Top Tier — Ohio Battery Sales Reference

AES Ohio · Dayton & West-Central Ohio

Sales reference for reps working AES Ohio territory. This is the deep reference — how to sell it up top, full utility detail below. AES Ohio (the former Dayton Power & Light) serves roughly 515,000 customers across Dayton and west-central Ohio — and it carries the highest all-in rate of the six Ohio utilities we serve — about 20.75 cents at 1,000 kilowatt-hours as of July 2026 — with exports credited at the standard-offer energy component (about 10.9 cents) on net monthly excess. But Ohio nets all charges at the full retail rate within the billing month on a single register, so a battery does not reduce an AES bill — the bill value is approximately zero, even at these rates. We say that plainly. The trajectory behind it is documented and steep: the standard-offer auction price went from 4.60 cents in June 2020 to 10.9 cents — the all-in bill is up roughly two-thirds since 2020 and more than doubled by this year's rates, with another ~9% residential increase approved November 2025. The resilience anchors are real and precisely stated: Hurricane Ike's remnants in 2008 took out about 300,000 of DP&L's 515,000 customers — sixty percent of the system, more than a week's restoration for many and up to two weeks for the hardest-hit — and the Memorial Day 2019 tornado outbreak (an EF4 through Trotwood, an EF3 through Beavercreek) peaked around 70,000 out. Same no-cash-out mechanics as Duke: credits roll forward forever, refund never, forfeited at closure. The battery here is a storm backup and a hedge against the highest, fastest-climbing rates in Ohio — with the bill value stated honestly at ~0.

What kind of market this is

AES Ohio is an exposed net-billing market where the battery bill value is approximately zero — Ohio nets all charges at retail monthly — but it carries the highest all-in rate of the six and the steepest recent climb, backed by a documented rate trajectory and two precisely-stated storm anchors. Five defining facts:

1. Ohio nets ALL charges at retail within the billing month — the battery bill value is approximately zero, even at Ohio's highest rate. All-in at 1,000 kWh is roughly 20.75¢ ($207.48, effective 7/1/2026) — the highest of Ohio's six — while net monthly excess credits at the standard-offer energy component (Sheet G10: 10.856¢, effective 6/1/2026). Because your solar already offsets your usage at full retail over the month, a battery does not reduce your AES bill — the bill impact is approximately zero. The high all-in is what the battery HEDGES; it is not a spread the battery captures.
2. The trajectory is documented and steep. The standard-offer auction cleared at 4.60¢ in June 2020 and sits at ~10.9¢ now; the all-in bill rose about two-thirds by 2023 and more than doubled by the 2026 rates. The latest rate case (Order November 5, 2025) added ~9% for residential. And the PJM capacity price feeding every future auction jumped nine-fold, with the next two years priced at the federal cap.
3. No cash-out — same as Duke. Credits roll forward indefinitely and are forfeited at account closure; there is no annual refund at AES (that exists at AEP and FirstEnergy only). One more reason storage beats over-generation.
4. The storm anchors are strong — and stated precisely. Ike's remnants (September 2008): ~300,000 of ~515,000 DP&L customers — about 60% of the system — with restoration over a week and up to ~two weeks for the hardest-hit. (Not "500,000 for 2.5 weeks" — that old figure conflated the customer base with the outage count; a customer can check.) Memorial Day 2019: a tornado outbreak with an EF4 through Trotwood and an EF3 through Beavercreek — ~70,000 out at peak, restoration into early June — Dayton's own storm, fully citable.
5. Net metering was just reviewed and KEPT — PUCO's five-year review concluded January 7, 2026 with no residential changes. No cohorts exist, nothing is pending, and we manufacture no deadline. One trap to know: the "$250 Community Energy Storage" and "Power Rewards" programs that surface in searches are AEP's, not AES's — AES has no battery program, and attributing a neighbor utility's program here is a checkable error.

Your lead is the highest rates in Ohio + the steepest trajectory + the tornado-and-Ike resilience — with the battery's ~$0 bill value stated plainly. There are no battery bill savings here; Ohio's monthly netting already offsets your solar. The trajectory presses (AES's all-in more than doubled since 2020), the resilience story closes, and saying the ~0 up front is what earns both. One qualifying question before any numbers: "Are you on AES's standard offer, or do you shop your electric supply?" — a shopping customer's export credit is whatever their supplier contract says.

Default configuration: backup-capable is the strong default — this is tornado country with a 60%-dark event in living memory.

• 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 G10 rate 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

You pay the highest rate in Ohio and your exports earn about half of it. AES bills run about twenty-one cents all-in at typical usage — the highest of any major Ohio utility — while your solar exports credit at the standard-offer energy rate, about eleven cents. Every sunny midday your system sells at eleven; every evening you buy at twenty-one. That ten-cent gap, on every exported kilowatt-hour, is your money.

Rep layer: The exposed opener — battery bill value stated as ~0 (Ohio nets ALL charges at retail monthly on one register), with the highest all-in in the state as the thing being hedged: ~20.75¢ all-in ($207.48 @1,000 kWh, eff. 7/1/2026, from AES's own bill calculator); net monthly excess credits at G10 (10.856¢, eff. 6/1/2026 — floats with the SSO; confirm in tool). The trajectory backs it: SSO auction 4.60¢ (June 2020) → ~10.9¢; all-in up ~two-thirds by 2023, more than doubled by 2026; ~9% residential increase approved 11/5/2025 (Case 24-1009-EL-AIR, customer charge held at $9.75). Mechanics: monthly netting, perpetual rollover, NO cash-out — forfeited at closure. Objection — "My solar still lowers my bill." It does — the netting handles that already, which is exactly why the battery isn't a bill play here. NEVER quote a per-kWh spread or a "$330/yr" battery savings. 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) This territory has been sixty percent dark from a hurricane's leftovers — and taken an EF4 on Memorial Day. September 2008: Ike's remnants crossed Ohio as a windstorm and knocked out about three hundred thousand of DP&L's five hundred fifteen thousand customers — restoration ran over a week, up to two for the hardest-hit. Memorial Day 2019: a tornado outbreak put an EF4 through Trotwood and an EF3 through Beavercreek, seventy thousand out at the peak. Your grid-tied solar produced nothing through either. A battery keeps your critical systems running and recharges from the sun through restoration.

Rep layer: Renders ONLY for backup config. AES anchors, stated precisely: Ike 9/2008 — ~300K of ~515K (~60%), >1 week and up to ~2 weeks hardest-hit (🔴 never "500,000" or "2.5 weeks" — the old figure conflated the customer base with the outage; corrected July 2026); Memorial Day 2019 tornadoes — ~70,000 peak, EF4 Trotwood / EF3 Beavercreek, restored ~June 7 — Dayton's own storm and the strongest fully-citable local anchor; June 2012 derecho ~40–50K (unofficial — flag it as such or skip the number). Tornado framing is AES-specific: this is the one Ohio territory in our book with a violent-tornado anchor.

The Solution

A battery covers what the tariff doesn't — and we'll be straight about what it doesn't do. It does NOT reduce your AES 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, even at Ohio's highest rate. What it does is keep your essentials running through an outage and hedge the highest, fastest-climbing rates in the state — and the rates aren't standing still.

• Self-consumption: "The surplus stops selling at half price and starts replacing the most expensive power in Ohio."
• Backup: "Same ~$0 on the bill — and keeps your home running through the next Ike or the next outbreak."

Monthly Cost Chart and Net Bill Breakdown render here.

Rep layer: THE core cure beat — the battery does NOT reduce the bill here (~$0); Ohio nets all charges at retail monthly, and the tool shows the with-battery bill equal to today's. Say it plainly even at AES's ~20.75¢ all-in — that high rate is what the battery HEDGES, not a spread it captures. No-cash-out mechanics double as the anti-oversizing rule: exports build forfeitable credits; stored power is spent the night it's made. No AES program exists to stack (and the "$250 storage incentive" a customer may have seen is AEP's — correct it politely).

(BACKUP ONLY) It keeps your home running when the grid goes down. Powers your essentials — refrigerator, medical devices, sump pump, connectivity — through an outage, and recharges from solar daily for as long as restoration takes.

Rep layer: The resilience cure beat. Tornado-country honesty: a battery doesn't protect the house from an EF4 — it powers the recovery in the days after, when the neighborhood is intact but the feeders aren't.

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 — nothing is pending, and we'll say that plainly. What's also plain: your export credit floats with an auction that has more than doubled since 2020, in both directions nobody controls. Power you store and use yourself doesn't ride the auction.

Rate Justification + Own vs Rent render here.

Rep layer: The independence beat, AES flavor: reviewed-and-kept (PUCO, 1/7/2026) as reassurance; the floating G10 credit as the honest volatility note (the excess credit RISES when the SSO rises; the all-in has risen faster, which is the trajectory the battery hedges; say it straight if asked). 25-yr scenarios: conservative 4%, moderate 6%, aggressive 8% — and note the documented trajectory already outran all three.

Urgency

The honest clocks — the trajectory is documented, and none of them is a bill-savings number.

The trajectory clock. You're on the highest all-in rate in Ohio, and it more than doubled since 2020 — the standard-offer auction went from about four and a half cents to eleven, with a nine-fold PJM capacity repricing feeding the next leg. There's no net-metering deadline to wait for, and I won't invent one; the cost of staying fully exposed to that curve runs every month, at the highest rates in the state.

Rep layer: Honest exposed urgency — the tariff is the deadline, daily. The AES numbers need zero embellishment.

The trajectory clock. The auction price behind your rate went from four-point-six cents in 2020 to nearly eleven now; the latest rate case added nine percent; and the capacity price feeding the next auctions jumped nine-fold with two more years already priced at the cap. Every month you wait is a month buying the state's most expensive power with no hedge.

Rep layer: Documented: SSO 4.60¢ (6/2020) → 10.9¢; all-in +~67% by 2023, +~115% by 2026; Case 24-1009-EL-AIR Order 11/5/2025 ~9% residential; PJM $28.92→$269.92/MW-day, then $329.17/$333.44 at the FERC cap. Never resurrect the old "+31% 2020→2024" line — it understated the documented trajectory.

The storm clock. Tornado season and the remnants season are both real here — an EF4 came through on Memorial Day, and sixty percent of the system went dark from a hurricane that made landfall in Texas. A battery installed before the next event is protection; one ordered after is a backorder.

Rep layer: Factual, preparedness-framed — both anchors precise.

What is NOT a clock: net metering. Reviewed January 2026, kept, nothing pending. The urgency here is arithmetic, not policy — and the arithmetic is doing fine on its own.

Rep layer: The anti-manufacture rule — easiest to honor at AES because the honest math carries the urgency without help.

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? — and confirm backup vs self-consumption config.
2. Confirm the current G10 rate. The export credit floats with the standard-offer rate — the tool carries today's figure; never quote from memory. Note the $95 meter-exchange fee (~$130 average with processing) in the interconnection path.
3. Customer reads and signs the service agreement. Walk through the disclosures honestly — the net-billing mechanics and the ~$0 battery bill impact, the no-cash-out/forfeiture rule, and that there's no federal credit or AES battery program (and that the $250 storage incentive they may have read about is AEP's).
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: AES Ohio (formerly Dayton Power & Light / DP&L) — investor-owned, PUCO-regulated, PJM territory. Ohio has retail choice: SSO or CRES shopping — always ask which.
• Territory: Dayton and west-central Ohio — roughly 515,000 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 energy component (Sheet G10 ~10.9¢); highest all-in of the six (~20.75¢) and steepest climb; NO cash-out; no cohorts; no programs.
• Default config: backup-capable ($18,500 / $23,942 / ~$228); self-consumption ($17,000 / $22,068 / ~$210).

2. How the AES Ohio Bill Works

1. Imports: full rate on everything you buy — customer charge $9.75/mo (eff. 1/1/2026), distribution base energy 4.9318¢, plus the SSO generation charge (10.856¢, 6/1/2026–5/31/2027) and riders — all-in ~20.75¢ at 1,000 kWh ($207.48, eff. 7/1/2026, per AES's own bill calculator) — the highest of Ohio's six.
2. Exports (P.U.C.O. No. 17, Ninth Revised Sheet D5, Section D, eff. 11/6/2025): verbatim — excess "shall be converted to a monetary credit at the energy component of the standard service offer and shall be allowed to accumulate and continue forward as a credit… Accumulated excess credits may be lost if the customer-generator does not use the monetary credit or the customer stops taking service." Monthly netting; perpetual carry-forward; no cash-out.
3. What this means for a battery: Ohio nets all charges at retail within the month on a single register, so a battery does not reduce the bill — bill impact ~$0, even at the ~20.75¢ all-in. Only net monthly excess credits at ~10.9¢.
4. Sizing: 120% of the prior three-year average usage; 25 kW is the interconnection Level-1 threshold, not a net-metering cap. Meter-exchange fee: $95 (verbatim on the Level-1 application; ~$130 average with processing — the fee schedule's form is dated 2011, so confirm currency at close).

Why this matters for the pitch: AES is the exception that proves the Ohio rule — here the bill case genuinely leads, and the guide's structure follows the arithmetic. The no-cash-out mechanics still apply: never oversize for export; stored beats banked.

3. Net Metering at AES Ohio — Reviewed and Kept, With the Widest Live Spread

Ohio's rule survived its January 2026 review unchanged, no cohorts exist, and nothing is pending. The AES story is arithmetic, not policy.

• The design (Sheet D5 / OAC 4901:1-10-28): exports credit at the SSO energy component; monthly netting; perpetual rollover; credits "may be lost" if unused or if service stops — no cash-out, forfeited at closure.
• The review: PUCO Docket 25-0349-EL-ORD concluded January 7, 2026 with no changes to residential net metering. Nothing pending. Say it plainly.
• Transfer at sale: no transferable credit; the balance dies with the account (the service-contract language adds "not transferable"); a new owner enrolls fresh. Formal assignability language beyond that is unconfirmed — don't improvise it.
• The credit floats: G10 resets with the SSO (currently 10.856¢, eff. 6/1/2026). Honest two-sided note: when the SSO rises, the excess credit rises too — the ALL-IN has risen faster, which is the trajectory the battery hedges. Quote today's figures from the tool.
• The CRES layer: a shopping customer's export compensation is the supplier contract's — ask before quoting.
• The rep move: "Your netting just survived its five-year review — nothing is pending, and the urgency here was never policy. It's arithmetic: you pay about twenty-one cents and your exports earn about eleven. A battery closes a ten-cent gap every day it's installed, at the highest rates in Ohio."
• See the "Net Metering & Grandfathering Status" section for the cited detail; the flag for AES Ohio is EXPOSED (generation-rate net billing, no cash-out; highest all-in of the six, battery bill value ~0).

4. Rate Reality + The Netting Mechanics

What drives the AES pitch (named, honest):

1. The highest rates in Ohio. ~20.75¢ all-in — the most of the six, and the steepest climb; the trajectory the battery hedges.
2. The trajectory. Auction 4.6¢→10.9¢ since 2020; +9% just approved; PJM's repricing feeding the next legs.
3. The anchors. Ike at 60% of the system; an EF4 on Memorial Day — both precise, both lived here.

Documented vs. speculation (say this right):

• ✅ "You pay about twenty-one cents all-in — the highest in Ohio — and exports earn about eleven" (AES's own calculator + G10)
• ✅ "The auction behind your rate went from four-sixty to nearly eleven cents since 2020, and the last rate case added nine percent" (documented)
• ✅ "Credits roll forward forever, can't be cashed out, and are forfeited if the account closes" (verbatim mechanics)
• ✅ "Ike took out about three hundred thousand of five hundred fifteen thousand — sixty percent — with up to two weeks for the hardest-hit" (corrected, citable)
• ❌ "500,000 out for 2.5 weeks" (the old conflation — corrected July 2026; a customer can check)
• ❌ "+31% since 2020" (understates the documented trajectory — retired)
• ❌ Attributing AEP's $250 storage incentive or Power Rewards to AES (checkable error)
• ❌ Quoting the G10 ¢ from memory (floats — tool carries today's figure)
• ❌ Any net-metering deadline (reviewed and kept; nothing pending)

5. Incentives & Programs

• AES battery programs: none. Mandated efficiency/DR programs ended December 31, 2020 under HB6. The trap: searches surface a "$250 Community Energy Storage" incentive and "Power Rewards" — both are AEP Ohio's, not AES's. Correct it before the customer's neighbor does.
• Federal ITC: expired 12/31/2025. Never quote 30%.
• Ohio tax treatment: property-tax exemption YES (ORC 5709.53(B)); sales-tax exemption NO.
• The value is resilience + the trajectory hedge + the position + the takeover — and at AES, the highest rates in the state make the hedge carry weight; the battery still doesn't reduce today's bill (~0).

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 — Ike at 60%, and an EF4 on Memorial Day

Why outages happen here. West-central Ohio's record has two marquee events, both stated precisely:

• Hurricane Ike remnants (September 2008): ~300,000 of ~515,000 DP&L customers out — about 60% of the system. Restoration ran more than a week, and up to ~two weeks for the hardest-hit (~90,000 still out on day four). A storm that made landfall in Texas arrived here as a windstorm. (The old "500,000 for 2.5 weeks" figure conflated the customer base with the outage count — we use the precise number because precision is the pitch.)
• Memorial Day 2019 tornado outbreak (May 27–28): an EF4 through Trotwood and an EF3 through Beavercreek — ~70,000 DP&L customers out at peak, restoration into ~June 7. Dayton's own storm, in living memory, fully citable.
• June 2012 derecho: roughly 40–50,000 (unofficial — flag or skip the number).
• Tropical remnants and violent tornadoes — this footprint's two threat types both take feeders down for days.

What a battery does — and the honest mechanism. Grid-tied solar shuts off automatically in an outage (anti-islanding). A battery with backup keeps essential loads running — refrigerator, medical devices, sump pump, connectivity — and recharges from solar daily through restoration. Tornado honesty: the battery powers the recovery days, when the house is intact but the feeders aren't.

How to pitch it honestly: "Sixty percent of this system went dark from Ike's leftovers, and an EF4 came through Trotwood on Memorial Day. Every solar roof here was off through both. A battery is the part of the system that would have been on — and every ordinary day in between, it's your hedge against the highest, fastest-climbing rates in the state."

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

• What you rent: the most expensive power in Ohio — up two-thirds since 2020 and still climbing — while your surplus sells back at half price into credits that can be forfeited but never refunded — and darkness when the next remnant or outbreak lands.
• What you own (with the battery): your surplus at its full ~21¢ replacement value, spent the night you make it, plus a house that stays on through the recovery days.
• Hidden costs avoided: the $11K takeover bundle + full exposure to the highest, fastest-climbing rates in Ohio + every restoration's real costs.

9. Battery Products

• Backup config (default — tornado country): 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).

• AES takeaway: size for essential loads through a multi-day event — the bill math doesn't reward oversizing (battery bill value ~0 under monthly netting), and the no-cash-out rule makes over-generation past storage capacity a mistake. Backup is the value default. Confirm config in the tool.

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

10. Objection Handling

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

"Why is my export credit only half my rate?" (AES-specific — channeling the frustration honestly)

"You've read it exactly right. Ohio's design credits exports at the generation piece of the standard offer — about eleven cents — while your full rate, with distribution and riders, is about twenty-one. I won't defend the design or predict it changes; the state just reviewed it in January and kept it. What I can do is make it mostly irrelevant: a battery keeps your surplus on your side of the meter, where it's worth the full twenty-one cents to you. The design only touches power that leaves your house — so we stop it leaving. And at your rates, no battery in Ohio pays for itself faster."

"What happens to my banked credits if I move?" (AES-specific — the forfeiture answer)

"They're forfeited — the tariff says accumulated credits may be lost if you stop taking service, and there's no cash-out here, ever. That's worth knowing before you bank them. It's also the cleanest argument for storage: instead of exporting at eleven cents into a balance you might never spend, you store it and spend it yourself that night at twenty-one. Nothing to forfeit, because nothing left the house."

"I saw AES has a $250 battery incentive." (AES-specific — the attribution trap)

"You saw a real program — attached to the wrong utility. That $250 community-storage incentive, and the Power Rewards program that comes up with it, are AEP Ohio's, the utility over in Columbus. AES has no battery program — their efficiency programs ended back in 2020 under state law. I'd rather correct that now than have you find it on your first bill. Your value here doesn't need a program: you've got the highest rates in the state to hedge, backup for the next storm, and the takeover."

"Shouldn't a 10 kWh battery save me more — capacity times the rate times 365?" (AES-specific — the sharp-customer math answer)

"I love that you ran the math — let me show you why the bill-savings number here is actually about zero, not $766. Ohio nets everything at the full retail rate within the billing month, on a single register: your solar already offsets your usage over the month, and only the net monthly surplus credits at the export rate. So there's no retail kilowatt-hour left for the battery to avoid buying — the netting already did that for free. The battery's bill impact is approximately zero, and that's exactly what our proposal shows: your with-battery bill equal to today's. What the battery is really worth here is the backup and the hedge — you're on the highest rate in Ohio, and it more than doubled since 2020. If someone quotes you a per-kilowatt-hour spread savings on an Ohio bill, they're selling the spec sheet, not your meter."

"Rates just went up nine percent — maybe they'll come back down." (AES-specific — the trajectory answer)

"Here's the documented path: the auction price behind your rate was four and a half cents in 2020 and it's nearly eleven now — your all-in bill is up roughly two-thirds since then, and the nine percent landed on top. Could next year's auction clear lower? It could — and the capacity price feeding it just jumped nine-fold with the next two years already priced at the federal cap. I won't predict the curve. I'll just note that a battery is the only version of your bill that doesn't ride it."

"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 AES rebate and the federal credit expired — the value is the rate hedge (the highest all-in in Ohio), the backup, and the takeover."

11. DO SAY / NEVER SAY

12. Required Disclosures

1. ☐ Savings are estimates; AES 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 energy component of the standard service offer (Sheet G10, floats with the SSO), not full retail.
3. ☐ AES Ohio net-metering credits roll forward indefinitely, are not refundable in cash, and may be lost if unused or when the account closes; they do not transfer to a new owner or address.
4. ☐ Ohio's PUCO concluded its five-year net-metering review on January 7, 2026 with no changes to residential net metering; no proceeding to change it is pending.
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. ☐ AES offers no battery rebate, VPP, or demand-response program (programs sometimes attributed to AES in search results belong to AEP Ohio); no program income is quoted. Interconnection includes a $95 meter-exchange fee per AES's current requirements. 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 coverage through a multi-day outage is not implied. Pricing confirmed in the tool before commitment.

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

• All-in imports: ~20.75¢ @1,000 kWh ($207.48, eff. 7/1/2026) — HIGHEST of Ohio's six | Export credit: G10 10.856¢ (eff. 6/1/2026, FLOATS — confirm in tool)
• BATTERY BILL VALUE: ~$0 — Ohio nets all charges at retail monthly on one register; say it first
• Customer charge: $9.75/mo | Distribution base energy: 4.9318¢
• Trajectory: SSO auction 4.60¢ (6/2020) → ~10.9¢; all-in +~67% by 2023, +~115% by 2026; ~9% residential increase Order 11/5/2025 ("+31%" retired — understates)
• Cash-out: NONE — perpetual rollover; FORFEITED at closure (annual refund = AEP/FE only)
• Ohio review: PUCO 25-0349 concluded 1/7/2026 — NO changes, nothing pending
• Sizing: 120% of prior-3-yr average (25 kW = interconnection L1, not a NEM cap) | Meter-exchange fee: $95 (~$130 avg; 2011-dated form — confirm) | Interconnection: L1 $50 waivable / L2 $50+$1/kW / L3 $100+$2/kW; pre-app $300; no fixed insurance tier; no export bar
• Programs: NONE — the "$250 storage" + "Power Rewards" in searches are AEP's | Federal ITC: expired 12/31/2025 | Taxes: property exempt YES / sales exempt NO
• CRES rule: ask "standard offer or shopping?" before any export number
• Inverter replacement out-of-pocket: $3,500–5,000 | Takeover bundle: ~$11,800
• Default config: backup $18,500 / self-consumption $17,000
• Storm anchors: Ike 9/2008 — ~300K of ~515K (~60%); >1 wk, up to ~2 wks hardest-hit (NEVER 500K/2.5wk); Memorial Day 2019 — EF4 Trotwood/EF3 Beavercreek, ~70K peak; June 2012 derecho ~40–50K (unofficial — flag)

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 — even at AES's ~20.75¢ all-in, the highest in the state. Stating that up front earns the trajectory hedge and the tornado/Ike resilience, which are what carry AES.
• Ike precision — 300K of 515K, 60%, up to two weeks hardest-hit. The corrected figure is strong enough; the inflated one is checkable and fatal.
• The 2019 outbreak is the local anchor — EF4 Trotwood, EF3 Beavercreek, 70K peak. Named streets beat vague storms.
• No cash-out, said plainly — rollover forever, refund never, forfeited at closure; the anti-oversizing rule in one sentence.
• The attribution trap — the $250 storage incentive and Power Rewards are AEP's; correct it before the customer's neighbor does.
• The G10 floats — today's figure from the tool, every time.
• Ask the CRES question before any number.
• Never quote the federal ITC (expired). Never claim an Ohio sales-tax exemption (property only).