Franklin Co. Cold-Storage Facility Electricity: Multi-Site
Cold Storage · Franklin County, Ohio
Market-reference note: Numerical default-price examples below retain their cited 2026 reference period. They are historical class-level context, not a current account quote. Confirm the applicable business rate, components and effective dates on your bill before comparing an offer. How to establish your benchmark.
Can several cold-storage facilities in Franklin County share one electricity contract?
Yes, with one caveat: Franklin County is served by two investor-owned utilities (AEP Ohio and Ohio Edison), and suppliers price each utility territory separately. A single master agreement can still cover every site, with a price column per utility.
Leave out any location served by a municipal electric system — in Franklin County that includes Columbus (Division of Power), Obetz, and Westerville — because those meters generally can't be enrolled with a retail supplier.
Rural sites served by an electric cooperative — Consolidated Cooperative, South Central Power Company, and The Energy Cooperative (Licking Rural Electrification) — are in the same position.
Portfolio math for cold-storage facilities in Franklin County
Take an illustrative operator with three smaller and two mid-size locations (50,000 ft² and 150,000 ft²):
| Portfolio measure | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Combined annual use | 13.30 million kWh |
| Combined capacity tags | about 2,064 kW |
| Capacity cost at 2026/27 price ($329.17/MW-day) | about $247,936 a year |
| Illustrative tags at the 2024/25 RTO reference ($28.92/MW-day) | about $21,783 a year |
| Value of each 0.5¢/kWh in supply price | about $66,600 a year |
How these numbers are built: annual use = 29.6 kWh/ft² (EIA CBECS 2018 Table C22, refrigerated warehouse (mean; small sample of ~3,000 buildings nationally)). Peak demand assumes a 70% load factor; the capacity tag assumes 95% of that peak falls in the grid's summer peak hours. Capacity cost uses PJM's 2026/27 clearing price of $329.17/MW-day (about $120 per kW-year) before utility scaling factors. These are illustrations for sizing a decision — your own bills and interval data are what suppliers price.
At that combined size the operator is a meaningful account for suppliers, even if each location on its own is below Ohio's 700,000 kWh-a-year “mercantile” line. Each account's aggregation eligibility is still judged site by site.
Utilities and default prices across Franklin County
| Utility | Small-business default generation price | Cities on this site in the county |
|---|---|---|
| AEP Ohio | Varies by rate schedule (on your bill) | Columbus, Dublin, Gahanna, Grove City, Hilliard, Reynoldsburg, Upper Arlington |
| Ohio Edison | Historical class reference: 9.38¢/kWh (June 1, 2026 – May 31, 2027, annual average) | — |
| Westerville Electric Division | Not shoppable (municipal) | Westerville |
Structuring a multi-site contract
- Master agreement with site schedules. Sign one agreement and list each location on a schedule, so opening or closing a cold-storage facility is an amendment, not a new negotiation.
- Add/delete rights. Ask for the right to add new locations at the contract price (or a formula) and to remove closed locations without penalty up to a set share of volume.
- Aggregate bandwidth. Measure usage tolerance across the whole portfolio rather than meter by meter, so one busy site doesn't trigger true-up charges.
- Co-terminous end dates. Put every site on the same end date so the next bid covers the full portfolio.
- Aggregation exits. Locations at 700,000 kWh a year or less may be in a community aggregation program; confirm how each will be moved to the new supplier and whether any exit terms apply.
Operating issues specific to cold-storage facilities
Refrigeration runs continuously, so load factor is high and summer afternoons add compressor load exactly when grid capacity is most expensive.
Across a portfolio, the biggest wins usually come from standardizing settings and comparing sites against each other. For cold-storage facilities, that means:
- Pre-cool (“load shift”) product and space before summer peak hours; California requires funded projects to shift at least 20% of peak kW.
- Maintain dock seals, rapid-roll doors and air curtains.
- Add variable-frequency drives on evaporator fans and condensers.
At 2026–2029 capacity prices, each kilowatt of capacity tag costs roughly $120 a year, so the ability to ride through peak hours on thermal mass is worth real money.
FAQ
Can a cold-storage facility operator buy electricity for all Franklin County locations together?
Yes. A supplier can put every shoppable site under one agreement; expect separate prices for AEP Ohio and Ohio Edison accounts.
Which Franklin County locations can't be included?
Sites served by municipal systems in Columbus (Division of Power), Obetz, and Westerville or electric cooperatives (Consolidated Cooperative, South Central Power Company, and The Energy Cooperative (Licking Rural Electrification)) generally can't be enrolled with a retail supplier.
What contract fits a cold-storage facility?
Usually a fixed or block-and-index product priced on interval data; the flat load gets favorable pricing.
Related: Cold storage & refrigerated warehouses in Ohio · Franklin County utilities · single-site cold-storage facility costs in Columbus
Decision worksheet: Franklin County cold-storage facility operations
Keep ownership and eligibility separate
A county-wide project can combine owner-operated locations, leased space and municipal-service accounts. Build the service schedule from each meter’s actual delivery utility and legal customer; a common county address is not a common enrollment right.
For a cold-storage facility in this market, the useful starting evidence is temperature-critical refrigeration separately from door-opening and defrost peaks. This is a review question, not an assumption that every local facility has the same equipment or schedule. Record what your site actually does, then explain the difference between the historical bill period and the proposed contract term.
| Delivery-utility guide for Franklin County | Evidence needed before pricing |
|---|---|
| AEP Ohio | Confirm the actual account class and contract; service territory is not the same as a county boundary. |
| Ohio Edison | Confirm the actual account class and contract; service territory is not the same as a county boundary. |
The local guide is a starting map, not an address-level enrollment determination. Keep utility bills and account identifiers in the private document package, not the initial website inquiry. The Ohio bill guide explains how to identify the delivery and supply companies.
A cold-storage facility review should test these operating questions
- Load separation: identify refrigeration compressors, fans and defrost cycles. Distinguish electricity use from gas, water and other operating costs before comparing a retail electric offer.
- Change case: document new temperature zones, product throughput or refrigeration controls. Ask the supplier whether that change affects quoted volume, capacity treatment, demand assumptions or the offer’s validity.
- Comparable performance: track kWh per stored-volume-day with temperature setpoints recorded. A raw dollar-per-month comparison mixes prices and operations; a unit measure needs the operating context beside it.
- Account responsibility: Which load changes are safe for product quality and which are prohibited? Record the responsible party and who can authorize a contract before asking someone to sign.
- Contract fit: Does the supply offer pass capacity changes through to the operator? Ask for the answer in the actual agreement or written offer schedule, rather than relying on a sales summary.
Evidence table for the next decision
| Question for this cold-storage facility | Bring this evidence | What a useful answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Has the bill risen because of price or operations? | Same-period kWh, peak kW where billed, hours and production/occupancy records | A separation of rate, volume and demand effects; no automatic savings claim |
| Will the next term resemble the last twelve months? | The planned new temperature zones, product throughput or refrigeration controls | A base case and a change case, with supplier tolerances shown |
| Are supply offers priced on equal terms? | Start dates, included components, additional fees and offer expiry | One comparison matrix that identifies every excluded or adjustable item |
| Is the site free to enroll when proposed? | Current agreement, renewal notice and actual utility confirmation | A documented timeline that avoids an unintended rollover or early-exit charge |
Portfolio review across Franklin County
Use a separate row for every property rather than one total for the whole business. Start with Columbus, Dublin, Gahanna, Grove City, Hilliard, Reynoldsburg, Upper Arlington, Westerville. A common owner can negotiate a master agreement, but meters still have their own rate classes, delivery utilities, start dates and operational constraints. Do not assume that pooling bills creates a volume discount or makes a municipal meter eligible.
For cold-storage facilities, preserve kWh per stored-volume-day with temperature setpoints recorded at site level before rolling it into a portfolio dashboard. Otherwise a busy or continuously operating location can hide the cost of an idle one. Align contract end dates only after identifying any early-exit costs, add/delete rights and ownership-transfer provisions.
Turn this into a review request
Use the private comparison and renewal tools for a first pass. They do not submit your figures. If you want help, choose “Offer comparison” or “Renewal planner” on the Ohio inquiry form, identify Franklin County, and describe the question without account numbers or attachments. A supplier bid follows only if the account and decision support that step.
Primary reference points: PUCO electric-bill definitions, Ohio customer classifications and customer-choice guidance. Operating prompts above are planning guidance, not measured local savings or a claim about a specific customer.