Electric Consumer

Editor: Katerine G., Editor & Data Researcher · Research & publishing: Electric Consumer Editorial Team · Data retrieved · Sources named on this page: EIA-861 · How we got these numbers · Report an error

How to compare electric companies

Utility numbers are easy to line up and easy to misread. This is how to compare them fairly.

Step 1: check you can choose

In most places the wire company is fixed by address. You can choose a supplier only in states with retail choice, and then the price you pay is the supplier's. This site compares the utilities EIA surveys, not supplier plans. See the TDU and REP guide for how the split works.

Step 2: compare price and reliability together

Eight large Ohio utilities, 2024. Price is revenue divided by kWh, SAIDI is minutes without power without major events.

UtilityOwner typeHome accountsPrice ¢/kWhSAIDI minSAIFI
Ohio Power CoInvestor Owned1,339,23214.351580.99
Ohio Edison CoInvestor Owned957,7809.551141.03
Duke Energy Ohio IncInvestor Owned693,43510.831030.80
Cleveland Electric Illum CoInvestor Owned676,0989.411501.11
Dayton Power & Light CoInvestor Owned478,7418.541060.87
The Toledo Edison CoInvestor Owned278,81410.24950.94
South Central Power CompanyCooperative117,46914.872011.69
City of ClevelandMunicipal64,91414.871701.08

Source: EIA-861 2024, Sales_Ult_Cust and Reliability; Ohio utilities with 20,000+ home accounts and reported SAIDI. Retrieved 2026-10-02. CSV, 8 rows.

Step 3: read the gaps

cents per kWh

  • Dayton Power & Light Co8.54
  • Cleveland Electric Illum Co9.41
  • Ohio Edison Co9.55
  • The Toledo Edison Co10.24
  • Duke Energy Ohio Inc10.83
  • Ohio Power Co14.35
  • South Central Power Company14.87
  • City of Cleveland14.87

United States, Home prices of utilities in Ohio, 2024: EIA-861 survey.

CSV

Among these eight the lowest price is 8.54 cents and the highest 14.87. A gap of 6.32 cents on 900 kWh is about $57 a month. Fewer minutes of SAIDI is better, but check how many years the utility reported. One year can be dominated by a single storm.

Step 4: know the limits

Delivery-only customers lower some averages, co-ops and municipal utilities have different cost bases, and a price is not a quote. The price column mixes customer types in states where part of a utility's customers buy energy elsewhere.

Does owner type predict price?

The medians below cover every utility with 5,000+ home accounts. They describe groups, not any one company: spread inside each group is wide.

Owner typeUtilitiesMedian price ¢/kWhWith SAIDIMedian SAIDI min
Cooperative51013.73341144
Investor Owned12915.54105104
Municipal35012.3918140

Source: EIA-861 2024; utilities with 5,000+ home accounts. Price is revenue over kWh as reported, SAIDI without major events. Retrieved 2026-10-02. CSV, 3 rows.

A fair comparison checklist

Same year. Same customer class. Same state or neighboring states. Price and SAIDI together, not one alone. Size of utility noted. Owner type noted. Then check your own bill against the average: your plan, your use and your fixed charges decide what you pay.

Key facts and where they come from

FactValueSourceDate
Ohio utilities compared8EIA-861 20242024 data
Lowest price among them8.54 centsEIA-861 20242024 data
Highest price among them14.87 centsEIA-861 20242024 data
Gap on 900 kWh$57 a monthComputed2024 data
Median home price, Cooperative utilities13.73 centsEIA-861 20242024 data
Median home price, Investor Owned utilities15.54 centsEIA-861 20242024 data
Median home price, Municipal utilities12.39 centsEIA-861 20242024 data
Median SAIDI, Cooperative utilities144 minutesEIA-861 20242024 data

CSV, 8 rows.

Related guides

Questions

Can I choose my electric company?

Usually not the wire company. Some states let you pick the supplier.

What should I compare first?

Price per kWh, then SAIDI and SAIFI, then how many accounts the utility serves.

How big is the price gap in Ohio?

8.54 to 14.87 cents among these eight utilities.

Do co-ops cost more than investor-owned utilities?

By median price among utilities with 5,000+ home accounts: Cooperative 13.73 cents, Investor Owned 15.54 cents, Municipal 12.39 cents. Groups overlap widely.

Is a lower SAIDI always better?

Yes for customers, but utilities define outages slightly differently, so compare within the same year.

Does this site compare supplier plans?

No. It covers utilities and states, not retail plans.

Where do I find my utility?

Open your state page and use the utility table, which lists every company with 1,000+ home accounts.

Why compare in one state?

Taxes, rules and fuel costs differ by state. Same-state comparisons remove most of that.

How many utilities does EIA survey?

1,312 utilities appear in the 2024 sales file.

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Utility numbers are easy to line up and easy to misread.