The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio recently approved a plan to overlay a new area code over the existing 440 area code which will soon “exhaust.”. According to regulators, the 436 area code will serve the same geographic area currently served by the existing 440 area code, including parts of Northeast Ohio and Greater Cleveland, which additionally encompasses all of Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, and Lorain counties and portions of Cuyahoga, Erie, Huron and Trumbull counties.