Ohio Net Metering in 2026: State Review Leaves the Rules Unchanged, for Now

Ohio’s rooftop solar rules came up for their required five-year review in 2025, and the state’s largest utility asked for major changes. The proposal that came out of the review makes none. Here is what the record shows and what it does not.

The Short Version

What Happened

Ohio agencies must review their rules every five years. The PUCO opened its review of the net metering rule in case 25-0349-EL-ORD. PUCO staff recommended no changes, according to the Ohio Environmental Council.

The PUCO filed the rule with the state’s Common Sense Initiative office, which reviews rules for their effect on business, on November 5, 2025. Comments were open from November 5 to November 28, 2025.

The CSI memo, dated February 10, 2026, summarizes what came in:

• AEP Ohio (Ohio Power Company) argued the rule conflicts with state law and that “net metering only applies to standard-service customers.” It also argued that net metering customers shift costs onto the distribution system.
• The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel shared the cost concern, saying customer generators “are not paying a fair share of distribution costs.”
• In support of the existing rule: Solar United Neighbors, Interstate Gas Supply, the Retail Energy Supply Association, the Ohio Environmental Council with the Environmental Law and Policy Center, and the Citizens Utility Board of Ohio.
• The public: about 275 people commented in support of the rule.

The PUCO’s response, as recorded in the memo: the current standards were “exhaustively litigated,” and AEP’s comments did not provide “the required data and detail necessary to implement such a large change.” The CSI office concluded that the PUCO “should proceed in filing the proposed rule” with JCARR.

What AEP Ohio Proposed

Canary Media reported in January 2026 that AEP wanted to move from net metering to net billing, with distribution charges applied to all electricity flowing through a solar home, including power sent back to the grid. It also wanted to limit net metering to customers who do not buy power from a competitive supplier or a community aggregation program.

That second point matters in Ohio. Many households buy supply from a competitive supplier or through their city’s aggregation program. Under AEP’s reading they would have lost access to net metering credits from the utility.

Every other party that filed formal replies opposed the changes, Canary Media reported. Only the Consumers’ Counsel supported AEP.

What the Current Rule Does

These terms come from the PUCO’s December 2018 ruling and are the ones the no-change proposal keeps:

• Who must offer it: Ohio’s investor-owned utilities, including AEP Ohio, AES Ohio, Duke Energy Ohio and FirstEnergy’s three Ohio utilities.
• Export credit: excess generation is credited for the energy portion of the supply rate. Capacity and delivery charges are not credited.
• Size limit: up to 120% of a customer’s average annual use.
• Shopping customers: eligible.
• Not covered: cooperatives and municipal utilities.

So Ohio’s version of net metering is already less than a one-for-one retail credit. A kWh you use in your home avoids supply and per-kWh delivery charges. A kWh you export earns only the energy part of supply.

Why It Matters for Your Bill

Default supply rates rose on June 1, 2026. AEP Ohio’s is 10.12¢/kWh and AES Ohio’s is 10.9¢. AES Ohio tied its increase to higher capacity auction results. Capacity is the part of the supply rate that an exported kWh does not earn. A higher supply rate therefore raises the value of solar you use yourself by more than it raises the value of solar you export.

EIA put Ohio’s average residential price at 19.45¢/kWh in July 2026, up 11.9% from 17.38¢ a year earlier. That is a statewide average that includes fixed charges, not a tariff rate.

If AEP’s proposal had been adopted, the gap between self-use and export would have widened further for its customers. Under the no-change proposal it stays where it is.

What We Could Not Confirm

• The final step. The CSI memo recommends filing with JCARR. We did not find the PUCO’s final order in case 25-0349-EL-ORD or the outcome of JCARR review. The rule could still be challenged or revisited.
• Current credit rates. We did not find the cents-per-kWh excess generation credit for each utility. It is in each utility’s net metering tariff.
• Future attempts. Nothing stops a utility from asking again in a rate case or a later rule review.

What Solar Owners and Shoppers Should Do

1. Read your utility’s net metering tariff and find the excess generation credit. Do not assume the full price to compare.
2. If you buy from a competitive supplier, ask the supplier how it credits excess generation. Terms can differ from the utility’s.
3. Size to your own use. With energy-only credits, production beyond what you use earns the least.
4. Ask your installer what credit the savings estimate assumes for exported power. An estimate that values every kWh at the full retail rate overstates savings in Ohio.
5. Check the PUCO docket for case 25-0349-EL-ORD before signing if the rule’s status matters to your decision.

For the rate side of the picture, see our Ohio rate guide. For the math, see the solar payback guide and our comparison of export credit rates by utility.

Sources

• Ohio Common Sense Initiative, CSI Review memo: Net Metering (OAC 4901:1-10-28), February 10, 2026
• Canary Media, “Ohio’s largest utility pushes to slash rooftop solar compensation,” January 6, 2026
• Ohio Environmental Council, post on the PUCO net metering review, December 11, 2025
• Canary Media, “What Ohio’s latest net metering ruling means for utility customers,” January 9, 2019
• Solar United Neighbors, Net metering in Ohio
• AEP Ohio Wire, SSO rate change, June 30, 2026
• AES Ohio, Understanding energy supply
• U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A (July 2026 data)