The Ohio Choice Natural Gas program allows customers to choose their natural gas supplier instead of automatically receiving gas from their local utility company. Here's how it works:

With Ohio's system, there are two separate components:

1. CenterPoint Energy owns the pipes and infrastructure that deliver gas to your home. They're responsible for maintaining lines, responding to emergencies, and reading your meter. This is regulated, and you can't choose this part.
2. For those not choosing a Choice supplier, a Standard Choice Offer (SCO) supplier is assigned. These SCO suppliers are the companies that provide the natural gas itself. This year’s SCO suppliers are Snyder Brothers, Direct Energy Services, Spire Energy and DTE Energy Trading.

When rates go up, it's important to understand that:

• The utility company only charges for the delivery service (regulated rates)
• The supplier charges for the actual gas (market-based rates)

Rate increases may occur because the supplier's portion has increased. This happens due to:

• Market fluctuations in natural gas commodity prices
• End of promotional rates that suppliers initially offered
• Contract renewals at higher rates
• Different pricing structures (fixed vs. variable rates)

Your bill combines both charges, so it can sometimes look like "the utility" is raising rates when actually could be the supplier portion that has increased. This year’s retail price adjustment will increase from $0.130 to $0.220 per CCF (one hundred cubic feet). This adjustment is added to the monthly settlement price of natural gas to determine your total gas supply rate. This rate is a pass-through rate and CenterPoint Energy does not profit off of this rate.

You will see this updated rate reflected on your bill beginning in April 2025. Based on average household usage, we estimate this change will impact your annual bill by approximately $70 for the gas commodity portion. The actual impact on your total bill will vary based on your usage and the monthly settlement price of natural gas.

We remain committed to providing reliable service and transparent communication about factors affecting your energy costs.