Duke Energy Ohio Rates: Cincinnati Electric Service Guide

Duke Energy Ohio serves about 910,000 customers across southwest Ohio^[1], mostly around Cincinnati. They're big. Really big. Duke Energy Corporation owns them, along with utilities in five other states.

A common confusion: Duke Energy doesn't generate your electricity anymore. They own the poles, wires, and transformers that deliver power to your house, but they buy the actual electricity from wholesale markets through regulated auctions. Think of them like a delivery company for electrons.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) regulates Duke Energy's delivery rates and makes sure they play fair. PUCO also oversees the Ohio Energy Choice program, which lets you shop around for competitive suppliers.

You can pick whoever you want to generate your electricity. Duke Energy still handles delivery, reads your meter, and fixes outages. Only the generation part of your bill changes. That's the part you can control.

Duke Energy Ohio covers the southwestern corner of the state. If you're in the Cincinnati area, you're probably in their territory.

Hamilton County gets most of their attention. That's Cincinnati proper, plus suburbs spreading out in every direction. But they also serve Butler County (Hamilton, Middletown), Warren County (Mason, Lebanon), Clermont County (Batavia, Milford), and Clinton County (Wilmington and the surrounding area).

Smaller communities like Georgetown, Bethel, Williamsburg, and Loveland? Yep, Duke Energy. Parts of the tri-state region near Kentucky and Indiana borders? Also Duke Energy.

A nice feature: Duke Energy Ohio uses a single rate zone. Unlike AEP or FirstEnergy with their multiple zones and confusing rate differences, everyone in Duke's territory pays the same Price to Compare. Doesn't matter if you're downtown Cincinnati or out in a rural township.

One more thing. Duke Energy also provides natural gas service across much of the same area. Separate bill, separate service, but same company if you've got both.

The Price to Compare tells you what you're paying Duke Energy Ohio for the generation part of your electricity. It's your baseline. Beat this number with a competitive supplier and you save money.

As of late 2025, Duke Energy's residential Price to Compare sits around 10.2 to 10.4 cents per kilowatt-hour. Check your bill or their website for the current exact number before you start shopping. It changes.

And boy, has it changed lately. April 2023? You were paying 6.44 cents. Then January 2024 hit and boom, 9.71 cents. That's a 50% jump in nine months. Early 2025 gave everyone false hope with a temporary dip back to 8 cents, but by mid-2025 we were over 10 cents again.

Why the roller coaster? Wholesale electricity market prices, mostly. Specifically, capacity costs in the PJM regional grid (the organization that runs the power grid across Ohio and the mid-Atlantic). When those wholesale prices spike, Duke Energy passes the costs straight through to you.

The lesson here: don't assume your rate stays constant. Check it before comparing supplier offers. What looked like a good deal six months ago might not be anymore if Duke's PTC dropped. Or (more likely these days) what seemed expensive six months ago might now be a bargain if Duke's PTC climbed.

If your Duke Energy Ohio bill keeps climbing, you're not imagining things. Rates have jumped hard since 2023, and it's not slowing down.

The biggest culprit is the PJM capacity market. PJM runs the regional power grid, and they hold auctions to make sure enough power plants stay online and available. Those auction results went sideways in 2024. Capacity costs exploded. Every Ohio utility got hit, but Duke Energy customers felt it particularly hard. June 2025 brought a 25% rate increase, pushing the Price to Compare over 10.4 cents per kilowatt-hour.

But wait, there's more. Duke Energy also filed with PUCO for distribution rate increases to fund infrastructure improvements. Grid modernization. Vegetation management (cutting trees away from power lines). Storm hardening. All necessary stuff, but it costs money. Your money.

The Ohio Consumers' Counsel has been pushing back in rate cases, trying to protect customers from excessive increases. Sometimes they win concessions. Sometimes they don't. PUCO regulates the process, but here's the reality: wholesale electricity costs mostly pass straight through to you regardless of what PUCO does.

So what can you do? Competitive suppliers face the same capacity costs Duke Energy does. They can't magically avoid wholesale market pricing. But they can offer fixed-price contracts that lock in your rate for a year or two. You might not save money upfront, but you avoid surprise rate spikes every few months. That's worth something when you're trying to budget.

Ohio Energy Choice lets you shop for electricity while Duke Energy Ohio keeps delivering it. Your lights work exactly the same. You just pay someone else for the power.

Switching takes maybe ten minutes if you have your account number ready. First, find your current Price to Compare on your Duke Energy bill or their website. That's your baseline. Then compare offers using PUCO's Apples to Apples tool or ElectricRates.org.

I prefer ElectricRates.org because it automatically calculates your savings against Duke Energy's current PTC. You don't have to do math. Apples to Apples shows everything but makes you figure out the numbers yourself.

When you find a better rate, contact that supplier. They handle the whole switch. You don't call Duke Energy. You don't fill out fifty forms. The supplier notifies Duke Energy, and the switch happens in about one billing cycle (roughly 30 days).

What doesn't change: Duke Energy still owns the poles and wires. They still read your meter. They still send your bill (with the new supplier's name on it). They still fix outages. When a tree knocks down a power line at 2am, Duke Energy's truck shows up, not your supplier's.

No switching fees. No installation. No service interruption. And if you hate your new supplier or find a better deal later? Switch again. Or go back to Duke Energy's standard service. Nobody holds you hostage. That's the whole point of energy choice.

A lot of towns in Duke Energy Ohio's territory have figured out something smart: pool everyone's electricity demand together and negotiate bulk rates. It's called municipal aggregation, and it can save you money without lifting a finger.

How it works is pretty simple. Your city or township negotiates a contract with a competitive supplier on behalf of all residents. They use collective purchasing power to get better rates than you'd find shopping individually. Sometimes these rates beat Duke Energy's Price to Compare. Sometimes they even beat the best individual supplier offers.

The nice part? If you live in a participating community, you're automatically enrolled. You don't have to research suppliers, compare contracts, or make phone calls. Your local government did that work for you. The new rate just shows up on your Duke Energy bill.

Various municipalities across Hamilton County, Butler County, and Warren County participate in aggregation programs. The specific communities change as contracts expire and get renegotiated, so contact your local government to check if you're in.

Now here's the thing: you can always opt out. Municipal aggregation isn't mandatory. If you find a better rate on your own or just prefer handling your own electricity shopping, you can decline participation and pick your own supplier. Nobody forces you into the program. But for most people, the aggregation rate beats what they'd find on their own, and it requires zero effort.

Your Duke Energy Ohio bill breaks down into chunks. Some you can shop for. Some you're stuck with.

Generation charges are what you pay for the actual electricity supply. This is either Duke Energy's Price to Compare or whatever rate you locked in with a competitive supplier. This is the only line item where shopping around saves you money.

Distribution charges cover the local infrastructure. Power lines running down your street. Transformers on poles. Substations. Trucks that show up when something breaks. You can't shop for distribution. Duke Energy owns the wires, so you pay Duke Energy to maintain them. Makes sense.

Customer charge is a fixed monthly fee just for having an account. Think of it like a connection fee. You pay it regardless of whether you use 100 kilowatt-hours or 2,000.

Transmission charges pay for moving electricity across high-voltage lines from power plants to Duke Energy's local network. This goes through the PJM regional grid. Again, you can't shop for this. It's regulated.

Riders are those weird little line items that fund specific programs. Renewable energy mandates. Energy efficiency initiatives. Various regulatory compliance costs. They change occasionally but you have zero control over them.

Your bill shows usage in kilowatt-hours (kWh). That number is important because it lets you compare supplier rates directly. If you used 1,000 kWh last month and a supplier offers 9 cents per kWh while Duke Energy charges 10.3 cents, you'd save $13 that month on generation. Simple math.

When you switch to a competitive supplier, they replace Duke Energy's generation charge with their rate. Duke Energy still sends one combined bill with everything on it. They still maintain your account. You just pay less (hopefully) for the electricity itself.

Duke Energy Ohio handles every power outage in their territory. Doesn't matter if you switched suppliers or not. Your lights go out, Duke Energy fixes them.

Report outages three ways. Online at Duke-Energy.com. Through the Duke Energy mobile app. Or call 800-543-5599. The outage map shows affected areas with estimated restoration times. I check it during storms to see if Duke Energy even knows my lights are out yet.

Duke Energy's been investing in grid reliability. Smart grid technology that detects outages automatically. Automated switching equipment that reroutes power around problem areas. Accelerated vegetation management because trees are enemy number one when it comes to power lines.

When major storms hit (and Cincinnati gets its share), Duke Energy brings in crews from their other states. North Carolina. South Carolina. Indiana. Florida. Whatever it takes to get power back faster.

What matters: your supplier choice never affects outage response. Duke Energy crews respond to all customers equally. The person who switched to a competitive supplier gets the same service as the person still on Duke Energy's default rate. Same poles, same wires, same response time.

Downed power lines are emergencies. Report them immediately and stay far away from the hazard. Duke Energy prioritizes safety issues over routine outages.

If you're struggling with your Duke Energy Ohio bill, several programs might help.

PIPP Plus (Percentage of Income Payment Plan) caps your bill at 6% of household income if you qualify. That's huge for low-income customers facing bills that would otherwise eat 15% or 20% of their monthly income.

HEAP (Home Energy Assistance Program) provides one-time payments through the Ohio Development Services Agency. It won't solve long-term affordability issues, but it can bridge a gap when you're in a bind.

Share the Light is Duke Energy's own program accepting customer donations to help neighbors with emergency assistance. Sometimes the help you need comes from people in your own community.

Budget Billing spreads your annual costs into equal monthly payments. Kills those seasonal spikes where summer AC or winter heat suddenly doubles your bill. Some people love predictable bills. Some people hate giving up the flexibility. Your call.

If you can't pay your bill, call customer service at 800-544-6900 before it becomes a crisis. They offer payment extensions and installment arrangements. They'd rather work out a payment plan than send you to collections.

Winter reconnect order protects customers from disconnection during extreme cold. Medical certificates provide additional protection if someone in your household has a health condition that requires electricity. Ohio takes these protections seriously.

Switching suppliers cuts your per-kilowatt-hour cost. But using less electricity in the first place saves even more money.

Duke Energy Ohio offers home energy assessments, appliance rebates, and weatherization assistance for qualifying households. Free money to make your house more efficient. Take advantage of it.

Smart thermostats reduce heating and cooling costs by 10-15%. They learn your schedule and adjust automatically. No more heating an empty house all day because you forgot to turn down the thermostat before leaving for work.

LED lighting uses 75% less energy than those old incandescent bulbs. They also last forever. I haven't changed a lightbulb in my house in two years. Not exaggerating.

Air sealing matters in Cincinnati's older housing stock. Those beautiful historic homes leak air like crazy. Seal gaps around windows and doors. Caulk costs maybe $5. The difference in your heating bill is immediate.

Time-of-use rates might benefit you if you can shift usage to off-peak hours. Run your dishwasher at night. Do laundry on weekends. Not for everyone, but worth checking if you have that flexibility.

Shop for supplier rates at least once a year. Markets change. Duke Energy's Price to Compare changes. What looked like a good deal six months ago might not be anymore. Use PUCO's Apples to Apples tool to verify your current rate remains competitive.