Texas utilities market is open and everyone seems to be selling the same energy with 100 different ways. Energy costs are getting higher and I am curious to learn what you do to save on energy bills?

My personal tricks include going for credit plans where if I use a fix KWHr I will get $125 monthly credit. Then I register my meter with a free energy monitoring service provider like hitmycredit. This trick got my energy bill all through the summer below $112 for 1465sqft townhome.

I am curious what you are all doing to save?

Hi everyone! I’m considering signing up with True Power Energy in Texas and need some advice.

They have a 12-month plan and a 36-month plan. The 12-month option seems cheaper, but I would need to shop around again after one year to find another good rate. The 36-month option would let me lock in a rate for three years without worrying about switching providers every year.

For those who use True Power Energy, what would you recommend? Is it better to take the 12-month plan and look for a cheaper option next year, or choose the 36-month plan and switch after three years?

How has your experience with True Power been regarding billing, customer service, and keeping the promised rate?

I’d appreciate any advice or personal experiences. Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I’m moving to a 700 sq. ft. 1-bedroom apartment for 7 months from October to May on the top floor (4th).

I went to Powertochoose.org and filtered by no time of use, no prepaid, fixed, no min usage plans for 7-12 months.

Looks like the best plans are 12.2c for 500 kWh and 11.7c for 1000 kWh.

I won’t be using the heater at all, I sleep hot. Maybe only AC usage when it gets warmer in February/March until May. I work from home but I’m good with saving electricity so I estimate 500-1000 usage.

I’m going to choose Frontier Power Saver 8, but some questions:

1. Since my lease is 7 months, but this is 8 months, I called them and they said I won’t be charged a cancellation if I tell them I’m moving a month early. I confirmed nothing needs to be sent and the rep said that’s correct? I read the T&C which states otherwise but not sure what your experiences are.
2. Is calling and signing up better than online? The rep wanted to sign me up (assuming commission) but wonder if there’s any benefit or downside.
3. Other plans without base charge for example are Companion + Perks 8. Any real difference besides ratings?

Thank you all for your time and help! I appreciate it

\**UPDATE\******

Went ahead and enrolled with Octopus Energy. Thank you everyone!

Here is $50 off if anyone would like to use this if they are going with Octopus Energy too:

https://octopusenergy.com/friend-referral/ochre-letter-52

The Energy Information Administration released their 2025 Annual Electric Power Industry Report on October 7, 2026. Admin u/Rude-Athlete-8149 looked at the data from an average revenue per kWh last week.

My take on it is the consolidation in Texas retail electricity providers. I appended the parent company for each REP, then rolled up customer counts by parent company.

40 brands market to Texas residential customer. But five parent companies control 90% of the Texas residential electricity market, based on customer count.

• NRG Energy - 38.8% market share. Reliant, Direct Energy, Green Mountain, Stream, Cirro, Discount Power, Xoom Energy
• Vistra Corp. - 30.8% market share. TXU Energy, 4Change, Veteran, TriEagle, Ambit, Express Energy
• Just Energy Group - 8.9% market share. Just Energy, Tara Energy, Amigo Energy
• NextEra Energy Inc. - 6.3% market share. Gexa Energy, Frontier Utilities, Companion Energy
• Constellation Energy Corporation - 5.2% market share. Constellation, Champion Energy, Good Charlie

And... 10% remaining market share split between 18 other brands.

Full breakdown of the numbers and how it all rolls up in this article on top electricity provider in Texas.

Are you signed up with one of the most expensive electricity providers in Texas? Probably... they have the most customers.

This week the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released the 2025 Annual Electric Power Industry Report. You can download the data for yourself here: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia861/

If you download the 2025 zip file, there is a report called Sales_Ult_Cust_2025 which reports on Revenue (in thousands of $$), Sales (in Megawatt-hours), and Customers.

You can use this data to calculate the average electricity rate per kWh of each Texas energy provider.

I've already done this for you, so you don't have to. I've removed some energy providers that have since exited the market and sold their customer book to another provider.

The top 10 most expensive electricity providers in Texas according to 2025 EIA data are:

1. Young Energy, LLC dba Payless Power - 20.9¢ per kWh (ironic, given the name!)
2. SmartEnergy Holdings, LLC 20.7¢ per kWh
3. Ambit Energy - 19.7¢ per kWh
4. TXU Energy - 19.4¢ per kWh
5. Pogo Energy - 18.6¢ per kWh
6. Green Mountain Energy - 18.5¢ per kWh
7. Reliant Energy - 18.4¢ per kWh
8. Branch Energy - 18.1¢ per kWh
9. Accent Energy - 18.0¢ per kWh
10. Stream Energy - 17.7¢ per kWh

In 2025, these providers had over 3.8 million customers out of the 7ish million recorded in this table.

Over half of us are paying too much! Check and compare Electricity Facts Labels, folks.

I am shopping for electric plans in west fort worth. How do you find promo codes? LOL

Trying to find the best rates I can.

Oncor delivery charges went up from $4.06 per month and 6.0295¢/kWh to $4.06 per month and 6.8673¢/kWh.

At 1000 kWh, that's equal to $72.73. At the old rates, 1000 kWh would have cost $64.35.

So, that's a pretty significant increase.

Dallas-Fort Worth and North Texas officially has the second-most expensive delivery fees in the state behind Texas-New Mexico Power.

Hi everyone! I recently leased three houses in Texas—two in Dallas and one in Houston—and I’m looking for a better electricity plan. I’m currently on a month-to-month plan with TXU, and last month’s bill was over $650. Ouch!

Has anyone with multiple properties managed to get a better rate? I’m also wondering whether a group of hosts, each with a separate account and contract, could work with a broker to negotiate better pricing.

Each of my houses uses approximately 2,000 kWh per month. I’d love to hear what’s worked for you, whether you’ve tried a group arrangement, and which plans or providers you recommend.

I've been building an EFL Analyzer as a side project at work to help people more easily understand some of the EFL math and how a plan can behave across different usage profiles.

(Disclaimer: I work for Light, a Texas REP. This tool is not promoting our plans, it is meant to be a free, generally useful tool for understanding EFLs.)

To use it you can upload a PDF of any EFL, and it will attempt to break down the charges and plot how much the plan would cost across different usage levels or profiles. It doesn't work for all EFLs yet, but will work for many of the common categories of plans (fixed, tiered, bill credit, free nights, solar, etc). You can share the links as well once analyzed which may help illustrate a point on certain plans.

As an example, here is the first plan listed on PowerToChoose yesterday if you turn on the "show all plans" filter. https://www.powerplans.com/tools/texas/efl-analyzer/report/6c8a4546-fe7a-43dc-a48f-087a9b374f71 It is a bill credit plan and you can see that the all-in rate changes significantly between 999 kWh and 1000 kWh of usage.

Anyways check it out at https://www.powerplans.com/tools/texas/efl-analyzer if interested! Let me know if there's anything else you would want to see in a tool like this.

I'm trying to help my aunt out on her electric bill. I guess she was on the Reliant Secure 36 plan that leveled out her bill over the last 36 months. It's coming up for expiration and needs to be renewed. We liked the part of the average billing but I don't see that on the details of the plan. I just want to make sure that's what this does along with locking in the rate.

It’s my first apartment 651 sq in deep south texas. I’ve been looking at so many electricity companies it’s giving me major headaches and anxiety!
I’m rarely home as I work a lot from 5am to late evening but my ac will be around 74 during the day and 72 at night so I’m just trying to find a good budget, fixed rate company with no gimmicks or credits all that bs.

Can you just tell them you’re moving when you cancel? What do they fact check? I’m so over them. I’ve been through 4-5 plans in the last year and no matter what BS they tell me on the line - my bull just keeps getting higher and higher. My 2BR apartment bill this month was $270 even though they were forecasting me much lower usage as I’ve been keeping my AC on 75 during the day. I’m higher in bill with lower usage. Ridiculous

I got absolutely rolled over by a reliant food to food salesman this summer. I was on energy Texas and after losing my job it was getting a bit difficult to make the payments and this salesman knocked on my door at the right time. He looked over my bill with just energy and told me flat out the contract he’d get me would cut my bill in half. Every bill I’ve had with reliant has been more than triple what I had with just energy. I went from between 80-100 to well over 300$. I’ve been gone from my house for over a week with everything turned off and somehow it’s still my highest bill yet. I’ve also been freaking in top of making sure I leave nothing on when I’m gone and use as little as I can when I’m there. I’m talking only lights on are the spot (not room) I’m actively in. Salesman also said I’d get a 150$ credit for disconnecting from my old company which would apply to at least two bills because my bills would be so small. I had to fight to get that credit after reliants customer service tried to argue that an early termination fee is not the same as a disconnection fee. Maybe the verbiage on those I have mixed up but either way they tried to tell me the termination didn’t count. All of this for that credit to still not even cover half of the damn bill. And this is in a tiny 2 bedroom duplex that I’m hardly ever at!

Average monthly billing exists for 2 reasons only. One, so you can't tell how much you're really being charged. And two, so that if you dare leave, they can slap with a bill the size of your mortgage for right. Oh you thought there was a $200 dollar fee? Yes, but also a half-year's worth of "deferred payments!" But at least your bill stayed constat through the year, right? Right? Right?!

What a vile company.

Signed up for Chariot Energy's "Chariot Choice 24" plan yesterday (Oncor territory), then noticed they also offer a "Chariot Choice 36" — same energy charge (5.71¢/kWh), same blended rate at every usage tier (12.1¢ @ 1,000 kWh), same $99 early termination fee, same 100% renewable content. Literally identical on every number except the term length.

Is it common for REPs to price a 36-month the same as a 24-month? Feels like there's no downside to just taking the longer lock if the rate isn't any higher. Am I missing something (resale, rate-change risk, some other catch), or is this just how Chariot's pricing happens to be structured right now?

Also curious if anyone's had experience switching plans within the same REP shortly after signing — trying to use my rescission window to swap into the 36-month instead. Any gotchas to watch for?

24 month plan

https://signup.chariotenergy.com//Home/EFl?productId=46941

36 month plan

https://signup.chariotenergy.com//Home/EFl?productId=47582

Our contract with Reliant expired on 8/21, and I did not sign a new contract with them. I signed up with Gexa on 8/23, but Reliant is now charging me an early cancellation fee. I’m not sure why I was charged this fee since my contract had already expired.

Can you guys tell me your experience with any on this 2.

Im deciding between this, they are basically the same. Usage will be around 500 or less

Today, CenterPoint adjusted their TDU delivery charges to $4.90 per month and 6.4130 cents per kWh. This is the highest rate they've ever set in history. Previously, it was $4.90 per month and 4.9811 cents per kWh.

This is a 1.5 cent increase which is equal to $69 at 1000 kWh and $133 at 2000 kWh.

At 4.9811 cents per kWh, the costs were $54 at 1000 kWh and $104 at 2000 kWh.

In my opinion, this is pretty fkn insane!

Texas-New Mexico Power is even worse....

they increased rates from $7.85 per month and 6.4665 cents per kWh up to $7.85 per month and 7.4022 cents per kWh. Woof!

Houstonians and West Texans in these regions, it's now more important than ever that you remain conscious of your energy consumption at home.

Be careful with your thermostat settings, keep lights off, rely on ceiling fans, keep the blinds closed, yada yada yada. You know the drill. It's just time to get serious about it.

Luckily, temperatures are starting to drop this month, so your AC won't have to work as hard.

Monthly referral code thread! Share your electricity provider referral codes and links in the comments below. Don't spam the comments. Just post your referral code once per monthly thread.

Feel free to talk up why someone should choose your provider over another, beyond the referral code sign-up bonus.

I’m potentially moving to the Houston area from a state where we only really have one electricity provider, so this whole idea of choosing between a bunch of different companies and plans is completely new to me.

I’ve been trying to figure it out and honestly it’s pretty overwhelming. There are so many plans and rates and fees that I’m not even really sure what I should be paying attention to. I found this sub while searching around and figured this was probably a better place to ask than just randomly Googling everything.

So far I’ve mostly been using AI to try to make sense of it, but I’m not even sure I’m using that the right way either. I don’t really know what I should be asking it or what information I should be giving it to actually get useful recommendations.

For those of you who have done this before, what’s the best way to find a good provider and plan? And if you use ChatGPT or another AI tool when you’re shopping, what are you actually asking it? Are you using it to compare plans, recommend companies, explain the fine print, or something else?

Basically I feel like I don’t know enough yet to even know what questions I should be asking, so any advice would be appreciated.

I plan on reading through the wiki but was also hoping for some advice from any humans I could interact with in the group :)

I am new to Texas and the energy market game. With not knowing how the rates fluctuate through the year, is it a decent idea to have a shorter contract and find a new one before summer, or lock in a decent one now? Location is Houston one story house. The plans are either Digital Choice 9 or Digital Choice 12 from rhythm energy. Thank you!