CREATED:GRAPHIC: SUBJECT:

REPORTER: EDITOR: ARTIST: WIDTH: DEPTH:

SLUG:

8/06/0900FGBILL.aiHow to decipher your electric billFunkRoguskiMarshall51 picas13 3/4 inches00FGBILL

PROOFPLEASE INITIAL AND RETURNTO GRAPHICS DEPARTMENT

ASSIGNING EDITORREPORTERCOPY EDITORLAYOUT EDITORGRAPHICS EDITORANOTHER ARTIST

!!!!!!

!!!!!!

FIXINITIALS OK

The monthly electric bill may look like a test to gauge a consumer’s patience. The statement is jammed with detail written in a language not spoken in most homes. The electricity is measured in something no one can imagine, let alone see, touch or smell. And its cost, though just pennies, seems to have gone out of control by the time you get to the bottom line.

What to do? Take a look at the Illuminating Co. sample summer bill and accompanying explainer. Ohio Edison bills are nearly identical.

1 Account summary and current basic charges: Electric utilities bill their customers

monthly for the amount of energy used the previous month, as measured by a meter or as estimated, using historical consumption patterns.

2 General information: If you are buying your electricity from a company other than the

Illuminating Co. or Ohio Edison, your bill will list that company here. Currently there are only two outside suppliers offering power here — FirstEnergy Solutions or Gexa Energy through NOPEC.

3 Price to Compare: This is the price, or the rate, the utility charges for each unit of power

it bought and paid to have moved over the high- voltage transmission system, also known as the “grid,” to the lower-voltage wires on your street, and finally, to your home.

What is a kWh? Imagine your teenager manages to turn on 10 table lamps around the house, each with a 100-watt bulb. You are now using 1,000 watts, or 1 kilowatt. The bulbs burn for an hour before you find them. You have consumed 1,000 watts (or 1 kilowatt) for one hour, or one kilowatt-hour, abbreviated 1 kWh. Don’t forget the delivery charges.

4 Charges from the utility: This is the most confusing section of the bill to many

consumers because it is detailed and written in terms that are defined elsewhere on your bill.

5 Customer charge: A fixed monthly $4 charge just for the privilege of being a customer. It

covers administrative costs.

6 Distribution Related Component: This is the delivery charge. It pays for your use of the

local wires, substations and transformers. It is also based on a rate — about 4 cents per kWh.

7 Transition charges: These will be on Illuminating Co. bills until Dec. 31, 2010, paying

down state-approved expenditures the utility made before deregulation began. The charges were in the rates before deregulation, but not listed separately. Ohio Edison transition charges have been paid off.

8 Cost Recovery Charges: Less than half a cent per kWh, these were authorized by the state to

reimburse the utility for upgrades to the big trans- mission lines it had to make when rates were locked at set prices. Illuminating Co. residential customers pay a much higher cost recovery charge than Ohio Edison customers because cost recovery for this company includes a rate to reimburse the utility for the long-term, deep-discount contracts it signed with industrial users before FirstEnergy bought the utility. As these contracts expire, any new CEI industrial discounts have to be linked to job creation or retention and have to be approved by the state.

9

the utility, if you buy the power from an outside supplier, and pay that company.9

Bypassable Generation and Transmission Component: This charge will appear on your

bill on the line below “Cost Recovery Charges” if you have continued to buy directly from the Illuminating Co. or Ohio Edison rather than an outside supplier. The awkward phrase refers to the price of the power itself and the charges for moving the electricity over the high-voltage transmission system called the “grid.” The fee is“bypassable,” meaning you won’t have to pay it to

outside supplier is FirstEnergy Solutions. It could also be Gexa Energy in NOPEC towns.

The section also shows how many kilowatt- hours you used and at what rate you are charged. In this sample bill, the customer is paying 6.53 cents per kWh, less than what Mr. Smith would have paid buying directly from the utility — listed at 7.26 cents per kWh, under “Price to Compare” on page 1.

10 Charges from the company that generated the electricity: These are

the charges levied by the outside supplier for the electricity it generated and transmitted over the grid to the utility. If you did not contract with an outside supplier, this will not appear on your bill. In this sample bill, the

1

2

Bypassable Generation and Transmission Component

SOURCES: FirstEnergy; Public Utilities Commission of Ohio GRAPHIC BY KEN MARSHALL | THE PLAIN DEALER

Account Summary

General Information

Price to Compare Message

Charges from FirstEnergy Solutions this billing period

Detail Payment and Adjustment Information

Account Balances by Company

Meter Reading Information

Amount Due

10

5

6

7

8

Total Due by Aug. 19, 2009 – Please pay this amount $90.92

79.51–79.51

0.00

41.9149.01

90.92

0.00

90.92

JOE SMITH2222 S. MAIN ST.CLEVELAND, OH 44114

Account Number: 11 00 13 5169 32

750 KWH x 0.065340 per KWH 49.01

$49.01

46.8832.6379.51

–46.88–32.63–79.51

41.9149.01

90.92

41.9149.01

90.92

Charges from The Illuminating Company this billing period4

3

Shedding light on electric billsHow to decipher your FirstEnergy bill

John Funk | Plain Dealer Reporter