Important Dates:

• Wed 9/10/2025 - Bidder Information Session
• Wed 9/10/2025 - Auction Manager announces tranche targets, tranche size, MW-measure
• Mon 9/22/2025 - Auction Manager announces minimum and maximum starting prices
• Mon 9/22/2025 - Part 1 Window opens
• Thu 10/2/2025 - Part 1 Applications are due

Recent Announcements:

• 10/29/2025 - REMINDER: Trial Auction for Registered Bidders is TODAY!
• 10/28/2025 - REMINDER: Trial Auction for Registered Bidders is TOMORROW!
• 10/20/2025 - REMINDER: Part 2 Application is due 12 PM (noon) EPT TOMORROW, Tuesday, October 21, 2025

FAQs

All FAQs

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• FAQ-323:
  What certifications must a bidder make in its Part 1 and Part 2 Applications to be able to participate in the auction?
  
  The requirements of the Part 1 and Part 2 Applications are described in Section IV of the CBP Rules.
  In the Part 1 Application, an interested party applies to become a Qualified Bidder. In the Part 1 Application, a bidder must:
  • Submit an application from an individual with the power to bind the bidder;
  • Agree to comply with all rules of the auction;
  • Agree that if the bidder wins at the auction, the bidder will execute the Master SSO Supply Agreement with AEP Ohio and comply with the creditworthiness requirements set forth in the Master SSO Supply Agreement within three (3) days of acceptance of the auction results by the Commission;
  • Show that the bidder is qualified by PJM as a Market Buyer, a Market Seller, and a PJM LSE (or, if not, certify that there exist no impediments to fulfilling these requirements by the start of the delivery period and undertake to do so if the bidder becomes an SSO Supplier);
  • Certify that if the bidder becomes a Qualified Bidder, it will not disclose information regarding the list of Qualified Bidders or confidential information that may be obtained during the bidding process about Qualified Bidders;
  • Provide financial statements and credit ratings or state that such information is not available; and
  • Certify that if the bidder becomes a Qualified Bidder, it will not substitute another entity in its place, transfer its rights to another entity, or otherwise assign its status as a Qualified Bidder to another entity.
  The Auction Manager sends the “Part 1 Notification” to bidders that have met all the requirements to become a Qualified Bidder.  With the Part 1 Notification, the Auction Manager will send to each Qualified Bidder a list of Qualified Bidders.  A Qualified Bidder must successfully complete the Part 2 Application process in order to become a Registered Bidder that can bid in the auction. Only Qualified Bidders may submit a Part 2 Application.
   
  In the Part 2 Application, each Qualified Bidder must:
  • Submit an indicative offer;
  • Submit a preliminary interest in each product when there are several products in the auction; and
  • Post pre-bid security sufficient to support its indicative offer at the maximum starting price.
  In the Part 2 Application, each Qualified Bidder will make a number of certifications regarding associations to ensure that the bidder is participating independently of other Qualified Bidders and to ensure the confidentiality of information regarding the auction. Each Qualified Bidder will be asked to certify that it will undertake to appropriately restrict its disclosure of Confidential Information Relative to Bidding Strategy and Confidential Information Regarding the Auction, as defined in the CBP Rules. A Qualified Bidder also will be asked to certify that it has not and will not come to any agreement with another Qualified Bidder with respect to bidding in the auction.  These certifications are also more thoroughly provided in Section X of the CBP Rules. Qualified Bidders that are unable to make all these certifications may be required to make additional undertakings and may be subject to specific rules regarding the load caps, as specified more fully in the Rules and Protocols for Participation by Associated Bidders.
   
   
  09/26/2025 in Applications
  
  
• FAQ-322:
  Can a Qualified Bidder both (i) provide certain types of transactions, specifically for shaped energy products (but not load-following products) to other Qualified Bidders in AEP Ohio’s auctions; and (ii) to become a Qualified Bidder itself in AEP Ohio’s auctions and make the certifications required of a Qualified Bidder? As a point of information, the individuals who transact the shaped energy products with market participants operate independently, with no sharing of sensitive information, from the individuals who are responsible for the Applications and bidding in AEP Ohio’s auctions.
  
  In completing the Part 1 and Part 2 Applications, a bidder is required to make a number of certifications regarding maintaining certain information confidential.  Such certifications are listed in Article IV and Article X of the CBP Rules.  The term “bidder” is used generically to refer to a prospective bidder, a Qualified Bidder, or a Registered Bidder.
  
  While you are responsible for reviewing all such certifications, of most relevance to your question, a Qualified Bidder will be asked to certify to the following with its Part 2 Application:
  • The Qualified Bidder is not a party to any contract for the purchase of power that might be used as a source for SSO supply, and that (i) would require the disclosure of any Confidential Information to the counterparty under such a contract; or (ii) that would require the disclosure of any Confidential Information  to any other party; or (iii) that would provide instructions, direct financial incentives, or other inducements for the bidder to act in a way determined by the counterparty in the agreement and/or in concert with any other bidder in the auction.  “Confidential Information” means Confidential Information Relative to Bidding Strategy or Confidential Information Regarding the Auction, as defined in the CBP Rules. 
  • The Qualified Bidder does not have any knowledge of Confidential Information Relative to the Bidding Strategy of any other Qualified Bidder in the auction.
  • The Qualified Bidder will not disclose Confidential Information Relative to its own Bidding Strategy except to: (i) bidders that were explicitly named in the Part 1 Application as parties with which it has entered into a bidding agreement, joint venture for the purpose of bidding in the auction, bidding consortium, or other arrangement pertaining to bidding in the auction; (ii) bidders with which it is associated as disclosed in the Part 2 Application; (iii) its Advisors; and (iv) its financial institution. 
  You provide the information that the individuals who transact the shaped energy products (not load following) with market participants operate independently, with no sharing of sensitive information, from the individuals who would be part of the bidding team should you participate in AEP Ohio’s auctions.  This fact would not allow you, if you become a Qualified Bidder, to make the certifications required by the Part 2 Application. The entity that must make these certifications is the entity that has been granted the status of Qualified Bidder as a whole, not the individuals designated as part of the bidding team for the auctions held under AEP Ohio’s CBP, or those specific individuals involved in full-requirements transactions. Any internal protocols that you have in place restricting communications between functions or businesses would not allow you as the Qualified Bidder to make the certifications required by the Part 2 Application.
   
  We interpret your question to be asking whether you may be able both (i) to provide the shaped products referenced in your question (not load-following) to other Qualified Bidders in AEP Ohio’s auctions; and (ii) to become a Qualified Bidder yourself in AEP Ohio’s auctions and make the certifications required of a Qualified Bidder.  We offer two clarifications at the outset.  First, if you become a Qualified Bidder in an auction, you will receive with your notification a list of Qualified Bidders for that auction.  Thus, you will know whether a potential counterparty to a transaction is or is not a Qualified Bidder in AEP Ohio’s auction.  Second, the certifications required by the CBP Rules do not impede your ability to provide shaped products to market participants that are not Qualified Bidders in AEP Ohio’s auctions (although if such market participants are taking part in other default service auctions, such auctions would impose their own restrictions on the type of supply arrangements that bidders can make for the auction products).  Thus, we address specifically whether you could become a Qualified Bidder in AEP Ohio’s auctions and also provide the shaped products to other Qualified Bidders in the same auction.  
   
  Ultimately, this depends on the nature of the transactions made with these other Qualified Bidders. The transaction of a shaped product in and of itself may or may not impede your ability to make or uphold the certifications of the Part 2 Application (in particular, the certification that you have no knowledge of Confidential Information Relative to the Bidding Strategy of another Qualified Bidder, which includes knowledge of that Qualified Bidder’s estimation of the value of a tranche). Transaction of a shaped product in isolation, with that product having a fixed price, a fixed volume and delivery pattern, along with no contingency between winning at the auction and purchasing the product, may not reveal such information. A shaped product can be used not only to support a bid in AEP Ohio’s auctions but it can be used outside these auctions, and it can be resold to another market participant. A shaped product in and of itself is not sufficient to meet the supply obligations of a winner at AEP Ohio’s auctions; several other significant components are required. 
   
  Such a transaction need not, but could, reveal or provide Confidential Information Relative to the Bidding Strategy of a Qualified Bidder that is a counterparty to this transaction. For example, if this transaction were not an isolated transaction but instead was part of a series of transactions with the same Qualified Bidder as counterparty that included shaped products for varying delivery patterns, or if these shaped products were added to other components that could be used for SSO Supply, the totality of these transactions could well reveal Confidential Information Relative to the Bidding Strategy of that Qualified Bidder. If the totality of the transactions between you and another Qualified Bidder were to reveal such information, it would not be possible for you as a Qualified Bidder to certify that you do not have any knowledge of Confidential Information Relative to the Bidding Strategy of any other Qualified Bidder in the auction.  Conversely, the Qualified Bidder transacting with you could be unable to certify that it has not disclosed Confidential Information Relative to its own Bidding Strategy. 
   
  09/26/2025 in Other/General
  
  
• FAQ-321:
  Does the Applicant's Legal Representative need to have an address in Ohio? 
  
  The Applicant’s Legal Representative in Ohio:
  • must be either legal counsel or a representative agent;
  • must have an address in Ohio; and
  • must be authorized and agree to accept service process on Applicant’s behalf.
  In the Part 1 Application an Applicant will be asked to provide contact information, including an address, for the legal counsel or representative agent named as the Applicant's Legal Representative in Ohio and to complete the Legal Representative Insert (#P1-4). In the Legal Representative Insert (#P1-4), the Applicant’s Legal Representative identified in the form will certify that they agree to serve as legal counsel or a representative agent of the Applicant and agree to receive service of process on the Applicant's behalf.
   
  09/25/2025 in Applications
  
  
• FAQ-320:
  If an Applicant is not qualified as a Load Serving Entity in PJM, can the Applicant participate in the auction?
  
  Yes. In the Part 1 Application, an interested party applies to become a Qualified Bidder. To become a Qualified Bidder an interested party must be a Market Buyer, a Market Seller, and a PJM Load Serving Entity (“LSE”). If the interested party cannot make this certification, it must instead certify that it has no impediments to become a Market Buyer, a Market Seller, and a PJM LSE by the start of the delivery period and that it undertakes to do so if it becomes an SSO Supplier.
  
  09/10/2025 in Applications
  
  
• FAQ-319:
  Is it possible to propose changes to the Master SSO Supply Agreement for the November 2025 Auction?
  
  On January 6, 2023, AEP Ohio filed an Application seeking to implement its fifth Electric Security Plan (“ESP V”) for a period to commence on June 1, 2024 (Case No. 23-0023-EL-SSO). Through an April 3, 2024 Opinion and Order, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (“Commission”) modified and approved the stipulation filed in the case and authorized AEP Ohio to implement ESP V for the period June 1, 2024 through May 31, 2028. On August 27, 2024, AEP Ohio filed (in Case No. 23-0023-EL-SSO) compliance updates to the product schedule and forms of the CBP Rules and Master SSO Supply Agreement. Through a September 19, 2024 Finding and Order, the Commission approved the filed CBP Rules and Master SSO Supply Agreement.
  Documents governing the November 2025 Auction (including the Master SSO Supply Agreement) were made available on the Information - Documents page of the CBP website on August 28, 2025. The Master SSO Supply Agreement is made available to bidders so that each bidder can review the terms and accept such terms as required by the Part 1 Application. Following the auction, if the Commission accepts the results of the auction, winning bidders must execute the Master SSO Supply Agreement within three (3) days of Commission acceptance of the results. Modifications to the Master SSO Supply Agreement cannot be considered for this November 2025 Auction as the form of the Master SSO Supply Agreement for this November 2025 Auction must be consistent with the form of the Master SSO Supply Agreement approved under AEP Ohio’s ESP V.
  09/04/2025 in Supply Agreement
  
  
• FAQ-318:
  What percentage of SSO Load does one tranche represent in the SSO Auctions?
  
  SSO Load is divided into a number of “tranches”, each representing a fixed percentage of SSO Load. Prior to each auction, the Auction Manager announces to bidders the number of tranches to be offered and the fixed percentage assigned to each tranche (the “tranche size”). For the March 2025 Auction, one tranche represented 1% of SSO Load. For information on the tranche size and the product description in previous SSO auctions, please see the Documents and Announcements Archive page of the AEP Ohio CBP website.
  
  05/23/2025 in Other/General
  
  
• FAQ-317:
  Can AEP Ohio provide a municipal aggregation data update?
  
  AEP Ohio makes available on an occasional basis data regarding municipal aggregation (http://www.aepohiocbp.com/index.cfm?s=dataRoom&p=monthly). No additional municipal aggregation data is expected to be posted prior to the March 2025 Auction at this time.
  
  03/03/2025 in Data
  
  
• FAQ-316:
  Can AEP please provide NSPL values for a day in January 2025?
  
  Please find below the NSPL values for January 31, 2025, subject to change due to final settlement.  
  AEP Ohio NSPL - 7,491.20 
  SSO NSPL - 1,203.82 
  CRES NSPL - 5,947.33 
  PIP NSPL - 340.06
   
  02/28/2025 in Data
  
  
• FAQ-315:
  Will AEP Ohio participate in the ARR allocation process on behalf of SSO Suppliers for delivery year 2025/26 for the load procured in the March 2025 Auction?
  
  AEP Ohio will participate in the ARR allocation process on behalf of SSO Suppliers for the SSO Load procured in the March 2025 Auction for delivery year 2025/26.  SSO Suppliers will get the ARR credit for this delivery year.
  
  02/20/2025 in Other/General
  
  
• FAQ-314:
  Can you please provide a redline document comparing the Master SSO Supply Agreement for the March 2025 Auction to that of the October 2024 Auction?
  
  The Master SSO Supply Agreement for the March 2025 Auction has not changed from the October 2024 Auction; thus, a redline will not be provided.
  
  01/14/2025 in Supply Agreement
  
  

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