ASHLAND — Ashland County commissioners on Tuesday entered into a two-year energy aggregation agreement with an electricity service provider.
The agreement with Dynegy will cover customers in Green, Milton, Mohican, Perry and Vermillion townships and Hayesville and Jeromesville villages.
It’s effective starting Dec. 1 and lasts through December 2025.
The agreement sets the price of the generation of electricity at 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour (kwh), a rate that represents a 40-percent increase from the previous two-year agreement of 4.6 cents/kwh.
Ashland County commissioner Mike Welch said customers within the five townships and two villages affected by this agreement don’t need to do anything if they wish to be included in the aggregate program.
He said their electricity supplier will automatically be switched to Dynegy. If a customer wishes to opt out of the aggregation program, they are given the option through a letter in the mail.
“So nobody’s bound by it,” he said. “But in most cases, the aggregation’s going to get you a better price just because of the buying power.”
Electricity prices on the rise
Rate hikes are widespread.
In June, First Energy Corp. customers in Ashland saw an increase to their base price of 5.6 cents/kwh increase to 12.7 cents/kwh, a 126% increase.
The city’s government aggregation program, which also happens to be with Dynegy, offers a rate of 4.6 cents/kwh through the end of this month.
In November, Dynegy’s rate will increase to 7 cents/kwh.
Electricity prices for Ashland County-owned facilities also increased by 50% earlier this year.
The rate hikes have to do with the cost of generating power, according to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
“Your bill is determined by the price of electricity, aka the generation, along with the price for the transmission and distribution of that electricity,” reads a PUCO news release issued in April.
In Ohio, customers can choose energy suppliers, while the electric utility continues to handle the transmission and distribution portion of bills.
“If you decide not to choose a different supplier, you are automatically enrolled on the standard service offer (SSO) with your electric utility,” said PUCO.
That’s the part that has caused increases on electricity bills across Ohio.
Customers can dodge those increase by partaking in government aggregation programs or by shopping different suppliers on their own.