North Royalton residents who have recently received their electric bills may have noticed that their bills seem rather high. They may have thought that the bill was high due to the hot weather experienced this summer. They may be only half correct.
Those residents who are NOPEC customers may want to check the “charges from NOPEC” in the middle right section of the first page of the bill. There, it will show the billing period, the basic charge, which is broken down to the number of killowatt hours (KWH) x the NOPEC rate. For the August bill, that rate increased to 0.120000. That number has been rising steadily since January, when the rate was 0.098994.
NOPEC was formed when voters agreed to appoint it as a negotiator for electricity, after the state deregulated the utility industry. The thought was that by communities gathering together and appointing one negotiator, it would then be able to negotiate a better price, securing lower rates. They are a non-profit natural gas and electric aggregation that claim to represent residents and businesses in northeast Ohio counties. North Royalton is one of the more than 240 communities that have NOPEC customers. Founded in 2000, NOPEC is an opt-out governmental aggregation. That means that if you have chosen to become a customer of NOPEC, you have to opt-out, or choose to leave, in order to go to another supplier. One thing that many residents don’t know, though, is if they have opted out once and chose another supplier, if the contract with that supplier is closed ended, then the resident will have to again opt out of NOPEC. When calling the phone listed on the NOPEC website, a voicemail states that the utility company a resident chooses will be able to opt out for the customer and that there is no charge to opt out.
If residents wish to research various options for electric and natural gas suppliers, they can go to the “apples-to-apples” comparison chart, provided by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). That chart is located at www.energychoice.ohio.gov. The PUCO regulates providers of all kinds of utility services, including electric and natural gas companies and was created to assure adequate, safe and reliable public utility services at a fair price.
Residents who are interested in comparing various electric and natural gas rates and how they relate to the NOPEC rates, should look at the terms of the contracts that are being offered. Residents should pay attention to not only the rate offered, but if the rate is variable or fixed, the term of the contract and what, if any fees are charged for changing mid-contract, or if there are any other monthly fees.
For more information, visit NOPEC’s website at www.nopecinfo.org or call 855-667-3201.
PLEASE NOTE: After the writing of this article, NOPEC officials published a statement, stating that it “believes that you will pay a lower price if you temporarily receive electricity through your electric utility during the next several months. As such, NOPEC is returning your account to the electric utility beginning with your next meter read, which may take one to two billing cycles. There is no action required by you and as a remind, you will not be charged a fee from NOPEC to make this change.” They note that they will resume the program in the spring of 2023.

By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer