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How does a different electric company get their electric into your house through Duke's lines?
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They don't, you still receive the electric from Duke Energy plus a mix from the other utilities. The electric and gas companies sell capacity on their lines and in turn charge a transportation fee.
Imagine a pie chart as a cross section of a electric line where various companies buy "space" in the line. 55% is Duke Energy, 25% is DP&L and 20% is AEP. This makes up the 100% capacity of the line. The other utilities do however feed into the system to fill the line but it is still more of a paperwork transaction.
Sometimes you can get a cheaper rate per kilowatt but what you have to watch out for is the transportation charge by the owner of the line. This is where you can hurt yourself.
Example: You buy electric for $.065/ Kwatt from DP&L and Duke's transportation cost is $.015/Kwatt so your actual cost is $.080/Kwatt if you live in Duke's territory. Duke's price may be $.075/Kwatt and there is no extra charge so you are actually cheaper by staying with Duke at this time.
They file rate cases regularly with Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) so look at the following website for details:
http://www.puco.ohio.gov/
Hope this helps...
Jeff