NOPEC defends its decision to drop 550,000 customers, explains rate hikes in filing to state regulators

The Plain Dealer Cleveland ^ | 9/30/22

[EBH]

NOPEC said purging 550,000 electricity customers won’t drive up prices for Ohioans, and doesn’t break any rules, in a filing to state regulators this week.

The Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council, the default electricity supplier for most of Greater Cleveland, is defending its right to do business in Ohio. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio directed NOPEC to show cause and explain why its certificate to do business should not be revoked on Sept. 7.

The filing late Wednesday is the latest chapter in a book’s worth of legal filings, all stemming from NOPEC’s decision to temporarily drop about 97.5% of its electricity customers to save the customers money.

Ohio electricity customers have an option called a standard service offer (SSO), a sort-of safety net for people who don’t shop for an electricity supplier. Most NOPEC customers were paying 12 cents a kilowatt hour, and the SSO was about 6.8 cents because the price was locked in before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The PUCO was concerned because NOPEC has never dropped 550,000 electricity customers at once. The SSO’s price is decided at auction. And if the number of customers fluctuates widely it could affect the auction prices.

NOPEC argued against this claim because more than 100,000 customers were already flocking to the SSO for price relief. And the global economics causing huge price spikes is already in full swing.

Customers can leave NOPEC whenever they want. More than 40,000 did so voluntarily in August and 20,000 left in July. These customers all left before NOPEC’s decision to proactively remove more than 500,000 that has caused concern.

[EBH]

"Dropping the rest of its customers is the best thing for them."

I switched in August on my own accord. The SSO was about 50% less than NOPEC with the understanding the rate can/will rise in the spring.

[NicoDon]

We switched from NOPEC in August after getting a $750 bill, which is about triple our norm for the time of year. Granted, we had a swimming pool put in this year so we expected some rise in price, but not that much.

I forget the name of the supplier we went to, but it was something like 7.9 cents instead of 12. The price is locked in for 3 years with no monthly fee, too.

We also got an electric heat pump installed to replace our heating oil furnace. We have yet to receive the electric bill since we have done that... not really looking forward to it, but the alternative was a heating oil bill of around $5000 for one winter. The furnace was about due for replacement anyways, so I figured this was an opportune time to make the change.

Now to get the whole-house generator... never ending drain of my bank accounts....

[Bayard]

Also, that Acronym is terrible.

[EBH]

I switched to the Illuminating Company.

Anything I saw on the PUCO website was crazy high. Eventually I will have to investigate things again before spring.

[shotgun]

So in Ohio, customers can choose their power company?

Here in Washington state, the state PUC, divies up the state to independent utility companies. There no switching providers.

[bobbo666]

I think some of the verbiage is garbled — like the WH muppet does.

Here in CaCaLand you can choose your juice generator. There is a menu, which of course pushes green crappola. But, your “provider” is still the outfit that owns the wires, PG&E.
So, if you choose generator XX, and they use gas, your price skyrockets. If you choose YY, and they are all solar and there is no backup via some corrupt carbonCredit scam, you go dark when the sun goes down.

[Retgearjammer]

‘’Here in Washington state, the state PUC, divies up the state to independent utility companies. There no switching providers.’’

Ya,,Democrat controlled state makes all YOUR decisions for everyone. Hows that working out for ya? Does it benifit “WE THE PEOPLE” or the demo-crats

[hinckley buzzard]

Received a notice from NOPEC in the mail this week. Will be switching to First Energy. It will mean lower prices. Don’t see what the big deal is. It’s good for the consumer.

[nascarnation]

Whatever happened to Dennis Kucinich and the infamous “Cleveland Public Power”?

[shotgun]

I’m stuck with Pacific Power & Light, which is owned by Warren Buffet.