StowCbusCleveland

With more information, it seems likely that this is just bad communication of a legit (if confusing) process. I plan on contacting OCC, PUCO, and the AG so that they are aware how this process is playing out when it actually happens. I like to think I'm a fairly smart person who is well informed about living in Ohio, and it took me several phone calls just to find out what had happened, let alone what I should do about it. My initial takeaway was that I had been scammed without ever doing anything to allow it.

Well, after calling AEP again to get a more helpful CSR and then speaking with FirstEnergy and then speaking with the Township, I was able to find out what happened, or at least piece together a plausible scenario. Last November the Jackson Township trustees put an issue on the ballot to aggregate the Township's electricity purchasing, and the issue passed. They cut a deal with FirstEnergy to be the provider of choice for Jackson where FE would agree to always beat AEP's price to compare by 3%. Part of that deal was that everyone in the city with an electric bill would be automatically switched over to them unless they explicitly opted-out. This vote happened last November. Sometime between then and 2 months ago when I moved, letters went out to everyone informing them how this would all work. So I moved in the sweet spot: after the notification but prior to the switch. The woman I spoke to with FirstEnergy was very nice, but when she told me there would be a cancellation fee if I decided to leave and go back to AEP, I hit the roof. Thankfully, given how recently I found out, they allowed me to cancel and go back to AEP. I'm not opposed to saving money, and it's probably as simple as saving 3%, but given that they brought up fees in my first conversation...I started wondering whether this would be like switching from Southwest Airlines to American or United: cheaper initial price, get you on the fees later. I asked both AEP and FE to send me their relevant contracts and promo materials so I could actually compare them. I'm probably spending too much time on something that's ultimately only a $3 difference on a $100 bill, but the weirdness of the process left me with a lot of questions.

Hey all, Some of you are much better versed in the laws and rules regarding utility companies than I am, so I was wondering if someone could help me understand what's going on with my electric provider. I recently moved away from Columbus to Canton for work, and I signed up for electric service through AEP. I've had two months worth of bills so far, no big deal. After work today, I came home to a letter in the mail from AEP letting me know that they were aware of my requested switch to FirstEnergy as my electric provider, and they told me I had until 5pm yesterday to cancel the change. My deadline to cancel the change was the day before I got the letter acknowledging my request to switch, a request that I never made. I called AEP, and the lady on the phone was very nice but ultimately unable to do much more than give me some clues about what might have happened. Most of what she told me raised more questions than answers, and I got the distinct vibe from her that she either knew something she wasn't telling me, or at the very least she was under strict instructions not to stray from a particular set of scripted answers. 1) She told me the effective date of the change in her computer showed as August 16th. We signed the lease for our apartment on the 13th and established an AEP account on the 15th. Despite getting 2 months of bills without anyone mentioning this change, we supposedly "requested" a change to FirstEnergy the day after we signed up with AEP. 2) She said that FirstEnergy sent out a letter indicating that we would be automatically switched to FirstEnergy unless we responded to tell them that wasn't what we wanted. I pointed out that we definitely had not gotten that letter, and it very likely would have been sent prior to us renting the apartment, which sat vacant for a few months before we took control in August. She said the address was what was important, not the resident. This makes no sense to me. 3) She indicated that AEP's rate hike may have automatically triggered some sort of change, and that callers seemed to think they would be getting a 5% discount because of the switch. She had no information on FirstEnergy's rates. She really seemed interested in explaining how energy deregulation in Ohio works, but she didn't want to relate how competing energy providers had anything to do with my automatic switch from one to the other. I honestly have no idea what happened here. The lady from AEP was nice, but ultimately unable to tell me what really happened. She referred me to FirstEnergy or PUCO, both of whom have normal 8-5 hours so I couldn't call to ask any questions. So here's my question: What the hell is going on? There is information missing from this story, and AEP Lady either didn't have it or wouldn't give it to me. Surely it can't be legal to automatically switch someone's electricity provider on their behalf prior to them signing up to live there? Can anyone shed light on what this all means? I don't owe any allegiance to AEP so I don't really care who provides my electric, but this feels fishy.

It was cruel of me not to give my final update. Big thanks to Gram for a tour of Akron! You really showcased those neighborhoods and the city in a positive way. I hear they are looking for a mayor... With GF's school situation being somewhat fluid (She ended up switching things up so she can go to Kent Stark and take advantage of cheaper tuition), we decided to go with the one piece of information we knew was stable: my job. We now live in an apartment community that is about 2 miles from my office at Belden. Gramarye was right that the apartment communities here are nice, comfortable, and generic. I gave myself the gift of time and low fuel costs: my commute is 5 minutes, which is great. It allows me to go home for lunch, which is great for eating cheap. The easy commute is such a nice lifestyle perk that I don't mind not having some of the other things available, although I sometimes look at the SARTA station on Whipple and remember how nice it was to ride the COTA #2 up and down High St. in Columbus and be able to go anywhere without a car. The bank and grocery store are both within easy walking distance, but otherwise you need to hop in the car here. The amount of traffic and lack of courtesy from drivers here makes me wary of biking even a short distance on the roads near Belden. While living next to a mall isn't my ideal, I did accomplish one of my major goals of minimizing commutes, so I am pretty pleased with that. There is a certain convenience to having all of the shopping and restaurants so close as well. My next goal is to learn more about the amenities that Canton and the surrounding areas have to offer (beyond the Hall of Fame). Looking forward to checking out the parks with our dog, finding some good places for biking, checking out the historic stuff like McKinley and First Lady's Library here in town. Thanks again to everybody who offered tips and advice. As is typically the case, we found something that works but was completely different than what we were originally looking for.

I agree that the issue is difficult and complex. I'm not a huge fan of the idea of public housing in the first place, but accepting that there is a need for some amount of help to keep people afloat during a rough patch or to make a life working in public service jobs like teaching or firefighting...I'm not sure what the best solution is. I think there is definitely some merit to the idea that urban centers tend to have more services available, as well as making life without a car more feasible. I'm open to new ideas on the topic.

Gotcha. Anything worth checking out in Canton itself since I'll be working in the Belden Village tower?

A year or two ago I was driving a car that belonged to my dad, who lives in Summit county (an e-check county). I was in school at OSU in Columbus. I called to see if there was anything I could do to get out of the test since the car hadn't been in an e-check county in over a year, but the lady on the phone told me it was "my problem" that I lived an hour from the nearest location. I drove a fairly new car for 2 hours to show that it was environmentally friendly...the irony was not lost on me. I'm all for taking care of the environment and I don't have a problem with paying more for stuff if it reflects the true cost to society, but there's just no way that e-Check is worth it.

I'm putting together a list on Padmapper so I'll have something to look at next week. Anybody have any insight on North Canton or any place along 77 b/w Akron and Canton? Right now the list is primarily of Stow and Cuyahoga Falls stuff based on what's available. While I'd prefer to be closer to Akron/Kent, I figured I should check out what's near my place of employment just so I can know I've seen my options.

Interesting to hear. I'll have to check it out in person. My impression was that being a part of Akron proper, it was a bit more dense than what you describe but now that you mention it I do sort of remember that Akron has somewhat fuzzy boundaries where sometimes there's no clear difference between portions of Akron compared to the city next door. There's never a substitute for seeing a place in person! I sent you a PM to see about setting up a visit when we come up.

I don't think a particular housing type is necessarily superior. We're looking for a place that would be pet-friendly to accommodate her ~15lb dog, and we'd like a W/D hookup. If we had a yard, I suppose it would be nice for the dog and I know I'd probably start a small food garden, but I think that desire to spend some time outside is met if there's a decent park in striking distance. In my mind, $800/mo is the max, and I'd want a pretty great place for that. Some work with Craigslist/Padmapper leads me to think there are options at the $600-$700 range that would do the trick and let us start to build some savings. I think I learn more about what we want from typing it here than from just sitting and thinking about it. For example, it occurs to me that I know we're both athletic types who will spend time at the gym so proximity to a good gym or apartments with a good one on site would be nice. Also, trying to think of random things here, I'm a soccer referee in my spare time as a hobby/second job. In the fall and spring I'll be going to the different parks that regularly host competitive youth soccer games, so if any place gave me a "home base" for picking up games, that would be a nice bonus. Interesting stuff to consider. We're going to come up next weekend, so that will be a good chance to check out some places and let her get a better feel for NE Ohio.

I probably oversold how much I like biking. It would be cool, but isn't strictly necessary. Talking some with the gf, I get the sense we are more likely to end up in a place like Stow, Kent, Cuyahoga Falls, Tallmadge, etc...At some point in the next couple weeks we'll be headed up that way to check things out and see it for ourselves. Thanks again for all the insight everybody.

What would be the boundaries to consider when looking at Goodyear Heights? I can't say I'm very familiar with that neighborhood.

I'd like to apologize for making a post that asks for advice, then getting great advice, only to forget to check back up on it. It's now bookmarked properly so I won't make the mistake again. Thank you all for some excellent insight! This conversation sort of got put on the backburner for a couple months, and now that my girlfriend and I are truly beginning the search in earnest, I recalled that I had asked this already and I needed to follow-up. Apologies again about the gap in time, but I'd like to address what everybody asked about. In terms of neighborhood amenities, my overarching concern is that I don't want to end up in a cul-de-sac and 15 minutes from anything useful. Ideally, yes, I would prefer a more urban lifestyle or at the least an urbanized version of suburbia. My mother has gotten into biking over the last year, and she raves about the Towpath, so I think it would be neat to be near that. Here in Columbus, I have enjoyed living in the Clintonville neighborhood and right next to the path that runs next to the Olentangy River from downtown up through Worthington. That would be like bringing a slice of my Columbus life up with me. Now that I think of it, for those who are familiar with it, Clintonville is not a bad approximation of my ideal situation. It's a relatively quiet, safe neighborhood with good availability of parks, public transit, short travel times to downtown, access to retail and food options within a minute or two but also good highway access for getting around, not more than 15 minutes from a couple of the nicer malls, etc. etc. I've really enjoyed the quality of life in this neighborhood and wouldn't mind trying to find something similar. In terms of budget, I'll be in a "first good job after college" situation, so I'll probably be feeling rich for the first couple months but her school obligations will cancel some of that out. Honestly, I don't have a good sense of what the rental market is like and what $400, $600, $1000, etc. will get you. My current place in Columbus is a 2BR in a 1960's/70's era 4-unit building for $600/mo. I don't know if my place would be cheaper or more expensive or about the same if it were in Kent/Akron/Canton. In terms of location, it now sounds like Kent-Stark may offer some of the classes she would need to take initially, and given the cheaper tuition, she may end up taking courses in Canton before Akron, so at this point I'm less concerned about a specific commute for her since it is getting harder to predict. I'd rather find the best place to live that keeps us close to our various commitments and entertainment options. The next time I come up to Akron, I may take you up on that offer to check out Akron, Gramarye. I'm guessing it would hit our high range on rent budget, but it sounds like potential option and IMO I don't think you go wrong paying a premium if it puts you where you belong. I'll send you a PM.

Hi all! I haven't posted on these forums in quite some time, but I have enjoyed reading them off and on for a long time. I went back and looked at one of my posts where I was asking for advice about where to move in Cleveland. Re-reading that was good for a laugh as people talked about how much time I had before 2009 to decide where to go. It was a nice little time capsule of where my head was at back then. As life tends to do for you, my plans changed. Took a little longer to graduate, and stayed in Columbus. Now, I'll be starting a new job in the fall that will have me working in an office near Belden Village in Canton while my girlfriend who has graciously decided to follow me to the area will be finishing up an education degree at Kent State. As I'm balancing the competing interests of our respective commutes to Canton and Kent, the desire to be closer to activity than not, be safer than not, etc., I'm having a little bit of trouble picking where might be best to live. The "Route 8 corridor" is where I grew up and I figured I'd know right where to go, but apparently I never paid much attention to livability when I was terrorizing the greater Akron area. Since my job will have a decent chunk of traveling involved, and because I'd like to help her since she's the one leaving home and I'm more or less coming home, I think shortening her commute to <10 minutes is more important than shortening mine. Does anyone have any suggestions for good neighborhoods or apartment situations under those parameters?

Also, if you haven't already, join Facebook with your osu.edu email account and browse the "Marketplace" for sublets. The OSU OCSS website is worthwhile, but you should actively use Facebook and Craiglist as well. Your best bet in my opinion is to find a sublet that lasts through August, and when you get here start looking for a place to move into for September. You should be able to find all kinds of options for subletting from now through the end of the summer, and probably at great prices.