County briefed on higher electric prices; supplier changes recommended after competitive RFP

Portage County commissioners were briefed by a Palmer Energy representative on the results of a competitive request for proposals to supply electricity for county facilities, and staff recommended splitting county meters into three supply groups with a mix of fixed and capacity pass-through pricing.

The presentation, delivered to the Portage County Board of Commissioners, outlined an estimated annual usage of about 21,000,000 kilowatt-hours across 77 meters served by the Ohio Edison utility and said the county's existing supplier, DynaG Energy, has a contract that ends in May. The Palmer Energy representative said the RFP produced an all-inclusive fixed offer for smaller meters and a capacity pass-through structure for larger meters, with CPV Energy offering the lower base price for the larger groups.

The recommendation matters because it affects county operating budgets and how future efficiency projects will change monthly costs. The presenter explained that capacity charges have grown and now make up roughly 35% of the per-kilowatt-hour price; that dynamic, together with strong demand from data centers, has lifted market bids. The representative said, "capacity makes up about now 35% of your per kilowatt hour price" and added that data-center growth has been a major driver: "The average data center uses about 400 or or annually about the same as 450,000 households." The presentation noted exceptional savings in a recent 12-month period (October 2023 to September 2024) of just over $1 million but cautioned that such discounts are not typical going forward.

Key figures and structure from the RFP results as presented: the county's program was divided into three groups (small, medium and large) based on annual usage; group 1 (meters under 700,000 kWh) was offered an all-inclusive fixed price (presented as 0.08046 $/kWh in the materials); groups 2 and 3 (larger users) were offered lower base commodity prices (example shown as 0.05767 $/kWh) with capacity charged as a monthly pass-through tied to each meter's profile. For Portage County specifically, the presenter said about 70 meters fell in the small category, six in the middle category and one meter exceeded 4,000,000 kWh and would be placed in the large category.

Commissioners were told to expect supplier-change notifications mailed to meter locations and were advised to alert county departments that handle those meters. The presenter said suppliers are attracted to government aggregation because governments are stable, allow suppliers to be aggressive on pricing, and because larger pooled purchasing power yields better offers. No formal county action was recorded during the presentation; the item was informational with staff recommending the supplier split and the pricing approaches that were described.

County staff and the Palmer Energy representative answered questions from commissioners about capacity supply and timelines for generation projects; the presenter said new natural gas generation is the most likely near-term response and that larger projects such as nuclear plants would take many years. The representative concluded by offering to answer follow-up questions and reminding the board that monthly bills for larger meters will reflect capacity pass-through changes.

Departments will receive change-of-supplier notices by mail; staff recommended outreach to affected department contacts so they expect those notices and can pass them to property/meter stewards.