How Do I Know If I’m In The SOPEC Electric Aggregation Program?
For Southeast Ohio Communities Served by AEP Ohio - Electric Utility
Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) programs, like the SOPEC Electric Aggregation Program, bundle all eligible residential and small commercial electric utility accounts in a community together to receive a competitive supply rate from an Ohio-registered Competitive Retail Electric Service (CRES) provider. The current supplier for the SOPEC program is AEP Energy.
Quick Tip: You are enrolled in the SOPEC Electric Aggregation Program if your electric bill shows AEP Energy as the Generation Supplier at the rate listed for your community.
If a Generation Supplier is not listed on your electric bill, you are receiving the regulated Standard Service Offer from the electric utility. For our Southeast Ohio communities, the utility is AEP Ohio.
How to Read Your Electric Bill if You Are Enrolled in SOPEC’s Electric Aggregation Program:
The example AEP Ohio electric bill (shown to the left), shows a customer enrolled in the SOPEC Electric Aggregation Program.
As shown, the Current Supplier for the program is AEP Energy. CRES providers procure electric power, as AEP Energy does for the SOPEC Electric Aggregation program.
Following the bill, from top to bottom, a customer’s service address is listed first. Then, the account number with AEP Ohio, which is the electric utility company, is listed next. The “Line Item Charges” portion of the AEP Ohio electric bill is how you determine if you’re enrolled with a competitive supplier, like AEP Energy, OR if you’re receiving “Generation Service” from the electric utility, AEP Ohio.
When one is in the SOPEC Electric Aggregation Program, Current AEP Ohio Charges will be shown first. These include the Transmission Service, Distribution Service, and a Customer Charge. These AEP Ohio charges are the costs associated with delivering electricity, maintaining electric poles and transmission lines, providing billing and customer support services, and handling power outages. Together, the Current Electric Charges (Current AEP Ohio Charges) total for this bill is $68.93.
Next, AEP Energy will be listed as the supplier, as shown in this bill: Current AEP Energy Inc Charges. The Service Delivery Identifier number is an important number that allows Suppliers (registered CRES providers) to offer Generation/Supply to the AEP Ohio Service Address. In this bill, the customer used 735 kWh of electricity supply at a rate of $0.09857 per kWh for a total of $72.45. You can find your current supply rate here.
Finally, you’ll see Total Balance Due. This includes Previous Balance Due, Current Electric Charges (AEP Ohio), and Current Supplier Balance Due (AEP Energy). In this bill, the customer has selected an auto-pay option that deducts the total balance due from the customer’s bank account.
How to Read Your Electric Bill if You Are Receiving the Standard Service Offer:
Whether you are receiving Generation Supply from a CRES provider or AEP Ohio’s regulated Standard Service Offer (SSO), also called the Price To Compare, AEP Ohio remains the electric distribution utility (EDU) and delivers electricity to your residential or small commercial account.
Since Ohio is a deregulated energy market state, governmental opt-out electric aggregation (SOPEC), as passed by a majority vote in all SOPEC communities, allows AEP Energy or any other selected CRES provider (Supplier) to sell electricity (Generation/Supply only) to customers, at competitive, market-based rates. The regulated Standard Service Offer (SSO) is a regulated rate that is provided by AEP Ohio to individual customers that did not shop for their own supply product or otherwise not served by a supplier through governmental aggregation.
In this AEP Ohio bill, shown to the right, the AEP Ohio service address, the utility account number, and similar line item charges are listed.
As shown in the bill, there is NO Generation Supplier listed below Current Electric Charges. When Generation Service (Supply) is listed as part of the Current AEP Ohio Charges, then you are receiving the regulated Standard Service Offer (SSO) from AEP Ohio or some other supply product provided by AEP Ohio.
If you still need assistance in enrolling in the SOPEC Electric Aggregation Program or if you want to opt out of the program to receive the SSO from AEP Ohio, please call AEP Energy at 1-877-648-1937.