How to Switch Electricity Providers in DC: Step by Step

1. Find what you pay now. Your bill shows the price you pay for Standard Offer Service. Write down that price and the date it will next change. It is Pepco’s Standard Offer Service price.
2. Check that you can choose. Look at your bill. If your power comes from a city utility or a cooperative, it may sit outside the choice program, so confirm before you shop.
3. Compare on the official site. Start with DC Public Service Commission, which is run for consumers. Look at the price type, the term and the fees, not only the headline rate.
4. Get the terms in writing. Ask for the price per kWh, whether it is fixed or variable, the term, every monthly fee, the early termination fee and what the price becomes at renewal.
5. Sign up with the supplier. You enroll with the supplier, not with your utility. Keep the contract and any confirmation, and note how long you have to cancel.
6. Watch for the start date and your first bills. Your utility handles the change. Expect a notice, and check that the supplier name, the price and the start date match what you were told.
7. Mark the end of the term. Put the renewal date in your calendar. Many plans change price at the end of the term unless you choose again.

These points come from the regulator or its official shopping site, or from the supplier disclosure language that its rules require. Each names where it was read.

• Pepco remains the only electric distribution company in the District. Residents can choose a generation supplier, and customers who do not choose receive Standard Offer Service. Source: DC Public Service Commission.
• The commission oversees the competitive bids that set Standard Offer Service prices, and its Consumer Bill of Rights applies to retail energy suppliers and their sales representatives. Source: DC Public Service Commission.

Source: Read on October 10, 2026. Rules and supplier lists change, so use the regulator link below for the current text.

We could not confirm these points from an official page, so we do not state a number for them. Ask the supplier, read the contract and check with the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia.

• How many days you have to cancel after signing
• Current Standard Offer Service prices and when they change
• Early termination fees and renewal terms
• The date of your next default price change, so you compare offers against the right number

The average DC home used 639 kWh a month in 2025, or about 7,667 kWh a year. At that use, every 1 cent per kWh of difference between an offer and Pepco’s Standard Offer Service price changes the yearly bill by about $77. A gap of 2 cents is about $153 a year, and 0.5 cents is about $38.

Those numbers shrink or grow with your own use. A monthly fee of $5 adds $60 a year, which can erase a small price gap. Run your own numbers with the electricity bill calculator, and compare fixed and variable plans with the fixed vs variable rate calculator.

Keep your contract, your confirmation and any call notes. If you think you were switched without permission, tell your utility and your regulator right away. The Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia takes complaints about suppliers.

Be wary of anyone who says they are from your utility and says you must switch, who asks for your account number before you have seen a contract, or who will not give you the price and fees in writing.