New electric aggregation program brings cheaper energy to Oxford

The City of Oxford switched to a new electric aggregation program with Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC) this past January. The program offers 100% renewable energy to eligible residents and small businesses in Oxford at a discounted rate.

SOPEC is a council of government whose main goals are to help communities achieve their clean energy goals and save money, which both have been accomplished in Oxford.

In the summer of 2025, Reena Murphy, sustainability coordinator for Oxford, presented two resolutions for this program to the Oxford City Council. Council approved it during the June 14 meeting.

Being a part of the new program with SOPEC puts community members in a buying group to combine purchasing power, making it easier for SOPEC to negotiate rates from certified suppliers. When the current contract term ends in June 2026, AEP Energy will still be the supplier for the Oxford aggregation group, and a new rate will be negotiated for Oxford and other SOPEC member communities, Jennifer O’Donnell, regional director for Southwest Ohio for SOPEC, said.

Any community member who is eligible – under the threshold of 700,000 kWh per year – is automatically opted in. If they are not eligible, they will be served by the local electric distribution utility, Duke Energy Ohio.

The majority of households are eligible because “the average annual amount of electricity sold to (or purchased by) a U.S. residential electric-utility customer was 10,791 kilowatthours,” according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

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O’Donnell said that while people have seen big rate increases in their electric bills recently, this is not due to the new program, but instead increased market demand. In fact, joining SOPEC’s program has actually saved Oxford residents money.

“The bigger customer you are, the more leverage you have in a market,” O’Donnell said. “They weren’t going to see any savings unless they banded together to form a larger buying group.”

The new program has no additional charges, which means it comes down to the rate: The Oxford aggregation program rate of 9.114 cents/kWh is lower than Duke Energy Ohio’s price to compare, which is currently 10.06 cents/kWh.

In addition to saving money, Oxford residents will continue to receive supply with 100% renewable energy credits.

“We made renewable energy that wasn’t going to exist without our efforts,” Jason Bracken, chair of the environmental commission, said at the environmental commission meeting on Feb. 4.

It is not mandatory to be a part of this program, but residents must fill out a form to remove themselves from the buying group, or else they will be included in the services SOPEC offers. These letters were mailed out at the end of November 2025.

“They have the right to choose,” Murphy said. “This is just one of their options, and we hope it’s the easiest and most cost saving.”

For students who live in off-campus housing, O’Donnell said she encourages them to ask their landlord if they’re in the program. Even if they don’t pay the bill directly, it’s part of their rent. If landlords stay in the program, students could save money.

“It would definitely be a benefit to residents who are paying their bills,” O’Donnell said, “and it would be a benefit to renters as well.”

obrie175@miamioh.edu