Building an Ohio Commercial Energy Data Room for RFPs
Ohio market insight · Buying & contracts
The short answer
A data room is one shared folder that holds everything a supplier needs to give you a firm price:
- an account register sorted by utility
- 12–24 months of usage and demand
- interval data for larger or peaky sites
- capacity tags, plus transmission tags where they matter
- a signed letter of authorization
- credit documents
- your current contract terms
Suppliers price uncertainty. A complete package gets sharper, faster quotes, and a package with gaps gets padded prices or no bid at all. Build the room once and keep it current for every renewal.
This page covers the document package. For running the bid once the room is ready, see the RFP process guide. For turning interval data into a load profile, see load profiling. For getting data out of Ohio utilities, see getting your interval data.
Recommended folder structure
| Folder | Contents | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Account register | One spreadsheet row per utility account (see below) | Bills, utility portal |
| 2. Bills and usage | 12–24 months of full PDF bills, plus supplier invoices if you're dual-billed, and a monthly kWh and kW summary | Utility and supplier portals |
| 3. Interval data | 15-minute or hourly data for at least 12 months | Utility portal, or through a letter of authorization |
| 4. Tags | Capacity tag (PLC) per account, and transmission tag (NSPL) where relevant | Utility, via the letter of authorization |
| 5. Authorization | Signed letter of authorization | You |
| 6. Credit | Entity documents, W-9, financial statements, credit contact | Finance |
| 7. Current contracts | Agreements, amendments, renewal notices received | Your files or current supplier |
| 8. Operations notes | Hours, shifts, seasonality, expansions, closures, on-site generation, loads that can't be curtailed | Operations |
| 9. Product instructions | Terms to price, capacity treatment, bandwidth, renewable content, start-date window, bid deadline | You or your broker |
The account register
This is the most important file, because a single wrong digit here causes a failed enrollment later. Use one row per utility account, with these columns:
- Legal entity name, exactly as the utility has it
- Utility account number, exactly as printed
- Service address and site nickname
- Utility: AEP Ohio, Duke Energy Ohio, AES Ohio, Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company or Toledo Edison
- Rate schedule code and meter number
- Current supplier, contract end date and renewal terms
- Annual kWh and 12-month peak kW
- Capacity tag
- Mercantile (over 700,000 kWh a year)? Yes/No
- Enrolled in a community aggregation? Yes/No
- Site status: operating, opening or closing
Label every row with its utility. If you drop Duke Energy Ohio and Toledo Edison accounts into one unlabeled list with a single "target rate," you get meaningless comparisons and failed enrollments. Flag any meter served by a municipal utility or electric cooperative and leave it out of the supplier bid, because suppliers can't enroll those accounts. See municipal and co-op areas.
Usage history: how much is enough
- Twelve months minimum. Use 24 when one year was unusual because of a shutdown, an expansion or extreme weather.
- Full bills, not screenshots. Suppliers need read dates, billing demand and the rate schedule, not just totals.
- Mark the gaps. Flag estimated reads, missing months and one-off events so suppliers don't build them into the price.
- New sites. Explain how the usage estimate was built: equipment list, operating hours or a comparable site.
Interval data
Monthly totals show how much power you use. Interval data shows when you use it, and that timing drives both the energy price and your peaks. Include it for:
- mercantile accounts
- demand-billed sites
- multi-shift operations
- any site with a sharp start-up peak
- any site with on-site generation
Use a CSV file with a timestamp and a kWh or kW value for each interval. Note the time zone and how daylight-saving changes are handled. If you can't download it from the utility portal, the letter of authorization lets your broker or suppliers request it.
Capacity and transmission tags
- Capacity tag (PLC). Your utility assigns each account a kW figure that resets every June 1, based on your load during the previous summer's PJM peak hours. At the 2026/27 capacity price, about $120 per kW-year, a 200 kW tag carries roughly $24,000 a year of capacity cost. Suppliers price your tag directly. Include the current tag, and add next year's once the utility posts it. See capacity tags explained.
- Transmission tag (NSPL). AEP Ohio, Duke Energy Ohio, AES Ohio and the three FirstEnergy utilities all bill network transmission through non-bypassable riders, so most suppliers don't price it. Include the tag if the utility provides it, and point it out if you're in a utility transmission pilot that shifts those costs to your supplier.
Letter of authorization (LOA)
The LOA lets a named broker or supplier get your data from the utility. It should include:
- Customer legal name and every account number it covers
- The authorized party
- Scope: historical usage, interval data, capacity and transmission tags, account details
- An expiration date
- Signer's name, title and date
An LOA authorizes access to data. It does not authorize enrollment, which needs a signed supply contract. Usage data is commercially sensitive, so share it only with certified suppliers you actually invite, and check each one against PUCO's certified-company list.
Credit documents
Firm fixed prices usually expire the day they're issued, so credit has to be settled before price day. Include:
- Legal entity name, federal EIN, W-9 and proof of good standing
- Recent financial statements (private companies) or links to public filings
- A credit contact who can answer questions the same day
- For new or thinly capitalized entities, the security you're prepared to offer: a deposit, letter of credit or parent guarantee
PUCO's rules require suppliers to apply reasonable, non-discriminatory credit standards and to disclose deposit terms in the contract. For common problems, see supplier credit mistakes.
Current contract file
Suppliers need to know when they can start. You need to know what leaving costs. Record:
- the end date (in practice a meter read)
- the renewal clause and any renewal notices received (under HB 15, small commercial customers get notices 90–60 and 45–15 days before a fixed price converts to variable)
- the early-termination formula
- pass-throughs and bandwidth
Quality bar before you email suppliers
| Check | Pass | Fail |
|---|---|---|
| Continuity | No missing months in the bid window | Random screenshots |
| Peaks | kW on every bill, or interval data attached | kWh only, for a peaky load |
| Tags | Current capacity tag for every account | "We'll find out later" |
| Authority | A named signer who can bind the entity on price day | "We'll figure out who signs later" |
| Credit | Documents submitted, supplier pre-approval requested | Credit review planned for price day |
| Story | Growth, shutdowns and new equipment explained in plain English | Silence about a new production line |
| Fees | Broker compensation stated for every bid | Different, undisclosed fees by bidder |
For fee transparency, see understanding broker fees.
Operations notes suppliers actually use
Keep this to one page:
- operating hours and shifts by site
- seasonal swings
- planned expansions or closures, with dates
- new major equipment
- EV chargers
- on-site or planned solar (Ohio net metering allows systems sized up to 120% of usage)
- loads you can shift during summer peak alerts
These details explain your history and decide how much bandwidth you need.
After the award
Keep the room. It's what you'll use when an enrollment fails, when you check the first bill, and at the next renewal. Save the final bid grid and the winning contract, update the register when meters are added or closed, and replace the tags each June.
FAQ
How much usage history do suppliers need?
Twelve months at minimum. Twenty-four months is better when a single year was distorted by shutdowns, expansions or weather. Larger or peaky accounts should add interval data.
Do small accounts need a full data room?
A scaled-down one. Full PDF bills, an accurate account list, a signed LOA and your contract end date are enough for most small commercial quotes.
What is a letter of authorization for?
It lets a named broker or supplier get your usage history, interval data and tags from the utility. It doesn't let anyone switch your supplier. That requires a signed contract.
Who should host the data room?
A shared drive with access controls works. Version the account register, and don't rely on email threads as the record.