Did you get this letter this week?
Hello Worthington! If you own or rent a home, a letter from the City probably showed up in your mailbox this week. It's about the city's electric aggregation program, which has an aim to both save the citizens money and to support renewable energy. Here's the short version so you don't have to work through the fine print.
What's going on
Since 2019, the City of Worthington has negotiated one big electricity deal on behalf of most residents and small businesses. It's called an aggregation program and voters approved it in 2018 with about 75% support.
Every couple of years the contract is up for renewal. The City just renewed it, and the letter you got is telling you about the new deal.
The new price
- 10.69¢ per kWh, locked in for two years
- Starts with your June 2026 bill and runs through June 2028
- 100% matched with wind energy. For every kWh the program uses, the City buys a wind Renewable Energy Certificate — an official claim on a matching amount of wind power generated somewhere on the grid. The electricity on your wires is still the regular grid mix, but your household's usage is counted against wind generation elsewhere. The EPA recognizes this at the 100% "Green Power Partner" level.
- AEP Ohio still delivers your electricity, reads your meter, and sends your bill. Nothing about your service changes.
(Full program details from Energy Alliances, the consultant that runs the bid process for the City.)
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What happens if you do nothing
You're automatically in the program, as long as you're eligible. You can leave any time later with no penalty. (You're not eligible if you're on PIPP, behind on your bill, already under contract with another supplier, or a business using over 700,000 kWh annually — call Energy Alliances at (513) 794-5555 if you're unsure.)
What if you'd rather stay with AEP?
You need to opt out by May 18, 2026. Three ways to do it, all through Direct Energy (the company the City picked this round):
- Mail: sign and return the form from the letter in the pre-paid envelope
- Email: aggregationsupport@directenergy.com
- Phone: 1-866-968-8065
If you opt out, you stay on AEP's regular rate — the one the utility sets and adjusts on its own schedule.
Is the new price a good deal?
The numbers are close.
Right now, AEP's regular rate is about 9.94¢ per kWh, a little cheaper than the aggregation's 10.69¢. But AEP's rate isn't locked in. It resets every two months based on the wholesale electricity market. In 2025 alone, AEP's rate swung from 7.3¢ all the way up to 10.4¢ — inside a single year (see the City's Q4 2025 report for the monthly numbers).
The aggregation rate is flat for two years. Think of it as trading "might be cheaper, might be more expensive" for "I know exactly what I'm paying."
Track record: across 2025, the aggregation saved the average Worthington household about $68 for the year and saved the whole city about $305,000.
One more thing: big data centers being built across Central Ohio are pushing wholesale electricity prices up fast, and nobody knows how much more they'll rise. A two-year locked rate is partly a hedge against that. On top of that, AEP added about $7.90 per month to the typical bill on April 1 through a transmission charge that hits everyone on AEP, aggregation or not.
Watch out for scams
Opt-out season brings out the scammers. Two rules to remember (straight from Energy Alliances' own warning page):
- The electric company will never come to your door. If someone says they're from "the City" or "Direct Energy" or "the utility" and wants to see your bill, close the door. They are lying.
- Ignore calls saying "your utility account has been flagged for review." That's a scam script.
If you're unsure about something, call the City at 614-436-3100 or Energy Alliances (the City's aggregation consultant) at (513) 794-5555. You can also add your household to the state's permanent Do-Not-Aggregate list if you never want to be auto-enrolled in any future aggregation.
If you want to dig in more
- City of Worthington — Electric Aggregation Program page — the official program page with quarterly performance reports
- 2026 Opt-Out Letter (PDF) — the exact letter arriving in mailboxes
- Energy Alliances — City of Worthington — the City's consultant; good scam warnings
- PUCO Apples-to-Apples comparison tool — compare every certified supplier in your area
Thanks for reading this special edition of Worthington Pulse! Hopefully this helped you understand the electric aggregation letter you may have received in the mail this week. If it did, please help spread Worthington Pulse by sending this to someone else who could also benefit!