NOPEC Electric Rates in Ohio: What to Know in 2026

A mailer lands in the mailbox of a homeowner in Mentor, Ohio. It says something about electricity aggregation and an opt-out deadline. Most residents recycle it without a second look, which means they get enrolled automatically. That is exactly how NOPEC is designed to work.

NOPEC (Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council) is a governmental aggregation program. It pools the buying power of hundreds of member municipalities and townships across Ohio, then negotiates a single electricity supply rate with a licensed competitive supplier on behalf of enrolled residents. Residents do not have to call anyone, sign anything, or create an account. If their community has voted to join NOPEC and they did not opt out during the notification window, they are in.

The program is authorized under Ohio law and overseen by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). NOPEC itself is a nonprofit council of governments, not a utility. Your local utility, whether that is The Illuminating Company, Ohio Edison, or another, still delivers the electricity and handles outages. NOPEC only affects the supply portion of your bill.

Ohio's community aggregation framework lets municipalities and townships negotiate electricity supply on behalf of residents as a block. The logic is straightforward: a supplier will offer a better rate to 50,000 customers than to one household.

Here is the basic sequence. A community votes to pursue aggregation. The aggregator (NOPEC, in this case) issues a request for proposals from licensed competitive suppliers and selects one. Residents receive a mailed opt-out notice. Anyone who does not opt out within the specified window is enrolled at the negotiated rate. After enrollment, the supply charge on the bill reflects the NOPEC rate rather than the utility's default.

The default supply from your utility is called the Standard Service Offer. Your bill lists the Price to Compare, which is the supply rate you are currently paying. That number is the benchmark. If NOPEC's rate is lower than your Price to Compare, the aggregation is saving you money on supply. If it is higher, you are paying more for supply than you would on the utility default.

Rates on both sides move. Utility Standard Service Offer rates reset periodically through PUCO-approved processes. NOPEC's rate is locked for the contract term (often one to three years), so there will be periods when NOPEC looks great and periods when it does not.

As of August 2026, the default supply rates for Ohio's major utilities are:

The Illuminating Company: ~11.2 cents/kWh
Toledo Edison: ~11.1 cents/kWh
Ohio Edison: ~10.9 cents/kWh
AES Ohio: ~10.9 cents/kWh
AEP Ohio: ~11.0 cents/kWh
Duke Energy Ohio: ~10.7 cents/kWh

The lowest competitive supplier rate available anywhere in Ohio right now sits around 7.6 cents/kWh, though availability varies by territory and the rate you qualify for depends on your account details.

NOPEC does not publish a single statewide rate. Its rate depends on the contract cycle currently active for your municipality, which supplier won the most recent bid, and when that contract was locked. NOPEC members should check their current contract rate on the NOPEC website or by reviewing their most recent bill, then compare it against the Price to Compare listed on that same bill.

The practical takeaway: if NOPEC locked a rate before wholesale prices climbed, enrolled residents may be paying less than the current utility default. If the contract was signed during a high-price period and utilities have since reset lower, the math may favor opting out. Neither outcome is permanent.

For live rate comparisons in your specific utility territory, visit our Ohio electricity rates page or check Energy Choice Ohio, the state's official supplier comparison tool.

The single most useful number on your electricity bill is the Price to Compare. Ohio utilities are required to display it, and it represents your current supply cost per kilowatt-hour. If you can find a rate below that number, you save money on the supply portion of your bill. Delivery charges, transmission fees, and other line items stay with the utility regardless of which supplier you choose.

To find it, pull out a recent bill and look for a section labeled something like "Competitive Electricity Notice" or "Generation Price to Compare." The number is usually expressed in cents per kilowatt-hour. Write it down before doing any comparison shopping.

If you are currently enrolled in NOPEC, your bill may show the NOPEC supplier's rate instead of the utility default. The relevant comparison is still the same: what are you paying per kWh for supply, and is there a better option available to you right now?

Opting out of NOPEC is straightforward. NOPEC provides an opt-out mechanism on its website, by phone, and through the mailed notice that comes before enrollment. Residents can also opt out after the initial window closes, though doing so mid-contract may return them to the utility's Standard Service Offer rather than freeing them to immediately enroll with a different competitive supplier. Check the current contract terms before making a move.

Opting out makes sense in a few scenarios. First, if you have found a lower rate from a competitive supplier through Energy Choice Ohio or through ElectricRates.org's Ohio tool, you will need to opt out of NOPEC to enroll with that supplier independently. Second, if NOPEC's current contract rate is higher than your utility's Price to Compare and you prefer the simplicity of the utility default, opting out returns you to that default. Third, if you have solar or a specific rate structure that interacts with supplier contracts in a way you want to control, staying in an aggregation program may not suit you.

Opting back in after leaving is also possible if your community holds a new aggregation cycle. Watch for mailed notices.

NOPEC is one option, not the ceiling. Ohio's competitive electricity market gives residents the ability to choose their own supplier entirely independent of any aggregation program.

Licensed competitive suppliers in Ohio must register with PUCO and appear on the Energy Choice Ohio comparison site. That site, sometimes called "Apples to Apples," lets you enter your utility and ZIP code and see current offers sorted by rate. It is the cleanest starting point for an unbiased look at what is available in your territory.

As noted above, the lowest competitive rate available in Ohio as of August 2026 is around 7.6 cents/kWh. That is a meaningful spread below any of the utility defaults listed earlier. Whether that specific offer is available in your territory, whether it carries fixed or variable terms, and what the contract length looks like are all details that matter before you enroll. A rate that starts low on a variable plan can move up quickly.

When comparing offers, look at these factors alongside the headline rate: contract length, early termination fees, whether the rate is fixed or variable, and any monthly service charges that might offset per-kWh savings at lower usage levels.

Switching suppliers or opting out of NOPEC is not the right move for every household. Residents who qualify for income-based assistance programs may benefit more from those than from rate shopping.

Ohio administers the Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP), which caps electricity costs as a percentage of household income rather than billing at a per-kWh rate. Separately, the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) provides seasonal bill assistance. Both programs are managed through the Ohio Development Services Agency.

Eligibility thresholds and benefit amounts change, so the most accurate information comes directly from PIPP and HEAP program pages or from a local community action agency. PUCO's website also maintains consumer assistance resources.

These programs apply to the delivery side of the bill, which means they interact with supplier choices in specific ways. Anyone enrolled in PIPP should check with their utility or PUCO before switching suppliers to understand how a switch affects their plan.

Electricity rates in Ohio are not static. Utility Standard Service Offer rates reset on schedules set through PUCO proceedings. Competitive supplier rates shift with wholesale markets. NOPEC's rate is fixed for a contract term, but that term eventually expires and a new rate gets negotiated.

The practical habit that saves money is simple: once a year, or whenever you receive an aggregation notice or a bill with a noticeably different supply charge, take ten minutes to compare. Find your Price to Compare on the bill, check what competitive suppliers are offering through Energy Choice Ohio, and decide whether to stay put, switch, or return to the utility default.

For continuously updated rate information across Ohio utility territories, ElectricRates.org pulls current competitive supplier offers and displays them alongside utility default rates so the comparison requires no math on your end.