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Ohio Electricity Customers Shopping Around

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More than half of all power customers in Ohio are buying their electricity from a supplier other than their local utility.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that it's the result of deregulation in the electricity market that started in steps in 2001. Now the state is considering even more changes to encourage customers to shop for their electricity.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio showed at the end of September that 51 percent of Ohio homes and 52 percent of all electricity customers in utility service areas were buying their power from a competitive supplier.

That doesn't include the 380,000 mostly rural customers served by nonprofit electricity cooperatives, which don't participate in the open market.

Switch rates exceeded 50 percent for the first time earlier this year.