FirstEnergy Ohio Rates: Ohio Edison, Toledo, Illuminating

FirstEnergy owns three separate electric companies in Ohio. They're serving about 2 million customers across the northern and central parts of the state. Not a small operation.

Your bill might say Ohio Edison, Toledo Edison, or The Illuminating Company. Same parent company. Different names because each one started in its own region before FirstEnergy bought them all up. That's just how utility empires get built.

What do they do? They maintain your power lines. Read your meter. Fix outages when trees fall on wires. What they don't do is make electricity. They buy it wholesale through auctions that PUCO runs every few months.

You can shop for your own supplier if you want. FirstEnergy still delivers your power either way. Same truck shows up when a storm knocks out your lights. Your choice of supplier won't change that.

Where you live determines which FirstEnergy company you get. Your address makes the choice for you. That's it.

Ohio Edison serves about a million customers across northeast and central Ohio. We're talking Akron, Youngstown, Warren, Canton, Mansfield. Big industrial cities mixed with smaller towns scattered in between. If you're in this region, you know the drill.

The Illuminating Company (yes, that's really what they call themselves) covers Greater Cleveland and the surrounding counties. About 750,000 customers spread across Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Ashtabula, and Geauga counties. Live in Cleveland? This is your utility.

Toledo Edison is the smallest of the three. Around 310,000 customers in northwest Ohio. Toledo, Sandusky, Fremont. Lucas, Wood, Ottawa, Erie counties.

You don't get to pick. Your ZIP code decides.

FirstEnergy rates jumped hard in 2025. Look at your bill. You'll see why people are furious.

As of June 2025, Ohio Edison customers are paying around 9.5 cents per kWh. That's a 28% increase from 7.43 cents last year. The Illuminating Company hit 9.11 cents (up 27%). Toledo Edison landed at 9.52 cents.

These rates change twice a year. June and December. Every time the announcement comes, people hope for relief. Sometimes they get it. Not this time.

Your Price to Compare is the benchmark. When you're shopping for a competitive supplier, you want their rate lower than this number. If it's not lower, you're just spinning your wheels.

And here's the kicker: delivery charges tack on another 4 to 6 cents per kWh. Those don't budge no matter who supplies your power. You can't shop your way out of delivery fees. They're locked in.

Your FirstEnergy bill jumped 27 to 29% this year. If you're using 1,000 kWh a month, that's $14 to $16 more. Every single month.

The culprit? PJM capacity markets. That's your regional grid operator making sure enough power plants stay online to meet demand. They run auctions where power plants bid to provide backup capacity. In 2024, those auction prices went absolutely nuts. From $29 per megawatt-day to $270. That's an 833% increase. Not a typo.

Why the explosion? Old coal plants are retiring faster than new generation can come online. Data centers are sucking up power like there's no tomorrow. And the grid has bottlenecks that make moving electricity around ridiculously expensive.

FirstEnergy isn't making money on this. They just pass the costs straight through to you. The Ohio Consumers' Counsel watches to make sure utilities aren't padding numbers, but they can't fix the wholesale market itself.

The bottom line? Your rates went up because the whole regional power market is tight right now. And it's probably not getting better anytime soon.

Ohio Energy Choice lets FirstEnergy customers buy electricity from competitive suppliers while FirstEnergy still delivers it. Think of it like this: you're changing who makes your electricity, not who delivers it.

To switch: Find your current Price to Compare on your bill or at FirstEnergyCorp.com. That's your benchmark. Then compare offers using PUCO Apples to Apples or ElectricRates.org. When you find a better rate, contact that supplier to enroll. Done.

What you get: competitive rates (often lower than FirstEnergy's Price to Compare), switching that takes about 30 days with zero service interruption, no switching fees from FirstEnergy, and the freedom to return to standard service anytime without penalty.

Your delivery service stays the same. Emergency response stays the same. Billing stays the same. Only the generation portion of your bill changes. FirstEnergy still owns the wires to your house.

Your FirstEnergy bill splits charges into two main buckets: generation (supply) and distribution (delivery). Let's break it down.

Generation charges are what you pay for the actual electricity. This is either FirstEnergy's Price to Compare or your competitive supplier's rate if you've switched. Bypassable charges are the parts a competitive supplier can replace.

Distribution charges are what you pay FirstEnergy to get power to your house. Power lines, transformers, substations, keeping the grid running. These charges don't change when you switch suppliers. You're stuck with them.

Then there's the customer charge, which is a fixed monthly fee just for being connected. And riders, which fund things like energy efficiency programs, renewable energy compliance, and grid modernization. Fun stuff.

Your bill shows usage in kilowatt-hours (kWh) and displays your Price to Compare right there for easy supplier comparison. At least they make that part simple.

A lot of communities in FirstEnergy's Ohio territory offer municipal aggregation programs. Your local government negotiates bulk electricity rates for everyone in town. It's like Costco for electricity.

How it works: the government sponsors a program and negotiates bulk rates with suppliers. These rates might beat both the Price to Compare and what you'd get shopping on your own. If you're eligible, you get automatically enrolled. Don't want it? You can opt out anytime and pick your own supplier or stick with FirstEnergy.

Northeast Ohio has a bunch of communities doing this. Several in Cuyahoga County, Summit County, and surrounding areas.

Check with your local government to see if your community is in. Aggregation takes the hassle out of shopping because someone else handles the supplier selection for you. Sometimes that's worth it.

FirstEnergy handles all power outages. Doesn't matter who your supplier is. When the lights go out, FirstEnergy fixes them.

How to report outages: go to FirstEnergyCorp.com, use the FirstEnergy mobile app, or call 1-888-544-4877 (works for all three Ohio utilities). The outage map shows affected areas with estimated restoration times. Check it before you call.

They're investing in reliability. Vegetation management programs (cutting trees before they fall on lines). Equipment upgrades (replacing old transformers that blow up). Storm hardening (making the grid tougher against weather). And mutual aid crews coordinated across FirstEnergy's multi-state system (calling in reinforcements when a big storm hits).

Your supplier choice never affects outage response. Never. FirstEnergy crews respond equally to all customers. Whether you're paying them or some competitive supplier, you get the same service when the power goes out.

If you're struggling to pay your FirstEnergy bill, there are programs that can help.

PIPP Plus caps your bill at 6% of household income if you're low-income and qualify. HEAP gives one-time bill payment assistance through the Ohio Development Services Agency. Neighbor to Neighbor is donation-funded emergency assistance. And Budget Billing spreads your annual costs into equal monthly payments so you don't get hammered in winter.

You can also get payment extensions and installment plans through customer service. The winter reconnect order protects you from disconnection during extreme cold. And if you have qualifying health conditions, a medical certificate gives you extra protection.

Don't wait until they're about to shut you off. Call FirstEnergy customer service as soon as you know you're going to have trouble paying. The earlier you ask for help, the more options you have.

Beyond switching suppliers, FirstEnergy customers can cut bills through efficiency programs and smart moves.

FirstEnergy offers home energy audits (they tell you where you're wasting money), rebates on efficient appliances, and weatherization assistance if you qualify. Take advantage of these. They're already built into your rates.

DIY savings: Install a smart thermostat. They cut heating and cooling costs by 10-15% without you thinking about it. Switch to LED lighting (uses 75% less energy than those old incandescent bulbs). And seal air leaks around windows and doors. Especially if you live in an older home. You're heating the outdoors right now.

Shopping tips: Check if your municipality offers aggregation with competitive rates. Compare suppliers using PUCO Apples to Apples when rates change in June and December. And consider fixed-rate contracts to protect yourself against future wholesale market increases. With rates this volatile, locking in a good rate isn't a bad idea.