Electric bills change as transmission costs rise

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) approved AEP Ohio's 'basic transmission cost rider' (BTCR) on March 18, leading to a small increase of approximately $0.22 per month for the average residential customer on the Standard Service Offer (SSO) rate using 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh). AEP Ohio, based in Gahanna and a unit of American Electric Power, emphasized its commitment to transparency and fairness for its 1.5 million customers across 61 counties. The company is also addressing evolving energy demand, particularly from large users such as data centers, by working to allocate costs appropriately to protect residential and small business customers. To this end, AEP Ohio filed a Data Center Tariff, which has inspired proposed state legislation (HB 706) aimed at protecting customers across Ohio.