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Net Metering Program
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AEP Ohio net metering in Ohio

Central and southern Ohio, including Columbus, Canton and Marietta. The first Ohio utility to move new residential customers onto avoided-cost crediting for exports, by tariff filed in 2020.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
1.5M

What they credit you

Retail behind the meter, the energy price for exports

Published terms

Energy used behind the meter offsets consumption at the retail rate. Surplus is converted to a monetary credit at the energy component of the utility’s standard service offer, carried to future bills, with no right to be paid it in cash.

Month to month
To future bills, and the rule permits an unused credit to be lost.

Published terms · checked 2026-09-05 · source

Installers serving AEP Ohio customers

Pick one. Only the company you choose receives your details, and only that company calls you.

Not sure which to choose?

These are real companies operating in AEP Ohio territory. Bold Energy is listed first because it is the company we introduce first. That order is our choice, not a score. The other companies are ordered by reviews, years trading and BBB grade. None of them pays us for placement. Pick the one you want and we will call you to arrange it.

Ordering combines three things we read from primary sources: Google review count and rating, years trading taken from the company’s Better Business Bureau profile rather than its own marketing, and its BBB letter grade. BBB accreditation is shown but never scored, because it is a paid membership rather than a mark of quality.

Check any contractor license yourself at the state register. Do that before you sign anything, with any company, including ours.

What this looks like on a AEP Ohio bill

An average Ohio household, against a system sized to cover its year. The energy charge is the part that goes to zero. The fixed monthly charge underneath it is the part that never does, and it is the number that decides whether a system pays for itself.

Meter readingkWh
Energy charge$162.35
$162.35
We have read this provider’s own tariff. What it still bills you at zero is set out below, with the sheet it came from. The energy line above uses the statewide average. See what they still bill
DirectionReading…

Meter reading falling from 41926 to 41690 kilowatt hours. A 846 kilowatt hour month against 1,082 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 236 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $162.35 to $0.00 at 19.19 cents per kilowatt hour.

Ohio average household use, 846 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 19.19¢ per kWh. Your utility still bills a fixed monthly customer charge that no system offsets, so this is the energy part of the bill, which is the part that goes away.

AEP Ohio requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in AEP Ohio territory.

AEP Ohio does not credit the power you send back at the rate it charges you to take it.

That does not make solar a bad idea in AEP Ohio territory. It changes what you should build. When exports are worth a fraction of retail the credit stops being the return, and the job becomes using more of your own production inside the house, which usually means a larger array than a one for one utility would need.

Sizing is where that gets decided, so ask about it directly. Ohio credits go to future bills and can be lost if unused, so a system sized to bank a large surplus is banking something the rule lets the utility take back. Build to your own usage. AEP Ohio sets its own limits. Ask AEP Ohio what it allows before you accept that a bigger system is off the table.

A battery then does two separate jobs. It moves daytime production into the evening so you use it instead of selling it, and it keeps the house running when the grid goes down. That second job is not a bonus. Panels on their own shut off in an outage, by design, so a roof full of them powers nothing during a storm. That is the part we will not refer around.

So we treat it as a requirement, not an upgrade. We will not refer you for a panels-only system in AEP Ohio territory, and you should be skeptical of anyone who quotes you one without raising storage first.

Our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement

What your installer should be telling you

Ask what happens to your accumulated credit if you sell the house, and ask for the current energy price your surplus is credited at in writing.

What AEP Ohio bills you anyway

In a month when your production covers everything you use, the energy charge can reach zero. This does not. It is the floor under every bill, and it is the number that decides whether a system pays for itself.

The charge
$13.50 a month, plus riders
How it is set
Schedule RS sets a distribution Customer Charge of $13.50 a month, with energy at 3.47738¢ per kWh, and defines the minimum monthly charge as "the sum of the customer charge and all applicable riders". The floor is therefore higher than $13.50 and AEP Ohio does not publish it as one figure. Generation is billed separately by whichever supplier you are on.

Sheet No. 210-1, P.U.C.O. No. 22, effective 10 April 2026 · checked 2026-09-18 · source

Applying to AEP Ohio

What AEP Ohio itself requires, as distinct from what the state rule requires. Read from its own published guidelines on the date shown.

The rule does not require anyone to pay you
Ohio Admin. Code 4901:1-10-28: the electric utility "shall not be required to pay the monetary credit, other than to credit it to future bills". There is no cash-out right in Ohio.
And the credit can be lost
The same rule provides that the credit "may be lost if a customer-generator does not use the credit or stops taking service from the electric utility". Moving house, or a mild year, can cost you a balance you thought you had.
Surplus is valued at the energy price, not retail
The rule converts excess electricity into a monetary credit at the energy component of the utility’s standard service offer, which carries forward on future bills. That is below the full retail rate, which also includes delivery charges.
FirstEnergy is three utilities under one schedule
Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company and Toledo Edison operate under a unified Schedule NEM approved by the Commission, but they are separate companies with separate rates.
Eligible technology is defined narrowly
The rule covers solar, wind, biomass, landfill gas, hydropower, microturbines and fuel cells, with a separate arrangement for hospitals. It is worth checking your equipment qualifies before the interconnection application.

From AEP Ohio’s published guidelines · checked 2026-09-05 · source

AEP Ohio net metering questions

Does AEP Ohio offer one for one net metering?
No. Energy used behind the meter offsets consumption at the retail rate. Surplus is converted to a monetary credit at the energy component of the utility’s standard service offer, carried to future bills, with no right to be paid it in cash.
What does AEP Ohio pay for power sent back to the grid?
Retail behind the meter, the energy price for exports. To future bills, and the rule permits an unused credit to be lost.
Do I need a battery with AEP Ohio?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because AEP Ohio does not credit exports one for one, the return has to come from using your own production rather than selling it, which after dark means storage and usually a larger array than a one for one utility would need. The other half is backup: panels alone shut off in an outage, so a battery is what keeps the house running in a storm. We do not refer panels-only systems in AEP Ohio territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my AEP Ohio bill?
Sign in at aepohio.com. Open My Account, then Billing. Open the latest bill and save the PDF. Or screenshot the summary page. If you cannot get to it, a rough guess at your average monthly amount is enough to start.
What is the catch with AEP Ohio?
Ask what happens to your accumulated credit if you sell the house, and ask for the current energy price your surplus is credited at in writing.