April 17, 2025
Left in the Dark: Why Ohio’s Grid Isn’t Working For Everyone
By Jesse Velazquez
Reliable electricity is more than a convenience; it’s a public good. Reliable and affordable electricity is foundational to community health, safety, and economic stability. Yet, Ohio’s current strategy for electric grid upgrades perpetuates systemic underinvestment. FirstEnergy is asking to raise rates for all its customers, but not all customers will benefit equally without changing how we define and measure “reliability.”
What is reliability? Reliability is about keeping the lights on. Reliability metrics are report cards for the electric utilities. They measure how consistently the electric grid delivers power to customers without interruptions. A reliable grid has fewer outages (how often power goes out), shorter outages (how long it takes to restore power), and stable voltage (keeping devices and equipment running smoothly.)
The Problem with Outdated Metrics
The PUCO is grading on a curve that favors utilities and leaves customers behind.
For decades, utilities and regulators have relied on metrics designed to measure average electricity interruptions for both the grid and customers. While these metrics offer a broad overview, they rely on averages and often exclude outages caused by major weather events. As a result, they can obscure the true reliability challenges certain neighborhoods face.
This averaging effect hides disparities. A utility may meet its overall performance goals while entire communities experience frequent or extended outages. Without more detailed data, these issues remain hidden, and investments often go to areas that already perform well rather than those most in need.
Findings from FirstEnergy’s Territory
The Ohio Environmental Council (OEC), in partnership with the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), released a Grid Disparity Analysis of FirstEnergy’s service area as part of the current rate case. The analysis revealed significant disparities affecting vulnerable populations.
- Lower Voltage Infrastructure: Marginalized communities are twice as likely to be served by low-voltage circuits. These are more prone to reliability issues and less able to support renewable energy or electrification.
- Aging Equipment: Circuits in underserved areas are, on average, 3.4 to 4.2 years older than those in more affluent areas, which increases the risk of failures and service disruptions.
- Reduced Capacity: Circuits in traditionally excluded communities have up to 23% less emergency load capacity, limiting their ability to handle growth or new technologies like rooftop solar and electric vehicles.
The current reliability standards used by FirstEnergy do not show these problems. Therefore, FirstEnergy and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio should consider different metrics to reflect the reliability of electricity in our most vulnerable areas more accurately.
What is a vulnerable community? These communities are areas that experience greater environmental, economic, or health challenges due to historical and systemic inequities.
A Better Way to Measure Reliability
To address these blind spots, many experts are advocating for the use of more customer-focused metrics. These include:
- CEMI (Customers Experiencing Multiple Interruptions): Measures how many customers suffer frequent outages, regardless of system averages.
- CEMM (Customers Experiencing Multiple Momentaries): Tracks short outages that can still disrupt life and business, like internet loss or equipment resets.
- CELID (Customers Experiencing Long Interruption Durations): Identifies customers who experience extremely long outages, which often go unreported.
These metrics offer a more accurate picture of how utilities serve all customers, especially those in communities traditionally left out of grid modernization efforts. Right now, FirstEnergy does not use these metrics, nor does the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio require any electric utility to use these metrics.
A Legislative Opportunity: HB 15 Could Help Fix Ohio’s Grid Inequities
House Bill 15 is a comprehensive energy reform bill currently under consideration by Ohio lawmakers. This legislation could reform how electric reliability is measured and reported, an essential step toward identifying and addressing service inequities across the state.
By requiring utilities to track and disclose more customer-centric reliability metrics, HB 15 would bring greater:
- Transparency: Detailed data would reveal which communities experience frequent or prolonged outages, rather than relying on averages that mask disparities.
- Accountability: Utilities could be held to clear performance standards beyond simple averages, ensuring that all Ohioans, not just those in high-demand or affluent areas, receive reliable service.
- Equity: Incorporating justice-focused metrics would help direct investment to historically underserved communities, improving resilience and supporting clean energy access across the board.
Call to Action
FirstEnergy’s rate case makes it clear: what we measure is what gets fixed. Ohio must update its approach to utility reliability by adopting metrics that reflect real-world experiences. HB 15 can provide the framework for that shift, but it needs public support.Take Action: Contact your state legislators and urge them to support HB 15’s provisions on modernizing reliability metrics. Together, we can ensure a more just, transparent, and resilient energy future for all Ohioans.
