One month in to 2025: how many of your New Year's resolutions have stuck around this far?
There's one resolution that you can conquer in just 5 minutes — staying informed about your utility bill.
Rate Change Alerts from the PUCO send immediate notifications via email or text anytime your electric or natural gas price changes.
Sign up now and consider this resolution an easy win:
Underground Utility Damage Prevention Grant program now available
The Underground Utility Damage Prevention Grant program is now open for applications. This grant will provide funding for:
- Public awareness programs established by a protection service;
- Training and education programs for excavators, operators, designers, persons who locate underground utility facilities, or other persons;
- Programs providing incentives for excavators, operators, persons who locate underground utility facilities, or other persons to reduce the number and severity of compliance failures.
The grant application period closes on February 28, 2025.
Click here for application details.
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Pending cases
Several utilities have applications for rate increases before the PUCO. Stay informed by following along with these cases:
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Special Reconnect Order still available for Ohioans
The Special Reconnect Order (SRO) is still available! The SRO helps Ohioans to reconnect or maintain electric or natural gas service.
Any residential customer of a PUCO-regulated electric or natural gas company may take advantage of the provisions contained in the order once per winter heating season.
There is no income eligibility requirement to use the Special Reconnect Order. The SRO runs through April 18, 2025.
More information about the SRO is available here.
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New features added to Utility Rate Survey
The PUCO’s utility rate survey has been updated with several new features. Users now can input rates from energy suppliers on the Bill Components tab to estimate bills. Also, on the Bills by Charge Type tab, users can hover over the results in the bar graph to see what percentage each charge type is of the total bill.
Visit the Ohio Utility Rate Survey page to learn more.
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PUCO approves safety upgrades at rail crossings in Butler and Cuyahoga counties
The PUCO has approved safety upgrades at rail crossings in Butler and Cuyahoga counties.
CSX Transportation (CSX) will install lights and gates, with a cantilever in the northwest corner, curbing, and sidewalk reconnection on all approaches at the Kenworth Avenue grade crossing in the city of Hamilton, Butler County, by Oct. 22, 2025. Federal funds will pay $463,810 to complete the project.
Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad (WLE) will install flashing lights and gates at the C.R. 108/Richmond Road grade crossing in Cuyahoga County, by Oct. 22, 2025. Federal funds will pay $322,454 to complete the project.
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OPSB approves construction of solar energy facility in Clermont County, denies project in Union County
In this month's meeting, the Ohio Power Siting Board approved Clear Mountain Energy Center, LLC’s proposal to construct a solar-powered generating facility in Clermont County. The 100 megawatt (MW) Clear Mountain Energy Center will be constructed in Batavia, Jackson, and Williamsburg townships in Clermont County.
The OPSB denied Richwood Solar LLC’s proposal to construct a solar-powered generating facility in Union County. The OPSB found that, based on the consistent opposition to the project from each of the local government entities and their constituents who are impacted, the proposed project would fail to serve the “public interest, convenience, and necessity” as required under Ohio law. The OPSB noted that each of the local governments with physical contact to the project – Union County and Taylor, Leesburg, and Claiborne townships – acted to oppose its approval, and that the public comments and testimony received in the case reinforced the local government opposition.
Read more about these cases and others from January's meeting here.
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PUCO accepts results of CenterPoint Energy Ohio’s natural gas supply auction
The PUCO has accepted the results of CenterPoint Energy Ohio’s auction for its standard choice offer (SCO). The auction secured natural gas supplies for CenterPoint’s customers from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026 and established a retail price adjustment of $0.22 per hundred cubic feet (ccf). This year’s retail price adjustment is $0.09 per ccf more than the 2024 retail price adjustment.
CenterPoint’s SCO rate changes monthly and is calculated as the sum of the retail price adjustment, plus the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) month-end settlement price.
The SCO will apply to CenterPoint’s choice-eligible customers that have not selected an alternative supplier.
Learn more about the auction here.
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2023 Renewable Portfolio Standard Report is now available
The Renewable Portfolio Standard Report to the General Assembly for compliance year 2023 is now available.
Ohio law contains a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) that requires that 8.5 percent of electricity sold by Ohio’s electric distribution utilities or electric services companies must be generated from renewable energy sources by 2026.
Read 2023's report, as well as reports from previous years, here.
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Join the PUCO
 Interested in joining our team? The PUCO employs engineers, lawyers, analysts, accountants, customer service representatives, human resource professionals, auditors and many more!
Positions are posted regularly to Careers.Ohio.gov. Use the filter to select "Public Utilities Commission" to see all open jobs.
View all open positions at Careers.Ohio.gov.
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