Top Tier — Ohio Battery Sales Reference

The Illuminating Company / CEI (FirstEnergy) · Cleveland & Northeast Ohio

Sales reference for reps working Illuminating Company (CEI) territory. This is the deep reference — how to sell it up top, full utility detail below. The Illuminating Company is FirstEnergy's Cleveland utility, serving Cleveland and its northeast Ohio suburbs. Ohio's design nets everything at the full retail rate within the billing month on a single register: your solar already offsets your usage, and only the net monthly EXCESS credits at the generation component — CEI's Rider GEN, about 7.3 cents. So a battery does not reduce a CEI bill; the bill value is approximately zero. We say that plainly. What carries the pitch: August 6, 2024 — the storm that put about 322,600 CEI customers in the dark, the company's worst outage event since July 1993 — followed by another ~162,300 out in this March's windstorm, a supply rate that jumped 12.5% in one June 2025 step, the PJM capacity repricing feeding the next ones, and a mechanics detail worth volunteering: FirstEnergy customers are receiving about $65.61 in HB6 restitution credits over three months, approved this January — we tell customers about money coming back before we say a word about money going out. The battery here is backup, a rate-trajectory hedge, and a takeover.

What kind of market this is

CEI is an exposed net-billing market where the battery bill value is approximately zero (Ohio nets all charges at retail monthly), with Cleveland's worst outage since 1993 (August 2024) plus a fresh March 2026 anchor, a documented one-step 12.5% supply jump, and an annual true-up refund — the pitch is resilience plus trajectory. Five defining facts:

1. Ohio nets ALL charges at retail within the billing month — the battery bill value is approximately zero. Your solar offsets your usage at the full rate over the month on a single register; only net monthly EXCESS credits at the Rider GEN generation rate — 7.2774¢ as of June 2026 — under a net-metering rider that has run essentially unchanged since 2009. Imports bill at the full rate (service charge $6.50/mo, distribution energy 4.8397¢ — the highest of the three FirstEnergy Ohio utilities — plus the generation charge — Price to Compare 9.1107¢ — and riders). Because the monthly netting already offsets your solar, a battery does not reduce your CEI bill — the bill impact is approximately zero. Say that plainly.
2. The true-up refund exists here. FirstEnergy's rider (verbatim): credits accumulate "until netted… or until the customer-generator requests in writing a refund that amounts to, but is no greater than, an annual true-up of accumulated credits over a twelve-month period." Ohio Edison and AEP customers can cash out annually; Duke and AES customers cannot. Get this right — it's a genuine tariff difference.
3. Net metering was just reviewed and KEPT — PUCO's five-year review concluded January 7, 2026 with no residential changes. Nothing is pending; we manufacture no deadline. And the same January 7 order approved something to volunteer: $275 million in HB6 restitution — about $65.61 in credits for a typical residential customer over three months. The rep who tells you money is coming back is the rep you believe about the curve.
4. The rate story is documented and recent. Supply rates jumped 12.5% on your total bill in the June 2025 step (CEI's figure; its sister utilities took 11.8% and 13.3%). The distribution rate case settled at a consolidated ~$34 million increase across FirstEnergy's three Ohio utilities at a 9.63% return (Order November 19, 2025, tariffs effective March 1, 2026). And the PJM capacity price feeding every future supply auction jumped from $28.92 to $269.92 per megawatt-day, with the next two years priced at the federal cap.
5. August 2024 is the anchor — Cleveland's worst since 1993. The August 6, 2024 tornado-and-wind event put about 322,600 CEI customers out at peak — the company's most impactful storm since July 1993. This March's windstorm added ~162,300 more, four months ago. And the June 2012 derecho blacked out more than 560,000 FirstEnergy customers statewide (no per-company split was published — we quote the total as the total).

Your lead is the worst-since-1993 anchor + the trajectory, with the battery's ~$0 bill value stated plainly. August 2024 was Cleveland's deepest outage in three decades, and this March put another hundred sixty thousand out — your customer has lived two of these in two years. The 12.5% June step and the PJM math press the hedge. There are no battery bill savings here — Ohio's monthly netting already offsets your solar, and saying that ~0 earns the rest. One qualifying question before any numbers: "Are you on the standard offer, or do you shop your electric supply?" — a shopping (CRES) customer's export credit is whatever their supplier contract says.

Default configuration: backup-capable is the strong default — the last system-scale outage here was this March.

• 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 Rider GEN 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

Your exports only offset part of your bill — about seven cents against the twelve-plus you pay. Ohio's net-billing design credits your solar exports at the generation rate — Ohio Edison's is about seven point three cents — while everything you buy bills at the full rate. The gap a battery captures is around five cents, and I'll be straight that it's modest. What's not modest: your supply rate jumped twelve and a half percent in one step last June, and the wholesale price feeding the next steps just repriced nine-fold.

Rep layer: The honest opener — battery bill value stated as ~0 (Ohio nets ALL charges at retail monthly on one register; only net monthly excess earns Rider GEN 7.2774¢; the all-in single figure is unpublished — the tool carries components; CEI's distribution energy 4.8397¢ is the highest of the three FE opcos — the honest note that Cleveland pays the most of the trio). NEVER quote a per-kWh spread, a ~12¢ spread, or "16–18¢" imports — removed July 2026. Mechanics: 1:1 within the billing period, monthly netting, excess at Rider GEN, customer-requested annual true-up refund available. The trajectory hook is documented: 12.5% total-bill supply impact June 1, 2025 (never the "27–28%" figure — that's FirstEnergy's West Virginia pattern, not Ohio). Objection — "So the battery barely moves my bill." It doesn't reduce this bill — Ohio's netting already does — 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) Cleveland's worst outage in thirty years was two summers ago — and your solar shut off with it. August 6, 2024: tornadoes and straight-line wind put about three hundred twenty thousand CEI customers in the dark — the company's most impactful storm since 1993. This March, a windstorm took out another hundred sixty thousand. Grid-tied panels produce nothing in an outage — every solar roof in Cleveland sat dead through both. A battery keeps your critical systems running, and recharges from the sun through restoration.

Rep layer: Renders ONLY for backup config. CEI anchors (documented): August 6, 2024 — ~322,600 out at peak, CEI's most impactful storm since July 1993 (the marquee); March 14, 2026 windstorm — ~162,300 (four months ago — fresh); June 29, 2012 derecho — FirstEnergy statewide total >560,000, no per-company split published — quote the total as the total, never invent a CEI share (some searches misattribute "50,100 CEI" to the derecho — that class of figure belongs to 2026 events). December 2022 Winter Storm Elliott: PJM declared an RTO-wide Maximum Generation Emergency with a conservation call — cite it to PJM, never as a FirstEnergy-specific event. The double-anchor play: worst-in-thirty-years plus four-months-ago — two lived events in two years.

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 goes down — and here, "when" was August 2024 and again this March. It does NOT reduce your CEI 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 hedges the one number nobody controls: what the next supply auction does to the twelve-plus cents you pay for everything you don't self-supply.

• Self-consumption: "The honest bill savings plus the hedge — your stored power doesn't ride the auction."
• Backup: "All of that — and your house stays on through the next August."

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; say it plainly, the tool shows the with-battery bill equal to today's. The stack that carries the sale: resilience (Aug 2024 worst-since-1993 + March 2026 — two lived events) + trajectory hedge (12.5% June step + PJM repricing) + the annual true-up as a mechanics plus (excess credits can actually be refunded here — a small honest advantage over Duke/AES territory) + takeover. The grounding's conclusion holds: Ohio's bill math doesn't carry the payment; the resilience layer does. Sell in that order.

(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. Lake-effect Cleveland specifics: wind, tornadoes, and lake-driven ice — winter outages are real here; a battery recharging from winter sun covers essentials with load management; set 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 real, and we say it plainly. You're also getting restitution credits on your next few bills from the HB6 settlement — about sixty-five dollars — and we'd rather you hear that from us. What no order and no auction touches: power you store and use yourself.

Rate Justification + Own vs Rent render here.

Rep layer: The independence beat, FirstEnergy flavor: reviewed-and-kept (PUCO, Jan 7, 2026) + the HB6 restitution volunteered ($275M total; ~$65.61 typical residential over 3 months, approved the same day — the TECO-drop honesty move; state it factually, never editorialize the scandal history). 25-yr scenarios: conservative 4%, moderate 6%, aggressive 8% — anchor near-term to the documented 11.8% June step and the PJM repricing already cleared.

Urgency

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

The trajectory clock. Your supply rate jumped 12.5% in one step last June. The capacity price feeding the next auctions went from $28.92 to $269.92 per megawatt-day — nine-fold — with the next two years already priced at the federal cap. Every month without a hedge is a month fully exposed to the next step.

Rep layer: Honest urgency — all documented: 12.5% total-bill supply impact 6/1/2025 (CEI's own figure); PJM BRA $28.92 → $269.92/MW-day (+833% clearing price — never conflate with total cost); $329.17 / $333.44 next two delivery years at the FERC cap; statewide +25% 2021→2024 (12.8¢→16.0¢, EIA). Distribution side: the consolidated ~$34M case landed March 1, 2026 — modest per-customer; the supply side is where the curve lives.

The storm clock. This system's worst outage in thirty years was two summers ago, and its latest was this March. Tornado season, wind season, and lake-effect ice all hit this footprint. A battery installed before the next event is protection; one ordered after is a backorder behind three hundred thousand neighbors.

Rep layer: Factual, preparedness-framed — two lived events in two years: August 2024 and March 2026; understate and let the memory work.

What is NOT a clock: net metering. Reviewed January 2026, kept, nothing pending. Any installer running an Ohio net-metering deadline is inventing one — and the rider your credit lives on has run since 2009.

Rep layer: The anti-manufacture rule. The 2009-rider longevity is the honest stability note; the PJM curve is the honest instability note; both are true, and neither 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, and the tool's numbers assume SSO until confirmed. Confirm backup vs self-consumption config.
2. Confirm the current Rider GEN rate. The export credit follows the generation rider — 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 option, the restitution credits they'll see on upcoming bills, and that there's no federal credit or FirstEnergy 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: The Illuminating Company (CEI) — one of FirstEnergy's three Ohio utilities (with Ohio Edison and Toledo Edison), investor-owned, PUCO-regulated, PJM territory. Ohio has retail choice: SSO or CRES shopping — always ask which.
• Territory: Cleveland and its northeast Ohio suburbs.
• 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 Rider GEN (~7.3¢); annual true-up refund available; no cohorts; 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 CEI Bill Works

1. Imports: full rate on everything you buy — Service Charge $6.50/mo (eff. 3/1/2026), distribution energy 4.8397¢ (eff. 3/1/2026 — the highest of the three FirstEnergy Ohio utilities), plus the generation charge (Price to Compare 9.1107¢, eff. 6/1/2025) and riders. No single published all-in figure — the tool carries components.
2. Exports (Net Energy Metering Rider — Rider 17, Sheet 93, P.U.C.O. No. 11, eff. 5/1/2009): 1:1 within the billing period; excess credits at the Rider GEN generation component — 7.2774¢ (eff. 6/1/2026); monthly netting; credits accumulate.
3. The true-up (verbatim): credits carry "until netted… or until the customer-generator requests in writing a refund that amounts to, but is no greater than, an annual true-up of accumulated credits over a twelve-month period." Ohio Edison and AEP have cash-out; Duke and AES do not.
4. Sizing: the 120%-of-usage rule governs; 25 kW is the interconnection Level-1 threshold, not a net-metering cap. The Time-of-Day option lives inside Rider GEN and applies to SSO (non-shopping) customers only.

Why this matters for the pitch: Ohio nets all charges at retail monthly, so the battery does not reduce the bill — bill value ~0 — and the pitch weight sits on the August 2024 anchor, the 12.5% step, and the PJM curve. The true-up is a small genuine plus: over-generation here isn't forfeited-forever the way it is at Duke/AES — but at ~7.3¢ refund value, storing still beats banking.

3. Net Metering at CEI — A 2009 Rider, Reviewed and Kept

The rider your credit lives on has run since 2009, and Ohio's five-year review just kept it. Nothing is pending — and the honest volatility lives on the rate side, not the policy side.

• The design (Rider 17, Sheet 93 / OAC 4901:1-10-28): 1:1 within the billing period; excess at the Rider GEN generation component; monthly netting; customer-requested annual true-up refund. No date cohorts — Ohio has never closed anything.
• 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: unconfirmed either way — the rider carries no assignability language. The honest line: credits attach to the account in practice; a seller should spend them down or request the true-up before closing, and we say so rather than guessing at policy. (Never import Clay's trigger, JEA's attachment, or Duke Ohio's forfeiture rule here — this one is simply unwritten.)
• The restitution (volunteer it): the same January 7 order approved $275M in HB6 restitution — $250M in direct customer credits (~$65.61 typical residential over three months) plus $25M in programs. State it factually; never editorialize the history.
• The CRES layer: a shopping customer's export compensation is the supplier contract's — ask before quoting. (The TOD option is SSO-only.)
• The rep move: "Your netting rider has run since 2009, and the state just reviewed it in January and kept it — nothing is pending, and I won't invent a deadline. The moving part is the rate: your supply step jumped almost twelve percent last June, and the wholesale price behind the next steps repriced nine-fold. A battery doesn't need the policy to change to earn its keep — it needs the rate to keep doing what it's doing."
• See the "Net Metering & Grandfathering Status" section for the cited detail; the flag for Ohio Edison is EXPOSED (generation-rate net billing, annual true-up available).

4. Rate Reality + The Netting Mechanics

What drives the CEI pitch (named, honest):

1. August 2024. ~322,600 out — Cleveland's worst since 1993 — with March 2026 (~162,300) as the fresh second act.
2. The trajectory. A 12.5% supply step already landed; the PJM repricing feeds the next ones.
3. The honest mechanics. A 2009 rider, reviewed and kept, with a real true-up — stability on the policy side, volatility on the rate side, and a battery that answers the volatile half.

Documented vs. speculation (say this right):

• ✅ "Your net monthly excess credits at the generation rider — about seven point three cents — but Ohio nets all charges at retail monthly, so the battery's bill value is ~0" (honest math)
• ✅ "Your supply rate jumped 12.5% in the June 2025 step" (CEI's own figure)
• ✅ "You'll see about sixty-five dollars in restitution credits over three months — approved this January" (volunteer it, factually)
• ✅ "The distribution case settled at about thirty-four million across FirstEnergy's three Ohio utilities" (the consolidated figure — the only published one)
• ❌ Quoting a ~12¢ spread or "16–18¢" imports (corrected out July 2026)
• ❌ "27–28% supply increase" (that's FirstEnergy's West Virginia pattern — a cross-state mix-up a customer can catch)
• ❌ Any per-company rate-case split or return figure (never published — the old ones were refuted against FE's own 10-K)
• ❌ Asserting the $245M storm deferral runs 25 years or to 2050 (FE's own 8-K says 5 years — state the conflict if it comes up, assert neither)
• ❌ Inventing a CEI share of the 2012 derecho (only the FirstEnergy statewide total >560,000 was published; misattributed "50,100" figures belong to 2026)
• ❌ Any net-metering deadline (reviewed and kept; nothing pending)

5. Incentives & Programs

• FirstEnergy Ohio battery programs: none. The residential offering is an income-qualified smart thermostat (Sensi/Nest at no cost) — batteries explicitly excluded; demand response is commercial-and-industrial only. No program income to promise.
• The restitution is not a program — it's a one-time $275M settlement credit stream (~$65.61 typical over three months); volunteer it as money coming back, never as solar/battery income.
• 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 honest bill savings + the takeover.

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 — Worst Since 1993, and Again This March

Why outages happen here. Cleveland's record is tornadoes, wind, and lake-effect ice — and it's current:

• August 6, 2024 tornado/windstorm: about 322,600 CEI customers out at peak — the company's most impactful storm since July 1993. The marquee.
• March 14, 2026 windstorm: ~162,300 CEI customers out — four months ago (the same event took ~174,600 at Ohio Edison next door).
• June 29, 2012 derecho: more than 560,000 FirstEnergy customers statewide — no per-company split was published, and we quote the total as the total.
• December 2022 (Winter Storm Elliott): PJM declared an RTO-wide Maximum Generation Emergency with a public conservation call — the first since the 2014 Polar Vortex. Cite it to PJM: the regional grid itself came within a margin of rolling blackouts, in December.
• Wind in spring, tornadoes in summer, ice and grid stress in winter — this footprint's exposure runs year-round.

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.

How to pitch it honestly: "You've lived two of these in two years — August 2024 was Cleveland's worst in three decades, and March was four months ago. What most people don't realize is that every solar roof was off through both. A battery is the part of the system that would have been on."

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

• What you rent: full-rate power whose supply step just jumped 12.5% with a nine-fold capacity repricing behind the next ones — and darkness when the next August lands.
• What you own (with the battery): your surplus at its honest stored value, a hedge on the auction, and a house that stays on.
• Hidden costs avoided: the $11K takeover bundle + the unhedged trajectory + every restoration's real costs.

9. Battery Products

• Backup config (default — two system-scale outages in two years): 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).

• CEI 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 while the true-up means excess isn't forfeited, a ~7.3¢ refund is still no reason to oversize. 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 CEI figures) + utility-specific objections.

"The savings look small. Is this even worth it?" (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 pass. Here's the actual case: three hundred twenty thousand of your neighbors were in the dark in August 2024 — Cleveland's worst storm in thirty years — and another hundred sixty thousand this March, with every solar roof off both times. Your supply rate jumped twelve and a half percent in one step last June, and the wholesale price behind the next steps repriced nine-fold. Backup, hedge, position — in that order."

"Is Ohio getting rid of net metering? Another company told me it's ending." (the reviewed-and-kept answer)

"It's not — and I can give you the date. The state runs a formal review of net metering every five years, and the latest one concluded this January seventh with no changes. Your rider has run since 2009. Nothing is pending, and anyone selling you a deadline is inventing one. The thing that IS moving is the rate — June's step was twelve and a half percent — and that's the honest reason to hedge, no invented deadline required."

"What's this credit on my bill? And what happens to my solar credits if I sell the house?" (the mechanics answer — both volunteered)

"Two good questions. The credit is HB6 restitution — about sixty-five dollars over three months, approved in January; that's money coming back, and you'd hear it from me either way. On your solar credits: FirstEnergy's rider lets you request an annual refund of accumulated credits — a real cash-out, which not every Ohio utility offers. The rider doesn't spell out what happens to a banked balance at sale, so the honest play is simple: spend it down or request your true-up before closing. We put that in writing rather than guess at policy."

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

"Glad you said so before we ran numbers. When you shop, your export credit comes from your supplier's contract, not the utility rider — some match it, some do better, some don't offer one, and none are required to. Let's pull your supplier agreement so the numbers are YOUR numbers. And notice the pattern: your solar economics currently reprice every contract renewal. Stored power doesn't."

"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 utility rebate and the federal credit expired — the value is the backup, the hedge, and the takeover, with the bill savings as the honest bonus."

11. DO SAY / NEVER SAY

12. Required Disclosures

1. ☐ Savings are estimates; rates and the Rider GEN generation rate (the export-credit basis) change through PUCO proceedings and supply 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 (Rider GEN), not full retail.
3. ☐ Accumulated credits may be refunded upon written request as an annual true-up per the Net Energy Metering Rider; the rider does not address transfer of banked credits at property sale, and customers are advised to net or refund balances before account closure.
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. HB6 restitution credits (~$65.61 typical residential over three months) are a one-time settlement outcome, not a solar or battery program.
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-rider credit; projections assume standard-service-offer terms unless the supplier contract is confirmed. The Time-of-Day option applies to standard-offer customers only.
6. ☐ FirstEnergy offers no residential battery rebate, VPP, or battery-eligible demand-response program in Ohio; 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 coverage 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: Rider GEN 7.2774¢ (eff. 6/1/2026) — confirm in tool (net monthly excess only)
• BATTERY BILL VALUE: ~$0 — Ohio nets all charges at retail monthly on one register; say it first
• Service charge: $6.50/mo | Distribution energy: 4.8397¢ (highest of the three FE opcos) | PtC generation: 9.1107¢ (eff. 6/1/2025; newer figure — confirm) | All-in: components only, no single published figure
• True-up: customer-requested annual refund of accumulated credits (written request) — exists at FE + AEP, not Duke/AES | Sale transfer: unwritten — net or refund before closing
• Ohio review: PUCO 25-0349 concluded 1/7/2026 — NO changes, nothing pending | Rider vintage: 2009
• Supply step: +12.5% total-bill, June 1, 2025 (OE 11.8 / TE 13.3; "27–28%" = WV pattern, never OH)
• Distribution case: consolidated ~+$34M / 9.63% ROE, three FE Ohio utilities (Order 11/19/2025, eff. 3/1/2026; rehearing entry 2/18/2026) — no per-company splits exist
• Storm deferral: $245M confirmed; period = source conflict (FE 8-K: 5 yrs) — assert neither
• HB6 restitution: $275M; ~$65.61 typical over 3 months; approved 1/7/2026 — VOLUNTEER IT
• Trajectory: statewide +25% 2021→2024 (12.8¢→16.0¢); PJM $28.92→$269.92/MW-day (+833% clearing price); $329.17 / $333.44 at the FERC cap
• Sizing: 120% of usage (25 kW = interconnection L1, not a NEM cap) | Interconnection: L1 $50 / L2 $50+$1/kW / L3 $100+$2/kW; no insurance minimum; bidirectional meter at customer expense; no export bar
• Programs: none for batteries (thermostat offer excludes them; DR is C&I-only) | 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: Aug 6, 2024 — ~322,600, worst since July 1993 (the marquee); March 14, 2026 — ~162,300; June 2012 derecho — FE statewide >560K (no per-company split); Dec 2022 Elliott — PJM RTO-wide emergency (cite to PJM)

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 earns the worst-since-1993 and trajectory pitch.
• The double anchor needs no help. August 2024 and March 2026 — two lived events in two years; understate and let the memory work.
• 12.5%, never 27–28%. The bigger number is FirstEnergy's West Virginia pattern; quoting it in Ohio is a checkable cross-state error.
• The consolidated $34M is the only rate-case number that exists. Per-company splits were refuted against FE's own filings — never quote one.
• Volunteer the restitution — ~$65.61 coming back; factual, never editorial, never framed as solar income.
• The true-up is a real plus; the sale question is honestly unwritten — spend down or refund before closing; never guess at policy.
• Ask the CRES question before any number.
• Never quote the federal ITC (expired). Never claim an Ohio sales-tax exemption (property only).