SOPEC Electric Aggregation Program

The City of Cleveland electric aggregation program is administered by SOPEC and supplied by SOPEC’s retail energy partner, AEP Energy. The program rate is for generation/supply only and is expressed in cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Additionally, the program rate is fixed until August 2024 and includes 100% renewable energy supply through the procurement of Green-e® Certified Renewable Energy Credits (RECs).

The City of Cleveland has been recognized as a Green Power Community (GPC) for utilizing green power that exceeds the EPA’s minimum requirement with 6.5% of the City’s total electricity usage being a combination of unbundled RECs, competitive green power, and Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) green power in the 2022-2023 reporting year.

Eligibility

An electric utility account is eligible for the SOPEC Electric Aggregation Program if the service address is located within the incorporated limits of the City of Cleveland. At the start of the electric aggregation program, eligible accounts that were receiving the standard service offer (SSO)/price-to-compare with The Illuminating Company were automatically enrolled. Accounts can be ineligible based on their electricity usage, location, supply contracts, or if they are served by Cleveland Public Power. If your account was not automatically enrolled and you would like to join the electric aggregation program, you may be able to join:

1. Your account(s) may have already been enrolled with a competitive retail electric service (CRES) provider/supplier at the start of the electric aggregation program. Utility customers can cancel their supply contracts with their CRES provider at any time. Some CRES providers may charge an early termination fee to cancel the supply contract. If a customer chooses to cancel their supply contract, they are then eligible to join the SOPEC Electric Aggregation Program. The current CRES provider for the SOPEC Electric Aggregation Program is AEP Energy.

2. The Percentage of Income Payment Plan Plus (PIPP) program is a supply product for The Illuminating Company accounts that meet specific income-based attributes and, therefore, accounts enrolled in PIPP are not eligible for the SOPEC Electric Aggregation Program until the PIPP arrangement ends.

3. Accounts are not eligible to join the SOPEC Electric Aggregation Program if:

   • the account uses more than 700,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually or is part of a national chain of accounts;

   • the account is served by a rural electric cooperative or municipal electric utility — only AEP Ohio, AES Ohio, or The Illuminating Company customers can be enrolled in the SOPEC Electric Aggregation Program;

   • the account is registered on the PUCO Do-Not-Aggregate list.

Eligible customers can also enroll for free over the phone by calling toll-free at 1-888-733-8512(Monday – Friday from 8 am to 7 pm and Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm EST). Customers will automatically be enrolled in the 100% Green-e® rate but can request a 0% Green-e® step-down rate.

Interested customers can easily verify the eligibility of their account(s) and enroll online by clicking the link below:

Budget Billing / Average Monthly Payments

Existing customers that wish to enroll in a budget billing ( or average monthly payment plan) will need to sign-up for budget billing with both AEP Ohio and AEP Energy separately to pay an average monthly rate for the entire electric bill. Steps to enroll in an average monthly payment plan for the distribution and transmission charges (AEP Ohio) and the generation/supply charges (AEP Energy) are listed below:

FirstEnergy/The Illuminating Company - Equal Payment Plan (EPP): EPP is a program for residential customers requesting monthly budget billing. The EPP is designed to make Residential Customer's monthly payments consistent throughout, a 12-month billing period, leveling out seasonal highs and lows. You will be billed one-twelfth (1/12) of your annual estimated usage each month.

AEP Energy - Budget Billing Plan: For eligible customers in The Illuminating Company service area, please contact one of our Customer Care Representatives toll-free at 1-866-258-3782 or by completing the contact form here to enroll in AEP Energy’s Budget Billing Plan. Every fourth month, AEP Energy will review your account balance and may modify your monthly installment if actual charges (electricity usage) vary considerably.