While Ohioans’ electric bills go up, so does the pay of the top dogs of companies that sell it.

In February, Ohioans’ electricity bills were up 22% compared to a year earlier. That was the sharpest increase of any state except for Virginia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

Prices will still be high this summer.

The National Energy Assistance Directors Association projects the average electricity cost to cool homes between June and September will reach $778.

That’s a $61 — or 8.5% — increase from last year and nearly 37% higher than in 2020.

Much of the increase can be attributed to spiking demand from data centers.

Despite increasing costs for consumers, Ohio’s Republican leadership incentivizes construction of the centers with huge tax breaks paid for by those same consumers. 

And already in the throes of an affordability crisis, ratepayers also shelled out tens of millions last year to pay the salaries of utility executives who each make as much as many hundreds of Ohioans. 

The top salary at one utility — Columbus-based AEP — was by far the biggest of any utility in the United States.

That was after the CEO got a $23 million raise in 2025.

According to a new report by the Energy & Policy Institute, CEOs of the four electric utilities serving Ohio made a combined $81 million last year.

The utilities say executive salaries are determined by compensation committees operating in a competitive marketplace.

But the report said that the lavishly paid execs are often rewarded for doing things that make customer bills go ever upward.

“In some cases, utilities pay bonuses tied to regulatory outcomes that drive profits, often at the direct expense of customers,” it said.

“Most notably, this includes incentives tied to return on equity (ROE), or the profit utilities can collect from customers on qualifying capital expenses. Where financial metrics like utility share price can rise independently of customers’ rates, higher ROEs directly correspond to higher costs for customers.”

After getting his huge raise, AEP CEO Bill Fehrman received nearly $37 million in 2025, the report said.

That’s $8 million more than the next best-paid CEO, Southern Company’s Christopher Womack.

Assuming Fehrman works 60 hours a week, he makes nearly $12,000 an hour.

That’s 507 times as much as the median household in Ohio earned in 2024 — and 900 times the state’s per-capita income.

AEP disconnected service to Ohio customers 173,000 times between June 2024 and May 2025.

Amid such struggles — and skyrocketing consumer costs — the company was asked how it could justify Fehrman’s huge pay package.

Scott Blake, AEP’s director of media relations, said that while Fehrman’s compensation is in the tens of millions, it’s not all guaranteed.

“AEP’s Board of Directors sets CEO compensation through an independent, performance-based process designed to support long-term value creation and the company’s strategic goals,” Blake said in an email.

“While the reported 2025 compensation reflects a $36 million figure, a significant amount of that compensation is based on future performance and much of it will only be payable if five-year performance targets are met.”

AEP’s strategic goals include execution of its long-term capital plan, system reliability, safety, regulatory outcomes, and sustained financial performance, Blake explained.

If the company doesn’t meet those targets, Fehrman will be paid “substantially less,” he said.

However, according to the Energy & Policy Institute report, some of those goals are in the interest of shareholders at the literal expense of its customers.

It pointed to an AEP filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission saying that when considering Fehrman’s pay, 17% of the decision was based on “regulatory and legislative integrity.”

It defined that as “achieve plan return on equity.” 

In other words, when considering Fehrman’s huge raise, a major factor was how much did shareholders make through rising stock values tied to company profits.

Regulators allow utilities to profit from customers financing capital — or construction — projects.

In Ohio, a rash of such projects has been tied to increasing costs for customers — and increasing profits for utilities. And those are tied to big executive pay packages.

AEP’s execs aren’t alone in doing well thanks, in part, to Ohio ratepayers.

Duke Energy’s Harry Sideris was the country’s 17th highest-paid utility CEO at nearly $14 million.

The company also paid outgoing CEO Lynne Good $8 million in 2025.

Company spokeswoman Madison McDonald said Duke was sensitive to the jam in which consumers find themselves. But she added that Sideris has a tough job.

“We understand affordability is top of mind for many customers, and Duke Energy’s leadership and Board consider that context carefully,” McDonald said in an email.

“President and CEO Harry Sideris’s compensation reflects the responsibility and complexity of leading one of the country’s largest electric and gas utilities during a time of major investment and transition. As we invest to strengthen and modernize our electric and natural gas delivery systems, we remain focused on keeping costs as low as possible, while delivering safe, reliable service for Ohio customers.”

Ranking just behind Sideris on the 2025 compensation list was FirstEnergy’s Brian X. Tierney at $13 million.

He is leading the Akron-based company in the aftermath of the largest bribery and money-laundering scandal in Ohio history. 

Spokeswoman Jennifer Young said Tierney’s pay was benchmarked against that of other utility executives.

“Like many large companies, FirstEnergy’s CEO compensation is determined by the Board’s independent Compensation Committee with advice from an outside compensation advisor and benchmarking against a peer group,” Young said in an email.

Another CEO of a utility operating in Ohio, Andrés Gluski of AES, made nearly $9 million in 2025.

The company didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Some state legislatures have taken on lavish pay for utility CEOs by shifting the cost from ratepayers to shareholders.

In Maryland, a law limits the amount of CEO pay that can be billed to ratepayers to 110% of the salary of the chairman of the Maryland Public Service Commission, or $285,000 a year.

In Minnesota, a bill is pending that would cap the maximum share of CEO pay shouldered by ratepayers at the salary of the governor, currently $200,000.