What changed on your bill
Effective April 1, 2026, AEP Ohio's new Basic Transmission Cost Rider added about $7.90 a month to the average residential bill, pushing the effective rate from roughly 3.6¢ to 4.3¢/kWh. Regulators approved the rider alongside a new minimum-billing tariff specifically aimed at large data-center customers, intended to make sure big new loads pay their share of the transmission buildout they require.
Separately, FirstEnergy — which serves other parts of Ohio — reached a settlement with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) in January 2026 to recover $245 million in storm and grid costs, adding roughly $3 a month to average FirstEnergy bills.
Why the new data-center tariff matters
The data-center minimum-billing tariff is worth paying attention to beyond Ohio: it's one of the more direct regulatory attempts to keep massive new industrial loads from quietly shifting transmission costs onto residential customers, a dynamic showing up across PJM territory as new data centers come online faster than new generation and transmission capacity.
See how this plays out nationally, including in neighboring PJM states, in our data centers and electricity costs breakdown →.
Where Ohio's plug-in solar bill stands
Ohio has its own plug-in solar bill, HB 755, which would permit residential plug-in solar systems up to 1,200W without utility approval or interconnection requirements. It remains in the House Energy Committee with no vote scheduled as of late August 2026. Until it passes, a grid-tied plug-in system isn't a clean legal option in Ohio.
Bottom line
Two separate riders — one tied to transmission and data-center growth, one to storm recovery — both hit Ohio bills in 2026. Neither is going away, and HB 755 is worth tracking as a potential offset if it eventually passes.
Further reading
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