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Ohio Grid Modernization: What It Means for Businesses

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The short answer

Ohio's four investor-owned utility groups have been replacing meters with smart meters (AMI) and adding distribution automation that reroutes power around faults. For a business, three things change: you can get 15-minute interval data instead of one monthly reading; suppliers can price your actual load shape instead of a class average; and you pay for the investment through PUCO-approved riders or base rates on the delivery side of the bill. The upgrades can shorten some outages, but they don't change what you pay for generation.

For step-by-step instructions on getting your data, see how to get your electricity data from Ohio utilities. For transmission and distribution build-out and who pays for it, see Ohio energy infrastructure modernization. For reliability concepts such as reserve margins, see understanding grid reliability.

Where each utility stands

Utility Smart-meter and grid-modernization status
AEP Ohio gridSMART phases 1–3; Phase 3, approved in December 2021, added about 475,000 smart meters, bringing the total to about 1.375 million. In July 2025, PUCO approved a seven-year, roughly $350 million distribution-automation plan covering at least 300 circuits (Case 24-787-EL-RDR).
Duke Energy Ohio Early AMI deployment: about 718,000 smart meters in Ohio, including about 88,000 commercial and industrial meters, according to a U.S. Department of Energy case study.
FirstEnergy (Ohio Edison, CEI, Toledo Edison) Grid Mod I installed more than 715,000 smart meters. Grid Mod II, a roughly $421 million, four-year plan settled in 2024, adds about 1.4 million more, with installation from April 2025 through 2027.
AES Ohio Smart Grid Plan approved in June 2021: about $249 million over four years, including AMI across its service territory.

The state framework behind these plans is PUCO's PowerForward review, which produced a roadmap in August 2018 aimed at, among other things, expanding customer access to energy-use data.

If your site still has an older meter, ask your utility when it's scheduled for replacement. Larger accounts may already have interval (IDR) metering: AEP Ohio, for example, requires interval metering for customers with a maximum monthly billing demand of 200 kW or more.

How it's paid for

Grid-modernization costs sit on the delivery side of your bill, so they apply no matter which supplier you use:

  • Riders. Approved grid-modernization spending is often recovered through a dedicated rider while a program is under way. Names differ by utility; look for a smart-grid, grid-modernization or infrastructure line in your utility's tariff.
  • Base rates. Completed investments can later be moved into base distribution rates in a rate case.
  • Rate-case cadence. HB 15 requires every Ohio utility to file a rate case by the end of 2029 and every three years after, so these costs will be reviewed on a regular cycle.

The utilities' own estimates for recent plans ranged from about $0.33 a month (AEP Ohio gridSMART Phase 3, typical residential customer) to about $1.50 a month (FirstEnergy Grid Mod II, typical residential customer). Business charges depend on the rate schedule, but they're usually small next to generation, capacity and demand charges.

What smart meters change for a business

Before AMI With AMI
One reading per month, sometimes estimated Actual reads, remotely, every billing cycle
Monthly kWh and one peak kW Usage in 15-minute (or hourly) intervals
Outages reported by phone Meters can report outages automatically
Hard to see when load happens Clear view of start-up spikes, overnight baseload and summer peak-hour load

Ohio rules require your utility to provide, on request and at no charge, 24 months of usage history and detailed consumption data where available. Utility portals increasingly show interval data as well — AEP Ohio's Energy Dashboard, for example, shows smart-meter customers usage down to 15-minute intervals.

What it means for supplier pricing

When a supplier quotes a fixed price, it's estimating the cost of serving your load hour by hour. Interval data changes that estimate:

  • Flat, predictable loads (cold storage, 24/7 manufacturing) usually benefit, because the data proves the load is cheap to serve.
  • Peaky or afternoon-heavy loads may be priced higher once the supplier can see them, but you also learn exactly where the cost comes from.
  • Capacity and transmission tags are visible to suppliers, and they price them directly. A lower tag shows up in the next quote.
  • Consent is required. Suppliers and brokers need your written authorization (a letter of authorization) to pull your interval history. AEP Ohio, for example, has separate authorization forms for interval and non-interval data.

A clean 12-month interval file also makes RFPs faster and quotes more comparable — see building an energy data room for an RFP.

Reliability: what automation can and can't do

Distribution automation lets a circuit detect a fault, isolate the damaged section and restore power to the rest automatically. That can shorten or avoid outages for customers on upgraded circuits. It doesn't prevent outages from major storms that damage many lines at once, and it doesn't address PJM-wide supply shortfalls. Your continuity plan should still assume multi-day outages are possible — see energy continuity planning.

What to do now

  1. Check your meter type and whether your utility portal shows interval data.
  2. Download 12–24 months of interval data for each account and keep it with your bills.
  3. Look at your summer peak-hour load, which sets your capacity tag.
  4. Scan your tariff for grid-modernization or infrastructure riders so a new line on the bill isn't a surprise.
  5. Share data selectively. Give letters of authorization only to certified suppliers or brokers you're actually working with.

FAQ

Do Ohio businesses have smart meters?

Most do or soon will. AEP Ohio, Duke Energy Ohio and AES Ohio have deployed AMI, and FirstEnergy's Ohio utilities are installing about 1.4 million more meters through 2027.

Who pays for grid modernization in Ohio?

Customers do, through PUCO-approved delivery riders or base rates. These charges apply regardless of your supplier.

Can I get my 15-minute interval data?

Yes. Ohio rules require utilities to provide 24 months of usage history and detailed consumption data, where available, on request at no charge, and many utility portals show interval data for smart-meter accounts.

Will a smart meter change my supply price?

Not by itself. It gives suppliers your actual load shape, which can lower quotes for flat loads and raise them for peaky ones.

Sources

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