How Much Will Your kWh Rate Save You?
We talk a lot about how switching your electricity plan can save you money over the price to compare. But, what if you want to know what you’re actually going to save? We’re not psychic, but we can at least get you close to an estimated amount. With a few quick calculations we can get you an idea of how many kWh your Ohio home uses.
Calculating Your kWh Usage
The easiest place to find your usage is on your monthly electric bill. Usually your utility provides 13 months of usage information on your bill. Of course, not everyone keeps their bills. But, you can you can get a rough estimate of your usage based on the square footage of your home. And while it’s not precise, it will give you a “ball park” sense of your home’s average usage.
According to the EIA, an average Ohio home uses on average about 879kWh per month. Remember that your usage may be lower or higher depending on your home’s size and and your energy use. And we also know that the average square footage of a home in Ohio is about 1803 square feet.
By dividing the square footage by kWh used, we get a rough usage rate of 2.05 kWh per square foot. So, to estimate your usage, take the square footage of your home and divide it by 2.05.
Adding Up Your kWh Cost
Now that we have an estimated usage, we can figure out how much your bill might be. This is a lot easier to do. Simply take your estimated kWh use and multiply that by the current price to compare. For example, in the Ohio Edison territory that PTC is 9.83 cents per kWh ($0.0983). For example, if we use EIA’s average Ohio home usage of 879 kWh, that gets us about $86.40.
But, this isn’t your entire bill. We have to include distribution charges. Ohio Edison imposes the same distribution charges on all customers in its territory, no matter who supplies your energy. That runs to about 3.72 cents per kWh ($0.0372). For our EIA average home example, that adds to $32.70.
Lastly, add up the supply and distribution charges. Our EIA example home is looking at a total monthly bill of roughly $119.10.
But, Ohio Edison and other Ohio utilities periodically change their standard service offer rates. This will happen on October 1 and it’s also likely these rates will rise. You can lock in a cheaper fixed rate on your monthly bills when you shop Ohio electricity rates that beat the standard service offer.
Electricity Rates That Can Save You Money
If you were to choose the 9 Month Power Plan from Constellation at just 6.39 cents per kWh, you’d only be paying 10.11 cents per kWh. For an average Ohio home, that’s roughly $88 per month. Alternatively, you could go with a longer plan like the Safe Harbor 18 plan from Energy Harbor. With their rate at 7.08 cents per kWh, that means your average monthly bill might only be around $94.
Any plan that is under the PTC rate can save you significant amounts of money on your electricity bill. Sure, $20 per month may not sound like a lot, but that’s $240 per year. Think about what you could do with an extra $240. To shop around for your next electricity rate, check out all the plans available at www.ohenergyratings.com