohio delivery utility.
• Covered class: household accounts and small businesses at or below 700,000 kWh a year, excluding national accounts.
• Ordinance 3214-2023 set a 60% floor for Ohio-sourced clean supply; Ordinance 0586-2025 restated the agreement again.

Testing your site against the ceiling, and what replaces the programme above it

The test is arithmetic on your own bills, and it takes about five minutes. Each invoice states the kilowatt-hours used in the period; add twelve consecutive months of that figure for the site in question and compare the total with the city's 700,000 kWh ceiling. The ceiling is applied per site rather than per company, and the ordinances exclude accounts that are part of a national account, so a campus or a branch with a corporate supply contract sits outside the programme even when its own usage is small. Above the ceiling the site buys supply for itself, choosing between AEP Ohio's default offer and a supplier certified by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. An account already buying from a competitive supplier is not automatically swept into an aggregation programme, so enrolment is not something to assume either way.

• Add twelve consecutive months of kWh for each site and compare with 700,000 kWh.
• The ceiling is per site, and national-account status disqualifies a site regardless of its own usage.
• Above the ceiling the site buys supply itself: AEP Ohio's default offer, or a PUCO-certified supplier.
• An account already buying from a competitive supplier is not automatically included in an aggregation programme, according to the Consumers' Counsel's guidance.

The default supply is auctioned in tranches, not posted by the utility

A Columbus business that never shops stays on AEP Ohio's Standard Service Offer, and that price is not one the utility chooses. It is the result of a competitive bidding process the Commission approves, in which winning bidders take responsibility for full-requirements service - energy, capacity, ancillary services and market-based transmission - for an assigned slice of AEP Ohio's SSO obligation, while the utility keeps distribution and network integration transmission service. The obligation is divided into tranches, each representing roughly one per cent of the SSO energy and capacity load, and the products run over twelve- and twenty-four-month terms against a delivery year that begins on the first of June. The Commission has also approved a separate procurement process for data-centre customers on Schedule DCT who take retail generation service, whose load is excluded from the default auction. For a buyer the structure explains why the default moves on the utility's auction calendar rather than at the utility's discretion.

• AEP Ohio's Standard Service Offer is set by a Commission-approved competitive bidding process.
• Winning bidders provide full-requirements service; AEP Ohio keeps distribution and network transmission.
• The obligation is divided into tranches of roughly one per cent of SSO load.
• Products run over twelve- and twenty-four-month terms against a 1 June delivery year.
• Data-centre load on Schedule DCT that takes SSO is procured separately from the default auction.

Certification: who the Commission lets sell you power

Ohio does not let an unvetted company sell electricity to a business. A supplier must be certified by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio as a competitive retail electric service provider under Chapter 4928 of the Ohio Revised Code, and that certification is the first thing a buyer should confirm before treating an offer as real. The chapter also carries the state's policy that customers be able to shop and gives the Commission authority over marketing, disclosure and complaints, which is what makes a certified offer a different instrument from a marketing rate. The check is easy to make: certified suppliers appear in the Commission's own comparison tools, and the Apples to Apples chart lists offers in a standard format against the utility's supply benchmark. A Columbus account should confirm the certification and read every offer through the same format rather than comparing two differently-drawn documents.

• Suppliers are certified by PUCO as competitive retail electric service providers under ORC Chapter 4928.
• Check the certification before treating an offer as actionable.
• Certified offers appear in the Commission's Apples to Apples comparison chart.
• A certified offer and a marketing rate are not the same document.

The delivery class ladder, and the demand meter

Before a supply offer means anything, a Columbus site has to be placed in the right delivery class, and that is a function of how much it uses, how much it peaks and at what voltage it takes service. AEP Ohio's tariff book organizes general-service customers along that ladder: secondary-voltage classes for smaller loads, primary- voltage classes for larger ones, and large general service and high-load-factor classes for the biggest continuous users, with subdivisions and time-of-day variants inside them. Once an account passes the threshold where it is demand-metered, the bill adds a demand charge computed from the account's peak, separate from the energy charge, and a tariff minimum keeps that charge from falling to zero in a quiet month. The class, not the supplier, sets the delivery half of the bill, so a site placed in the wrong class is mispriced before any supply quote is opened.

• AEP Ohio classes run along a voltage ladder: secondary, primary, large general service, high load factor.
• Above the demand-metering threshold the bill carries a separate demand charge.
• A tariff minimum keeps the demand charge from falling to zero in a low month.
• The delivery class is set by the tariff, not by the supplier.

Schedule DCT: the tariff written for central Ohio's largest loads

Central Ohio's data-centre corridor has produced something no other Ohio metro has in the same form: a tariff class built specifically for very large new loads. In PUCO Case No. 24-0508-EL-ATA the Commission adopted AEP Ohio's 2024 Data Center Tariff settlement on 9 July 2025, and the company's complying tariff took effect on 23 July 2025. The mechanics are worth understanding even by a business that will never touch them. Any new data centre or expansion must apply through AEP Ohio's process and contract on Schedule DCT, which imposes a ramp period, an initial term and a minimum-demand obligation measured against the account's own recent peak. Reading it tells an ordinary Columbus business where the state's regulatory attention has gone, and which costs the rest of the territory is being protected from carrying.

• PUCO Case No. 24-0508-EL-ATA: settlement adopted 9 July 2025, complying tariff effective 23 July 2025.
• New or expanded loads at or above 25,000 kW apply through AEP Ohio's portal, pay a load study fee and contract on Schedule DCT.
• Ramp period of no more than four years, then an eight-year initial term on top; affiliated and co-located loads are aggregated for the threshold.
• Minimum demand of 85% of the highest established monthly billing demand in the previous eleven months, subject to the capacity schedule.

What the large-load tariff means on an ordinary commercial bill

Capacity and transmission are shared costs, and the argument for contracting the largest loads is that the customer causing the network investment should carry the risk of it rather than the rest of the territory. For a mid-size Columbus account the tariff is therefore not an obligation but a signal, and it points at the part of the bill that has moved most in recent years: the capacity component inside the supply price, and the transmission component on the delivery side. That has two practical consequences. First, capacity rides inside many supply prices and can be passed through separately in others, so establish which before comparing quotes. Second, transmission cost appears on the delivery side and follows the PJM zone and the settlements behind it. Load factor - kWh divided by peak kW times the hours in the period - is the number that decides whether the peak or the volume drives the cost.

• Capacity rides inside many supply prices and can be passed through separately in others; establish which before comparing quotes.
• Transmission cost appears on the delivery side and follows the PJM zone and the settlements behind it.
• Load factor is kWh divided by peak kW times the hours in the period; a low figure means the peak, not the volume, sets the cost.
• The tariff shifts cost responsibility to the load that creates it, which is the trend to read in any renewed contract's capacity clause.

What a Columbus business should send first

One eligibility caveat applies to every energy page on this site: competitive supply depends on the service address, the meter and the utility territory, and municipal utilities, cooperatives and some jurisdictions have no competitive choice at all - which is why the aggregation ceiling and the distributor matter more in Columbus than any headline about the Ohio market. HighGround may receive compensation from providers on completed purchases, and an enquiry places no order and switches no supplier. Bring twelve months of bills with supply and delivery separated, the rate schedule and meter type, and interval data for any demand-metered site, because those are what load factor and the delivery class are read from.

• Twelve months of bills, with supply and delivery separated, for each site.
• The AEP Ohio rate schedule, service class and meter type on the account.
• Interval data for any demand-metered site, which is what load factor is computed from.
• Whether each site is at or below 700,000 kWh a year and whether the company is a national account.
• Any existing supply contract, its expiry date and its notice deadline.

PUT THE OPTIONS SIDE BY SIDE

Your comparison checklist

Common questions