Top Tier — Ohio Battery Sales Reference

AEP Ohio · Columbus & Central/Southern Ohio

Sales reference for reps working AEP Ohio territory. This is the deep reference — how to sell it up top, full utility detail below. AEP Ohio serves roughly 1.5 million customers across Columbus and a wide central-and-southern Ohio footprint. Ohio's design nets everything at the full retail rate within the billing month on a single register: your solar already offsets your usage at full value, and only the net monthly EXCESS credits at the generation rate — currently about 10.1 cents, a better excess rate than most states. So a battery does not reduce an AEP bill; the bill value is approximately zero, and we say that out loud, because the reps who don't are the reps who get caught. What carries the AEP pitch instead: June 2022, when AEP deliberately shut off hundreds of thousands of customers in a heat wave under PJM orders — the only utility in our book whose marquee outage was on purpose. Plus a rate trajectory driven by a PJM capacity market that just repriced 9x, a tariff that expressly disclaims any grandfathering in writing, and a PUCO review that just re-confirmed net metering in January 2026. The battery here is backup first, a PJM-trajectory hedge and locked-in position second, and a takeover.

What kind of market this is

AEP Ohio is an exposed net-billing market where the battery's bill value is approximately zero — Ohio nets all charges at retail within the month, so the pitch leads with resilience (the deliberate June 2022 shutoffs), the PJM-driven rate trajectory, and owning a position the tariff explicitly refuses to guarantee. Five defining facts:

1. Ohio nets ALL charges at retail within the billing month — the battery bill value is approximately zero. Under Schedule NEMS (effective April 2026), your solar offsets your usage at the full retail rate over the month on a single register; only the net monthly EXCESS is credited at the generation rate — the Price to Compare, about 10.12¢ as of June 2026, a better excess rate than most states'. Because the netting already time-shifts your solar for free, a battery does not reduce your AEP bill — the bill impact is approximately zero. Say that plainly. The customer who hears the honest figure from us trusts the rest; the one who catches an inflated one doesn't.
2. There is no grandfather here — the tariff says so in writing. AEP's own net-metering materials, verbatim: "Under no circumstance is there a commitment or guarantee from AEP Ohio that you will be 'grandfathered'…" No other utility we serve disclaims it that explicitly. The honest read: the terms you have are the terms until they change, and the only position nobody can reprice is power you store and use yourself.
3. Net metering was just reviewed and KEPT. PUCO's five-year review (Docket 25-0349) concluded January 7, 2026 with no changes to residential net metering — AEP itself proposed restrictions and the Commission declined. That's a citable reassurance AND a citable reminder that the utility asked.
4. The rate story is a trajectory, told straight — including the part where AEP's bill just went DOWN. Ohio residential power rose about 25% from 2021 to 2024 (12.8¢ → 16.0¢ statewide, EIA), and the PJM capacity price that flows into every standard-offer rate jumped from $28.92 to $269.92 per megawatt-day in one auction — with the next two years pinned at the FERC cap ($329.17, then $333.44). Meanwhile AEP's April 2026 rate case landed as a typical-bill DECREASE of under a dollar — we volunteer that, because the rep who tells you your bill went down is the rep you believe about where it's heading.
5. June 2022 is the anchor — and it's unlike any other in our book. June 13–19, 2022: about 605,733 AEP Ohio customers experienced an outage across the event (351,463 in the Columbus district alone), with PJM-directed forced outages during a heat emergency — AEP shut neighborhoods off on purpose to protect the grid. Peak interruption was ~239,000 at one time (all causes — storm damage plus the deliberate sheds; never present it as a pure shutoff count). The honest line: "the grid operator can order your utility to turn you off — and in June 2022, it did."

Your lead is resilience + trajectory + position, with the battery's ~$0 bill value stated plainly. The June 2022 story needs no embellishment. The PJM math is documented and flows into every future standard-offer rate. And there are no battery bill savings here — Ohio's monthly netting already offsets your solar at full retail, and saying that ~0 up front is what earns the rest. One qualifying question before any numbers: "Are you on AEP's standard offer, or do you shop your electric supply?" — a shopping (CRES) customer's export credit is whatever their supplier contract says, and utility-tariff numbers only bind standard-offer customers.

Default configuration: backup-capable is the strong default — this is the territory where the utility itself turned the power off.

• Backup-capable: $18,500 cash / $23,942 financed / ~$228/mo
• Self-consumption-only: $17,000 cash / $22,068 financed / ~$210/mo

Confirm pricing, configuration, SSO-vs-shopping status, and the current Price to Compare in the tool before quoting.

PART A — The Pitch (Problem → Solution → Urgency → Close)

The spine is multiple beats per section: customer headline + statement + rep layer (+ objection where noted). Beats marked (BACKUP ONLY) render only for backup config.

The Problem

Nobody promised you your net-metering terms — and your rates ride a curve that just repriced 9x. Ohio nets everything at the full retail rate within the month, so your solar already offsets your usage — the battery isn't a bill play here, and I'll be straight about that. Here's what should get your attention instead: AEP's own paperwork says, word for word, that under no circumstance is there any commitment you'll be grandfathered. The terms you have are the terms until someone changes them.

Rep layer: The honest opener — battery bill value stated as ~0 (Ohio nets ALL charges — generation and non-generation — at full retail within the month on a single register; only the net monthly excess earns the generation rate). NEVER quote a per-kWh spread, a ~12¢ spread, or "16–18¢ imports" — those were removed from the platform July 2026 and a customer can check. The pivot is the disclaimed grandfather, quoted verbatim — it reframes complacency into position-risk. Mechanics precision: AEP nets monthly and grants a customer-requested annual (12-month) true-up refund of accumulated credit — one of only four Ohio utilities where cash-out exists at all. Objection — "So the battery barely saves me anything." It doesn't reduce this bill — Ohio's netting already does that — and that was never the reason to own one here. Keep listening.

Your system is orphaned. Whoever installed your solar is likely gone, merged, or unreachable — especially after so many installers folded when the federal tax credit expired at the end of 2025. If something goes wrong, there's no one accountable. You own the system and the risk.

Rep layer: Standard orphaned-system beat. Ask who installed it and whether they'd answer a service call.

Your inverter is on the clock. Your inverter is several years old. When it fails out of warranty, that's about $3,500 to $5,000 out of pocket — and your system produces nothing until it's replaced, typically 4 to 8 weeks.

Rep layer: Standard inverter beat. SolarEdge ~12-yr warranty, real failure 8–15 yrs; Enphase 25-yr, real issues 10–20.

(BACKUP ONLY) In June 2022, AEP turned the power off on purpose — and your solar would have shut off with it. During a heat emergency, the regional grid operator ordered AEP to shed load, and AEP forced outages across Columbus neighborhoods — no storm required. Across that week, over six hundred thousand AEP customers lost power. And here's what solar owners learn the hard way: grid-tied panels shut off with the grid. A battery is the only part of your system that works when the utility — or the grid operator above it — decides you're the reserve.

Rep layer: Renders ONLY for backup config. THE AEP anchor, framed precisely: June 13–19, 2022 — ~605,733 customers experienced an outage across the event (Columbus district 351,463); PJM-directed load sheds (396/170/479 MW on successive days); forced outages ~283,000; peak ~239,000 interrupted at one time. DISCIPLINE: the 239K peak is ALL CAUSES (storm damage + deliberate sheds) — never present it as a pure load-shed count; the honest framing is "shutoffs were part of it, by design." June 2012 derecho: no published AEP-specific count — don't invent one. The unique selling truth: every other outage story is weather; this one is policy. Objection — "That was a one-off." PJM's own capacity auction says otherwise — the price of scarce capacity just went up nine-fold, and scarcity is why they shed load.

The Solution

A battery covers what the tariff doesn't — and we'll be straight about what it doesn't do. It keeps your essentials running when the grid — or the grid operator — cuts you off. It does NOT reduce your AEP bill: Ohio's monthly netting already offsets your solar at full retail, so the bill impact is approximately zero — our numbers show your with-battery bill equal to today's. And it makes your solar economics yours — not subject to a tariff that explicitly refuses to promise you anything.

• Self-consumption: "The position — your stored power can't be repriced — and the netting already handles the bill."
• Backup: "All of that — and your house stays on when AEP sheds load."

Monthly Cost Chart and Net Bill Breakdown render here.

Rep layer: THE core cure beat, honest-register: the battery does NOT reduce the bill here (~$0) — Ohio nets all charges at retail monthly on one register; say it plainly, and the tool shows the with-battery bill equal to today's. The value stack that actually carries the sale: resilience (June 2022) + position (disclaimed grandfather + reviewed-and-kept netting means today's terms are good AND unguaranteed) + trajectory hedge (every kWh you self-supply is a kWh that doesn't ride the PJM-driven SSO curve) + takeover. The bill was never the reason to own one here; sell it in that order.

(BACKUP ONLY) It keeps your home running when the grid goes down — or gets turned off. Powers your essentials — refrigerator, medical devices, connectivity, a window unit in a heat wave — through an outage, and recharges from solar daily for as long as it lasts.

Rep layer: The resilience cure beat. Heat-wave framing is AEP-specific gold: June 2022 was a June event — backup here isn't a winter-storm luxury, it's air conditioning when the grid is rationing. Size expectations honestly.

We take it over. Top Tier becomes the single point of contact for your entire system — a new 10-year workmanship warranty, the 5-year Align Solar Protection contract ($0 deductible, non-transferable), and manufacturer warranty coordination.

Rep layer: Answers the orphaned-system problem. Transfers: workmanship with written consent; Align non-transferable; manufacturer per OEM terms.

Thousands you don't pay. The $11K+ Hidden Costs Avoided bundle — built into the takeover, not sold as extras.

Rep layer: Reframes total cost. "Your payment buys the battery plus warranty plus service plus inverter-replacement coverage — over $11K of value."

And whatever the terms do next, your stored power is yours. Net metering here was just reviewed and kept — that's the good news, and we'll say it plainly. The same review is where AEP asked for changes and was told no. The tariff itself promises nothing going forward, in writing. Power you store and use yourself doesn't depend on any of it.

Rate Justification + Own vs Rent render here.

Rep layer: The independence beat, AEP flavor: reviewed-and-kept (PUCO Docket 25-0349, concluded Jan 7, 2026, no residential changes — cite it as reassurance) + AEP-proposed-restrictions-and-was-declined (the same docket — cite it as the reminder) + the verbatim disclaimer. 25-yr scenarios: conservative 4%, moderate 6%, aggressive 8% — anchor near-term to the documented +25% 2021→2024 and the PJM capacity repricing already locked for the next two delivery years.

Urgency

The honest clocks — no manufactured net-metering deadline exists here, and we say so.

The trajectory clock. Ohio residential power rose about 25% in three years, and the wholesale capacity price that feeds every standard-offer rate just went from $28.92 to $269.92 per megawatt-day — with the next two years already priced at the federal cap. That's not a forecast; those auctions have cleared. Every month without a hedge is a month fully exposed to where that curve goes.

Rep layer: Honest urgency — all documented: EIA 12.8¢→16.0¢ (2021→2024, +25%); PJM BRA $28.92 → $269.92/MW-day (+833% clearing price — cite it as the clearing-price jump, never conflate with total cost); 2026/27 $329.17 and 2027/28 $333.44 at the FERC cap. And the honesty play: AEP's April 2026 rate case was a typical-bill DECREASE of under a dollar — VOLUNTEER IT (the TECO-drop move). The distribution side just dipped; the generation side is what the PJM curve feeds.

The summer clock. June 2022 happened in June. Heat emergencies are when the grid runs shortest, and when PJM orders load shed, AEP sheds it. A battery installed before the next heat dome is protection; one ordered during it is a backorder.

Rep layer: Factual, preparedness-framed, seasonally honest — Ohio's grid stress events cluster in heat waves and ice storms, both of which have documented AEP-relevant history.

What is NOT a clock: net metering. PUCO reviewed it and kept it in January 2026. Nothing is pending. If another installer is telling you Ohio net metering is about to vanish, they're selling you a deadline that doesn't exist — and you should ask what else they're inventing.

Rep layer: The anti-manufacture rule, written in on purpose — same as JEA's 2038 beat. The honest tension to hold: nothing pending (reassurance) + nothing guaranteed (the disclaimer) + AEP already asked once (the docket record). All three are true; the pitch uses all three; none is a countdown.

The Close

1. Verify credit + confirm supply status and configuration. Run the credit check; ask the qualifying question — standard offer, or shopping with a supplier? A CRES customer's export compensation is set by their supplier contract, not AEP's tariff, and the tool's numbers assume SSO until confirmed. Confirm backup vs self-consumption config.
2. Confirm the current Price to Compare. The export credit floats with the SSO — the tool carries today's figure; never quote it from memory.
3. Customer reads and signs the service agreement. Walk through the disclosures honestly — the net-billing mechanics and honest savings size, the annual true-up refund, the disclaimed grandfather stated as the tariff states it, and that there's no federal credit or AEP battery program.
4. Complete the Welcome Call. Finalizes the sale and sets expectations for installation.

Standing Rules (Do NOT Violate)

• ❌ NEVER coach reps to disqualify based on home tenure. Resale story is real — not "walk away."
• ❌ NEVER claim "all warranties transfer." Workmanship: with written consent. Align: non-transferable. Manufacturer: per OEM terms.
• ❌ NEVER fabricate inspection findings.
• ❌ NEVER quote a bill-reduction factor as a guarantee.
• ❌ NEVER quote a REP buyback rate as fixed/guaranteed — plan-dependent, confirm the customer's actual plan.
• ❌ 85+ confirmation call required. Customer confirms own finances, no POA, sound mind.
• ❌ Financing ends before age 91. 75 → 15-year max. 80 → 10-year max.
• ❌ Honest cancellation window. Overselling = free customer exit + $1K–$1.5K clawback.
• ❌ Certified before selling.

Go get the sale. A battery is a strong product — clean energy, independence, backup, long-term savings, and in Texas real VPP income. A customer who wants one for any honest reason is a good sale. We never walk away over price or low savings — that's the customer's call. Do right by the customer, protect the company, be honest.

PART B — The Deep Reference

1. Orientation

• Utility: AEP Ohio (Ohio Power Company) — investor-owned, PUCO-regulated, in PJM territory. Ohio has retail choice: customers take AEP's standard service offer (SSO) or shop generation with a CRES supplier — always ask which.
• Territory: Columbus and a broad central/southern Ohio footprint — roughly 1.5 million customers.
• Market type: EXPOSED net billing — Ohio nets all charges at retail monthly on one register, so battery bill value ~0; net monthly excess credits at the SSO generation rate (Schedule NEMS); grandfathering expressly disclaimed in writing; PUCO reviewed-and-kept January 2026; no battery programs.
• Default config: backup-capable ($18,500 / $23,942 / ~$228); self-consumption ($17,000 / $22,068 / ~$210).

2. How the AEP Ohio Bill Works

1. Imports: full retail on everything you buy — customer charge $13.50/mo (Schedule RS, eff. 4/10/2026), distribution energy 3.47738¢ plus riders, plus the SSO generation charge (Price to Compare 10.12¢, June 2026, floats). All-in at 1,000 kWh runs roughly 13–14¢ by component sum — no single published figure exists; the tool carries components.
2. Exports (Schedule NEMS, eff. 4/10/2026): netted monthly against the generation-related charges only — verbatim, all other charges "shall be calculated using an energy value of zero (0) kWh" on the export side. Excess accumulates as a monetary credit at the SSO rate.
3. The true-up: the customer may request, in writing, an annual (12-month) refund of accumulated credit — AEP and the three FirstEnergy utilities have this; Duke and AES do not.
4. System sizing: the 120%-of-annual-usage rule governs (25 kW is the Level-1 interconnection threshold, not a net-metering cap).

Why this matters for the pitch: Ohio nets all charges at retail within the month, so the battery does not reduce the bill — bill value ~0 — and the pitch weight sits on resilience, trajectory, and position. Never let the tool's ~$0 bill figure surprise a customer at the table; say it first, own it, and stack the rest.

3. Net Metering at AEP Ohio — Reviewed and Kept, Promised to Nobody

Ohio's rule survived its five-year review in January 2026 with no residential changes — and AEP's tariff explicitly disclaims any grandfathering. Both facts, verbatim, both in the pitch.

• The design (OAC 4901:1-10-28, eff. 4/8/2024; ORC 4928.67): exports convert to a monetary credit at "the energy component of the electric utility's standard service offer" — generation only, not full retail. Monthly netting.
• The review: PUCO Docket 25-0349-EL-ORD (the statutory five-year review) concluded January 7, 2026 — AEP proposed distribution charges on gross inflow, "net usage" redefinition, and eligibility restrictions for shopping/aggregation customers; Staff and all other parties recommended no change; the Commission declined to adopt changes. Residential net metering is unchanged. Cite it both ways: reviewed-and-kept, and AEP-asked-and-was-told-no.
• THE DISCLAIMER (verbatim): "Under no circumstance is there a commitment or guarantee from AEP Ohio that you will be 'grandfathered'…" — from AEP's own NEMS explainer; the application adds "…will have no 'grandfathered' rights." No date cohorts exist because no grandfather exists to date.
• Transfer at sale: the credit is tied to the account and lost when the customer stops taking service at the premises — a new owner applies anew. No inheritable position (the Clay-adjacent rule, minus the cliff).
• The CRES layer: a shopping customer's export compensation is whatever the supplier contract says — a CRES provider "is not required to enter into any net metering contract." Utility-tariff numbers bind SSO customers only. The qualifying question is mandatory before quoting.
• The rep move: "Your netting just survived its five-year review — nothing is pending, and I won't invent a deadline. What I'll show you instead is AEP's own sentence: no commitment, no guarantee, no grandfathered rights, under any circumstance. The terms are good today and promised to nobody. A battery is the part of your solar value no tariff revision can touch."
• See the "Net Metering & Grandfathering Status" section for the cited detail; the flag for AEP Ohio is EXPOSED (generation-rate net billing; grandfather expressly disclaimed).

4. Rate Reality + The Netting Mechanics

What drives the AEP pitch (named, honest):

1. June 2022. The utility shed load on purpose in a heat wave — the only deliberate-shutoff anchor in our book.
2. The trajectory. +25% in three years behind us; a 9x capacity repricing already cleared in front of us.
3. The position. Reviewed-and-kept netting that the tariff simultaneously promises to nobody — self-consumption is the only guaranteed term.

Documented vs. speculation (say this right):

• ✅ "Your exports credit at the standard-offer generation rate — about ten cents right now — but Ohio nets all charges at retail monthly, so the battery's bill value is ~0" (honest math)
• ✅ "PUCO reviewed net metering and kept it, January 2026 — and AEP asked for changes in that same review and was declined" (docket record)
• ✅ "AEP's own paperwork: no commitment, no guarantee of grandfathering, under any circumstance" (verbatim)
• ✅ "Your bill actually went down slightly in April — under a dollar. The distribution side dipped; the generation side rides the PJM curve" (order + honesty play)
• ❌ Quoting a ~12¢ spread or "16–18¢" imports (corrected out July 2026 — checkably wrong)
• ❌ Presenting the 239,000 peak as a pure load-shed count (it's all-causes; the sheds were part of it)
• ❌ Any net-metering deadline (reviewed and kept; nothing pending)
• ❌ Quoting the PtC from memory (floats with the SSO — tool carries today's figure)
• ❌ Quoting tariff export numbers to a CRES shopping customer (their contract governs — ask first)

5. Incentives & Programs

• AEP battery programs: none. Power Rewards is a smart-thermostat demand-response offer (~$75 device rebate; per-event payments unpublished) — batteries are excluded. Never presented as battery income. (And never attribute AES's or other utilities' programs here.)
• Federal ITC: expired 12/31/2025. Never quote 30%.
• Ohio tax treatment: property-tax exemption YES (ORC 5709.53(B) — energy facilities ≤250 kW installed on/after 1/1/2010); sales-tax exemption NO — residential solar/battery purchases are taxable in Ohio. Say both correctly.
• The value is resilience + the trajectory hedge + the honest bill savings + the takeover — no-program economics, stated as such.

6. System Rescue Value — The System Takeover

This applies to any customer with existing solar — and it's identical across every Top Tier market. These are takeover facts, not TX-specific.

The Orphaned Solar Customer Problem. Many Texas solar customers installed during the 2019–2024 growth years and now face:

• An original installer that's gone out of business, been acquired, or stopped servicing residential (especially common after the federal tax credit expired Dec 2025)
• A 10-year workmanship warranty that's unenforceable (installer is gone)
• An inverter approaching or past typical failure windows
• No service relationship, and most companies refuse to service systems they didn't install

The Inverter Failure Reality. Inverters are the weakest link. Panels last 25–30 years; the inverter fails much sooner.

• SolarEdge string inverters: 8–15 years (12-yr standard warranty)
• Enphase microinverters: 10–20 years (25-yr warranty)
• Industry-wide: 70–90% of systems experience inverter failure within the panel lifespan
• When it fails on an orphaned system: production stops, bills jump to full retail, most providers won't quote it, out-of-pocket replacement is $3,500–5,000, and the customer is down 4–8 weeks.

What Top Tier's takeover provides (formalized through a Service Warranty Agreement with a brand-new 10-year Limited Workmanship and Roof Penetration Warranty):

• A new 10-year Top Tier workmanship warranty (regardless of system age)
• Manufacturer warranty claim handling (Top Tier chases the claim + labor, not the customer)
• Inverter replacement coverage when it fails within manufacturer warranty (customer pays nothing for the work)
• Single point of contact; monitoring setup help; performance verification at inspection

The $11K System Takeover Bundle (the exact 5-tile bundle on the proposal):

How to use it: "On top of the bill math, you're picking up over $11K of bundled services that aren't sold separately. If your inverter fails in year 12, the warranty handling alone is worth a few hundred; the replacement coordination saves $3–5K; the Align contract is $1,500 you'd otherwise pay. It adds up."

Align Solar Protection — the terms (get these right):

• 5-year term, $0 deductible, insurance-backed by American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, non-transferable to subsequent owners.
• Covers: mechanical breakdown of existing PV (panels, inverters/optimizers, racking) — parts, labor, service calls.
• Does NOT cover: the new battery (own warranty), wear-and-tear, weather/hail, pre-existing conditions, roof issues.
• Age limits: panels/microinverters under 15 years; string/central inverters under 7 years. Not every system fully qualifies — disclose at inspection.
• It's ONE of three layers: (1) equipment manufacturer warranties, (2) Top Tier's 10-yr workmanship, (3) the 5-yr Align contract. Never call it "full coverage."
• NEVER say: "Everything's covered" / "never worry again" / "Align is your full coverage" / "you can extend beyond 5 years" / "Align transfers when you sell."

Quantifying the rescue value:

This is independent of bill savings — the rescue alone can be worth $4,000–7,500.

7. Outage Reality — June 2022, and What a Heat Emergency Means Here

Why outages happen here. Central Ohio's exposure is storms, ice, and — uniquely in our book — deliberate load shedding:

• June 13–19, 2022: a storm-plus-heat-emergency week in which ~605,733 AEP Ohio customers experienced an outage (Columbus district: 351,463), including PJM-directed forced outages — AEP shut neighborhoods off on purpose to protect the regional grid, with load sheds of 396, 170, and 479 MW on successive days and roughly 283,000 customers hit by forced outages. Peak interruption ~239,000 at one time (all causes). Restoration ran days in ninety-degree heat.
• June 2012 derecho: hit this footprint hard; no published AEP-specific count — we don't invent one.
• The honest frame: when the regional grid runs short, the playbook is to turn customers off — and the capacity market that pays generators to prevent scarcity just repriced 9x, which tells you what the grid operator thinks of the margin.

What a battery does — and the honest mechanism. Grid-tied solar shuts off automatically in an outage — including a deliberate one. A battery with backup keeps essential loads running — refrigerator, medical devices, connectivity, spot cooling — and recharges from solar daily.

How to pitch it honestly: "Everyone plans for storms. June 2022 wasn't just a storm — the grid operator ordered AEP to shed load in a heat wave, and they did. A battery is the only part of your system that works when you're the reserve."

8. Hidden Costs Avoided / What You Own vs What You Rent

• What you rent: full-retail power riding a curve that rose 25% in three years with a 9x capacity repricing feeding it — netting terms promised to nobody in writing — and darkness (or heat) when the grid sheds you.
• What you own (with the battery): your surplus at its honest stored value, a position no tariff revision touches, and a house that stays on when the utility turns the street off.
• Hidden costs avoided: the $11K takeover bundle + the unhedged trajectory + every outage's real costs — spoiled food, hotel nights in a heat wave, lost work.

9. Battery Products

• Backup config (default — this is deliberate-shutoff territory): Tesla Powerwall 3 (13.5 kWh; Redline: $20,500), FranklinWH aPower 2 (15 kWh; Redline: $20,500). Not compatible with HDM.

• Self-consumption config: Enphase IQ 5P (10 kWh; Redline: $15,500 SC / $17,600 BU), SolarEdge Home Battery (9.7 kWh usable; Redline: $14,500 SC / $16,000 BU), SolarEdge Nexis (self-consumption only pending crew backup training; Redline: $15,500 SC).

• AEP takeaway: size for essential loads through a multi-day event — the bill math doesn't reward oversizing (battery bill value ~0 under monthly netting), so the resilience requirement drives the size. No export bar exists (storage may export if the interconnection approves it, and non-export configs are also permitted) — but with monthly netting, export configuration buys nothing; self-consumption/backup is the play. Confirm config in the tool.

• Financing terms vary by lender — price deals through the proposal tool.

10. Objection Handling

Universal objections (swap in AEP figures) + AEP-specific objections.

"The savings look small. Is this even worth it?" (AEP-specific — the honest-size answer)

"Ohio nets everything at retail within the month, so your solar already offsets your usage — the battery's bill impact is about zero, and I put that in front of you on purpose. If bill savings were the whole case, I'd tell you to skip it. Here's the actual case: in June 2022 AEP shut off hundreds of thousands of customers on purpose in a heat wave, and your solar would have gone dark with the grid. Ohio power rose twenty-five percent in three years and the capacity price feeding your rate just repriced nine-fold. And AEP's own tariff says — their words — no commitment, no guarantee you'll ever be grandfathered. The battery is backup, a hedge, and the one position nobody can reprice — not a bill play."

"Am I grandfathered on my net metering terms?" (AEP-specific — the disclaimer answer)

"No — and neither is anyone else at AEP, and I can show you the sentence. Their net-metering materials say, quote, under no circumstance is there a commitment or guarantee from AEP Ohio that you will be grandfathered. Now the good news, equally documented: the state just finished its five-year review in January and kept net metering exactly as is — AEP actually asked for changes and was told no. So your terms are good today, under review by nobody, and promised to no one. A battery is the part of your solar value that doesn't need the promise."

"I shop my electric supply — I'm not on AEP's standard offer." (AEP-specific — the CRES layer)

"Then you're the customer I'm glad said so before we ran numbers. When you shop, your export credit comes from your supplier's contract, not AEP's tariff — some suppliers match the standard-offer credit, some do better, some don't offer one at all, and they're not required to. Two things: first, let's pull your supplier agreement so the numbers we show you are YOUR numbers. Second — notice that your solar economics currently depend on a contract that reprices every renewal cycle. Stored power you use yourself doesn't. That's the battery's whole argument, in one sentence."

"My bill just went down in April — why would I need a hedge?" (AEP-specific — the honest-drop answer)

"It did — under a dollar, and I'd rather you hear it from me. That was the distribution side of a rate case. The part of your bill the drop didn't touch is generation — and that's the side fed by the PJM capacity market, which went from twenty-nine dollars to two-seventy per megawatt-day in one auction, with the next two years already priced at the federal cap. The small drop is real. The big curve is also real. The battery hedges the curve."

"Why is the loan more than the system price?"

"The cash price is $17,000–18,500 depending on config. Service Finance adds dealer fees bringing the financed amount to about $22,068–23,942. Cash or a HELOC is cheaper if that's an option. There's no AEP rebate and the federal credit expired — the value is the backup, the hedge, the position, and the takeover, with the bill savings as the honest bonus."

11. DO SAY / NEVER SAY

12. Required Disclosures

1. ☐ Savings are estimates; AEP rates and the standard-offer generation rate (the export-credit basis) change through PUCO proceedings and SSO auctions — verify current figures in the tool.
2. ☐ Ohio nets all charges at the full retail rate within the billing month on a single register; a battery does not reduce the monthly bill, and projections show the with-battery bill equal to the current bill. Net monthly excess is credited at the generation component of the standard service offer, not full retail.
3. ☐ AEP Ohio's tariff materials expressly disclaim any commitment or guarantee of grandfathering; net-metering terms are subject to change through future proceedings. PUCO's January 7, 2026 five-year review concluded with no changes to residential net metering.
4. ☐ Net-metering credits are tied to the account and are lost when service ends at the premises; they do not transfer to a new owner or address. A customer-requested annual true-up refund of accumulated credit is available per Schedule NEMS.
5. ☐ For customers shopping generation with a CRES supplier: export compensation is governed by the supplier contract and may differ from or omit the utility-tariff credit; projections assume standard-service-offer terms unless the supplier contract is confirmed.
6. ☐ AEP offers no battery rebate, VPP, or battery-eligible demand-response program; no program income is quoted. No federal ITC after 12/31/2025; Ohio provides a property-tax exemption but no sales-tax exemption for residential solar/battery.
7. ☐ Align Solar Protection is non-transferable; workmanship warranty transfer requires written consent; manufacturer warranties transfer per OEM terms. Align coverage is contingent on inspection + age limits (panels <15 yr, inverters <7 yr).
8. ☐ Backup duration depends on system sizing and load; whole-home air conditioning through a multi-day outage is not implied. Pricing confirmed in the tool before commitment.

13. Quick-Reference Numbers (dated — confirm before quoting)

• Export credit: SSO generation rate / Price to Compare — 10.12¢ June 2026, FLOATS; confirm in tool (net monthly excess only)
• BATTERY BILL VALUE: ~$0 — Ohio nets all charges at retail monthly on one register; say it first
• Imports: ~13–14¢ all-in by components (no single published figure) | Customer charge: $13.50/mo
• True-up: customer-requested annual refund of accumulated credit (AEP + FE only; not Duke/AES)
• Grandfather: EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED, verbatim — no cohorts, no dates; credit lost at service end, new owner applies anew
• The review: PUCO 25-0349 concluded 1/7/2026 — NO residential changes (AEP's proposed restrictions declined)
• April 2026 rate case: typical bill DECREASE under $1 (Case 25-392-EL-AIR — volunteer it; "+$7.90" was the ask, not the order)
• Trajectory: +25% 2021→2024 (12.8¢→16.0¢ EIA); PJM capacity $28.92→$269.92/MW-day (+833% clearing price); $329.17 / $333.44 next two years (FERC cap)
• Sizing: 120% of annual usage (25 kW = interconnection Level 1, NOT a NEM cap) | Interconnection: L1 fee ≤$50 (may be waived); no insurance mandate; no export bar
• Programs: none for batteries (Power Rewards thermostat DR excludes batteries) | Federal ITC: expired 12/31/2025 | Taxes: property exempt YES / sales exempt NO
• CRES rule: ask "standard offer or shopping?" before any export number — supplier contract governs shoppers
• Inverter replacement out-of-pocket: $3,500–5,000 | Takeover bundle: ~$11,800
• Default config: backup $18,500 / self-consumption $17,000
• Storm anchor: June 2022 — ~605,733 experienced outage (Columbus district 351,463); PJM-DIRECTED deliberate sheds; peak ~239K all-causes (2012 derecho: no published AEP count)

14. Sell Hard, Sell Honest — the standing rules

• Say the ~0 first. The battery doesn't reduce the bill here — Ohio nets all charges at retail monthly — and stating that up front is what earns the resilience and trajectory pitch. A rep caught claiming a per-kWh spread loses the whole platform's credibility.
• The disclaimer is the pivot — verbatim, every time: no commitment, no guarantee, under any circumstance. It converts "the battery isn’t a bill play" into "the position is the point."
• Reviewed-and-kept + asked-and-declined + promised-to-nobody — all three are true; use all three; none is a countdown.
• June 2022 framing discipline — 605,733 experienced an outage; the sheds were deliberate; the 239K peak is all-causes. Precision is the pitch.
• Volunteer the April decrease — the rep who tells you your bill went down is the rep you believe about the curve.
• Ask the CRES question before any number — shopping customers' credits live in their supplier contract.
• Never quote the federal ITC (expired). Never claim an Ohio sales-tax exemption (property only).