When a Painesville seller gives you a year of electric bills, how many of those months still reflect what the house costs to power today? In this city, last October's bill and this October's bill can show the same usage and still come out to different totals, and the published rate has little to do with the gap.
Painesville runs its own electric utility, Painesville Municipal Electric, which serves about 12,800 customers, according to Cleveland.com. The city's rates page splits every electric bill into three parts. There's a fixed monthly customer charge, a per-kilowatt-hour charge, and a Power Cost Factor that follows what the city pays to produce or buy electricity. The first two are set on a schedule. The third is recalculated every month, and it's the one that has moved.
The Line That Nearly Doubled
Here are the in-city residential numbers the city has posted, with the Power Cost Factor shown in cents per kWh so it lines up with the base rate:
| Component, in-city residential | January 2025 | October 2025 | October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly customer charge | $15.85 | $15.85 | $16.70 |
| Base kWh charge | 10.460¢ | 10.460¢ | 10.925¢ |
| Power Cost Factor | 1.858¢ | 2.593¢ | 3.489¢ |
From 2025 to 2026, the base kWh charge went up about 4.4%. Over the same stretch, the Power Cost Factor went from $0.018576 per kWh in January 2025 to $0.034888 in October 2026, an increase of nearly 88%. It rose every month from January through May 2026, dipped a little in June and July, then climbed again in August, September and October. October 2026, the latest month the city has posted, is the highest figure on the table.
Add the two per-kWh lines together and the October rate went from about 13.05 cents in 2025 to about 14.41 cents in 2026. Roughly two-thirds of that increase came from the Power Cost Factor.
Why a Year of Bills Understates the Cost
The city describes its kWh charge as progressive, meaning the per-kWh rate drops as usage goes up, so a full bill takes some care to recreate. The Power Cost Factor is simpler. The city multiplies it by every kilowatt-hour you use. That makes it easy to see in isolation. Here's that one line at an illustrative 800 kWh a month:
- January 2025: 800 × $0.018576 = about $14.86
- October 2025: 800 × $0.025933 = about $20.75
- October 2026: 800 × $0.034888 = about $27.91
So a single line on the bill, at the same usage, costs about $13 more a month than it did in January 2025. A twelve-month bill history running from late 2025 into fall 2026 averages months with a lower Power Cost Factor in with the current one, so the average comes out below what a new owner would pay at today's factor. A homeowner who has lived there for years may be quoting an even older bill from memory.
Why the City Can't Publish This Line Years Ahead
Painesville publishes much of its utility pricing years in advance. The sewer rate is $7.15 per 100 cubic feet in 2026 and is already set to rise to $7.51 in 2027, $7.89 in 2028 and $8.28 in 2029. The in-city water rate stays at $3.31 per 100 cubic feet in 2026, then goes to $3.51 in 2027 and $3.94 by 2029. The base electric rate is set through 2027 as well.
The Power Cost Factor has no posted future rate because it depends on wholesale power. The city defines it as reflecting its actual cost to produce or buy electricity, and says it can change with the market or with major events affecting wholesale supply. According to Cleveland.com, Painesville Municipal Electric buys most of its electricity off the grid and runs its coal plant to cover heavy demand, citing superintendent Joe Price.
The city expected purchase costs to keep rising. A rate study revised in November 2024 projected power-purchase prices through American Municipal Power, or AMP, of $82.86 per megawatt-hour in 2025, $87.96 in 2026 and $92.48 in 2027. The same study projected purchased-power spending rising from $19.85 million in 2025 to $22.15 million in 2027. City Council approved base-rate increases on January 27, 2025, after a consultant recommended them to avoid a deficit in the electric department, the News-Herald reported.
The hottest days are the most expensive. Before a June 2025 heat wave, the city announced it would run its plant June 23 to 25 during peak hours. It said grid power during high-demand heat events could cost 200% to 400% more.
The Project Built to Cover Those Peak Hours
The city's plan for its peak-hour costs is now on a calendar. The News-Herald reported in May that a solar-and-battery project is planned to replace Painesville's nearly 140-year-old coal-fired plant. Here's what that coverage describes:
- Size: 25 megawatts of solar, measured as direct current, and a 20-megawatt battery system, measured as alternating current. The EPA approved this change from the original plan of 35 MW of solar and 10 MW of storage.
- Panels: Nearly 50,000 First Solar panels were delivered in December 2025.
- Site: OU-7, a 135-acre part of the former Diamond Shamrock property in Painesville Township, south of Fairport Nursery Road and northwest of the Grand River, subleased from West Creek Conservancy.
- Battery: A Tesla Megapack 2XL system at the Richmond Road substation just north of state Route 2, with Convergence Energy contracted to engineer and build it.
Cleveland.com reported the total cost at about $111 million. Roughly $80 million comes from an EPA grant and the rest from federal tax credits. The plan is for the battery to charge at night, when rates are low, and replace coal-fired power on high-demand days. Price told the outlet the project would let the utility cut generation costs by up to 50% on certain days.
The project hasn't been built yet. Cleveland.com reported that panel installation likely won't begin until the first quarter of 2027 and that the battery is slated for the third quarter of 2027. The News-Herald's May report put battery completion at the end of 2027 and noted that part of the solar site was still waiting on EPA clearance. On September 21, 2026, council authorized bidding on switchgear for the project and approved continuing to rent warehouse space to store the panels. For anyone buying this fall, that means at least one more summer of peak demand before the battery is in service.
What to Ask Before You Budget
Utility costs are often treated as an afterthought in a home purchase. In Painesville, they're worth a few direct questions:
- Which months are on the bills? Compare the kWh used on each bill with that month's Power Cost Factor on the city's rates page to separate the home's usage from the factor's movement.
- Is the home inside city limits? The city posts separate residential electric rates for customers outside city limits. In 2026 they're $18.85 a month plus 12.345 cents per kWh, compared with $16.70 and 10.925 cents in the city. Water also costs more outside city limits.
- What's due at move-in? The city requires a $100 deposit for residential electric service and $75 for water service on a standard 5/8-inch meter. Service can't be opened in your name if you have an unpaid balance from a previous address in the city.
- How will the bills change in January? The base kWh charge, customer charge, water rate and sewer rate all have increases scheduled for 2027.
A Few Common Questions
Can I compare Painesville's rate with what Mentor households pay? Only partly. Energy Choice Ohio lists The Illuminating Company's residential Price to Compare at $0.1124 per kWh for October 1 through December 31, 2026. That figure covers generation only, and distribution and transmission are billed separately. Painesville's bill is built from different components, so the two numbers don't line up directly.
Is the Power Cost Factor the same for every customer? The city posts a single monthly factor and multiplies it by each customer's total kilowatt-hours, so the more power a home uses, the more of the bill comes from this line.
Will the solar project lower bills? The city has described cost savings on peak days. It hasn't published a future Power Cost Factor, and the battery isn't scheduled to be running until the second half of 2027.
This post covers utility rates as general information. It isn't legal, tax or financial advice, so please confirm the numbers for your own situation with the City of Painesville utilities office or the right professional.
If you're weighing a Painesville home against one in Mentor or Concord, we can compare what each one will likely cost to run month to month, not just the asking price. Beth Kitchen can sit down with a seller's bills and the city's posted rates so you have an accurate number before you write an offer. Let's Connect.
