“It’s a nightmare,” he said.
A message on a recent bill from AES Ohio to Johnson that he shared with the Dayton Daily News says in part: “We are aware of a delay with some payments appearing on the payment history page. We’re committed to resolving this issue as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
A spokeswoman said the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), which governs state utilities, is aware of the issues.
“The PUCO has heard from several dozen AES Ohio customers related to billing issues so far in 2025,” said Brittany Waugaman, a communication specialist with the PUCO. “AES has identified these different billing issues as being the result of the transfer to the new billing system. PUCO staff is aware of these anomalies for some AES Ohio customers and is actively investigating.”
Ohio regulations require electric distribution utilities to provide accurate billing, Waugaman said. She said the PUCO is also checking to ensure that customers’ bills are corrected if inaccuracies happened.
“If there is a delay in billing, AES will offer payment arrangements,” she added. “AES is also not charging late payment fees or disconnecting those impacted by any billing issues.”
“We are in lockstep with the PUCO, telling them we’ve had a billing upgrade,” said Mary Ann Kabel, a spokeswoman for AES Ohio. “They are well aware.”
Kabel said AES Ohio staff have spoken with Johnson about his situation at least twice. She said a limited number of customers have experienced issues, and she said most of those issues have been resolved.
“They have been isolated issues,” Kabel said, but she added that she did not wish to minimize the frustrations customers have experienced.
“We appreciate their patience,” she said.
The company has some 539,000 customers in a 24-county area of West Central Ohio.
Any customer going through billing issues should contact AES Ohio first to resolve the issue, Waugaman said.
They can also contact the PUCO.
AES Ohio (formerly known as Dayton Power & Light) has called the billing system the “AES Customer Ecosystem” or “ACE.”
“Upon its implementation, ACE will constitute a comprehensive billing, customer information, and data and operations management system,” the electric company said in a June filing with the PUCO last year.
There were problems when the system was introduced in Indiana, according to news sources there.
Nearly 62,000 AES Indiana customers experienced problems after the new billing system went live in November 2023, the Mirror Indy news site reported at the time. For some customers in that service area, AES withdrew a monthly payment multiple times, the site reported.
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