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choosing AEP or City of Columbus Electric

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Started 10 months ago by andrewsydlik
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andrewsydlik

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Hi - I will be moving into Columbus in August, attending the English PhD program at OSU, and have the choice of either AEP or City of Columbus Electric. Can anyone advise me on which to select?

I'm inclined to go with City Electric, just because I'd rather support a more local vendor, AEP seems to have a lot of iffy things politically (a lot of contributions to lobbying against environmental regulations, contributions for republicans, etc), a bad environmental record, and unreliable restoration during power outages (I've read about customers being without as long as a week from the latest big storm). It seems like from posts here, City Electric power was restored much more quickly (or never went out at all).

OTOH, I'll be a college student on a small stipend, and don't necessarily want to be paying outrageous bills. I don't mind paying a little higher, but I'm not sure how much of a difference I can actually expect. Are we talking a difference of $5 or $10 a month? Or more like $40 or $50? And is there really such a big difference in reliability?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Posted 10 months ago #
placebohigh
The Short North
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I've had City Electric for 3+ years and never had an outage or issue, even during the recent storms from hell. I'd recommend them over AEP.

Posted 10 months ago #
buckeyecpa

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I'm not sure how you would have a choice. The service is determined at installation of the meters. Are you sure that it's correct that you have a choice?

There honestly isn't much of a difference. The city isn't actually producing the electricity and they are a bit difficult to deal with in their billing department. AEP is equally as difficult. Both have outages. It's not one uses bad products while the other doesn't. It's all the same. During this last power outage, the city was able to respond quickly because they had less repairs in a smaller area to make. But that doesn't make them any better.

I deal daily with both. It's the same utility and service. You won't notice a difference.

Posted 10 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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buckeyecpa said:
During this last power outage, the city was able to respond quickly because they had less repairs in a smaller area to make. But that doesn't make them any better.

That sounds better to me. ;)

(We have City Electric and never seem to have big issues as our AEP customer neighbors do during outage-inducing storms)

Posted 10 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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PS: This discussion may eventually be a moot point anyway...

Columbus Department of Public Utilities Considering Selling Power Service

Posted 10 months ago #
Analogue Kid
Olentangy West
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I really don't like dealing with AEP, but I don't have any experience with city electric.

Posted 10 months ago #
buckeyecpa

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My biggest problem with the city is they do not fall under PUCO's watch. The rates are slightly different. My city electric bills have a higher rate but not noticeable. And last year at this time they attempted to sneak in a landlord billing rule that was eventually squashed once the area landlords found out and threaten to challenge in court.

Is this a campus property that has been around for awhile?

Posted 10 months ago #
NerosNeptune
Goodale Park
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I've had both.. I don't keep track enough to know how different the prices are.. they structure the bills differently. It's a little bit more convenient to pay AEP than city electric. I'm surprised you have any choice.. I thought a building was either city or AEP.

Posted 10 months ago #
howatzer

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I think you either got bad info or misunderstood it, because you can't switch between the two - they are completely different grids. Even if you could switch, you would need to have some very expensive street-level wiring done and replace the meters. This is why electric is always a regulated monopoly wherever you go (in fact, it's pretty rare to have parallel grids at all - it's why columbus's alleys are a crazy spider's web of utility lines and probably makes repair/maintenance all the more difficult).

What was probably meant is that where you live will have either City power or AEP. It seems pretty random which house is on what around campus and south.

Posted 10 months ago #
mrmann

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I live in the campus area and I have this choice. My understanding is the city is vacating the business, which presses me to make an educated decision before they go unilaterally. Staying with the city is akin to banking on Blockbuster.

I also was given a choice but all csr's pointed me to AEP.

It seems a case of dead man walking...

Belaboring the point is a bunch of hooey.

Posted 10 months ago #
lizless
Columbus/Hocking Hills
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City Electric.

Posted 10 months ago #
geoyui
West Side
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any thoughts on First Energy?

Posted 10 months ago #
buckeyecpa

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I'm still uncertain that you will truly have a choice in a provider. It's mapped. I deal with both in the campus area and the properties that I've looked into switching to AEP (so I had just one company to tell our residents) I realized it wasn't an easy task. You need paperwork from the city electric and then you need to contact your electrician and AEP to set up the new service. There is a significant amount of money involved with this also. Is your landlord just being generous and willing to change the service for you? I've never come across any situation where this works like time warner and ATT where you have an actual choice.

As for first energy, I've always stayed away from any of the third party resellers. The fine print on many of them is where the catch is. For a resident planning on being in a place for the long haul then it may be ok. But for a resident such as a student it isn't worth it at all since you're signing a contract with renewals.

Posted 10 months ago #
andrewsydlik

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I'm surprised that so many of you don't think I would have a choice. Here is what it says on the City's site:

I didn’t know there were two electric utilities in Columbus. Do I really have a choice of electric providers?
In many areas of the city residential and commercial customers have a choice of electric suppliers between AEP and the Columbus Division of Power and Water (Power Section). Power’s service territory does not extend into all areas of the city see the service area map), so not everyone who wants power from Columbus can receive it. However, there is nothing to prevent any electric customer from choosing providers, if either AEP or the city’s Power Section has power lines nearby to serve them.
City of Columbus Electric FAQ

This is an apartment building with Northsteppe Realty. Their move-in paperwork gives info for both providers, and only one gas company (Columbia Gas).

Posted 10 months ago #
andrewsydlik

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Just called Northsteppe, and I have to use AEP. Oh well. I'll also need advice on Internet service and phone service (I'll make a separate post). Thanks to everyone for their comments.

Posted 10 months ago #