Compare Texas Electricity Rates (August 2026)

Picture two neighbors on the same Dallas street, both using about 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month. One signed a plan last year and forgot about it. The other spent twenty minutes on powertochoose.org before signing. As of August 2026, the spread between the lowest all-in advertised rate and the median rate in the Oncor service area is roughly 9 cents per kilowatt-hour. At 1,000 kWh a month, that gap translates to a meaningful difference in the annual bill.

Texas is one of the few states where residential customers can freely choose their Retail Electric Provider, or REP. That choice is real power, but only if shoppers use it. The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) built the entire competitive framework around informed comparison, which is why the Electricity Facts Label exists and why the state funds Power to Choose. The system rewards people who look.

Texas deregulated most of its electricity market, meaning the REP you pick is responsible for generating or procuring power and billing you for it. That competitive choice does not cover the whole state: municipally owned utilities such as Austin Energy and CPS Energy in San Antonio, along with most electric cooperatives, have not opted into retail competition, so their customers deal directly with the utility rather than shopping among REPs. Where competition does apply, the wires themselves belong to a Transmission and Distribution Utility, or TDU. In the Dallas area, that is Oncor. In Houston, it is CenterPoint. West and South Texas are served by AEP Texas, and parts of the state fall under TNMP.

The TDU has nothing to do with which REP you choose. It delivers the electricity regardless of who you pay for it, and it charges a pass-through delivery fee that shows up on every plan in its territory. Those fees are not negotiable and are identical across all REPs in that territory, but they vary significantly from one TDU to another. A plan that looks identical in price terms can cost quite differently in Houston versus Dallas once TDU fees are factored in.

The PUCT oversees the entire market, sets the rules for what must be disclosed, and maintains Power to Choose as the official shopping portal.

Every REP is required by PUCT rules to publish an Electricity Facts Label, known as an EFL, for every plan it sells. Think of it as a nutrition label for electricity. The EFL shows the all-in price per kilowatt-hour at three specific usage tiers: 500 kWh, 1,000 kWh, and 2,000 kWh per month.

This tiered structure matters enormously. Some plans carry a flat monthly credit that only kicks in when usage exceeds a certain level, making the plan look attractive at 1,000 kWh but expensive at 800 kWh. Others have a low base rate but steep TDU pass-through fees that inflate the cost at lower usage levels. The only way to see the true all-in cost at your actual usage level is to read the EFL for that usage tier.

When comparing plans, always match the EFL tier to your real average monthly usage. Pull three to six months of bills, find your average, and compare plans at the closest matching tier. The EFL is the authoritative document. Advertised per-kWh rates in marketing materials often reflect only one usage tier and may not represent what you will actually pay.

You can find EFLs for every plan on powertochoose.org or directly on each REP's website.

As of August 2026, in the Oncor service area at 1,000 kWh per month, the lowest all-in advertised rate across 128 active plans is approximately 6.8 cents per kilowatt-hour. The median all-in rate sits at approximately 15.9 cents per kilowatt-hour.

That gap is not a rounding error. It reflects the real difference between actively shopping and passively staying on an older plan. A few important caveats apply:

First, these figures are specific to Oncor territory. Rates in CenterPoint, AEP Texas, and TNMP territories differ because TDU delivery fees vary. Second, the 1,000 kWh tier is the benchmark most commonly used for comparison, but your cost at 750 kWh or 1,400 kWh may look quite different on the same plan. Third, promotional rates from newer REPs or introductory offers can shift the floor over time. For live rates across all Texas TDU territories, check our Texas electricity page or ElectricRates.org.

The process is more straightforward than most people expect. Here is a practical sequence:

1. Find your TDU. Your current electricity bill identifies your TDU. It is the company responsible for your meter and wires, not the REP you pay.

2. Estimate your average monthly usage. Look at your last six bills and average the kWh figures. Texas summers can push usage well above 1,500 kWh for homes with central air. Texas winters are milder, but all-electric homes with heat pumps can see elevated usage.

3. Go to Power to Choose or ElectricRates.org. Enter your zip code and filter by contract length, plan type (fixed, variable, indexed), and any green energy preferences. Sort by the all-in rate at the usage tier closest to your average.

4. Pull and read the EFL for any plan you are considering. Confirm the all-in rate at your actual usage tier. Check for early termination fees, which are disclosed on the EFL. Check whether the rate is truly fixed for the contract term.

5. Compare apples to apples. A 12-month fixed plan at 7.5 cents and a month-to-month variable plan at 6.8 cents are not the same product. The variable plan can move next month.

6. Enroll and set a calendar reminder. Fixed-rate contracts expire. When they do, many REPs move customers to a variable or holdover rate that may be significantly higher. Set a reminder 60 days before your contract end date to shop again.

Fixed-rate plans lock in your energy charge per kWh for the length of the contract, typically 6, 12, or 24 months. TDU delivery fees can still change during that period because the PUCT adjusts them periodically, but the REP's portion of your rate stays constant. Fixed plans trade the chance of a lower rate during mild weather for protection when summer demand sends wholesale prices spiking.

Variable-rate plans float with market conditions. In a mild spring month, they can be quite cheap. During a heat event or a February cold snap, they can climb sharply. Texas has seen extreme wholesale price volatility during weather emergencies. Most residential customers shopping for stability choose a fixed plan.

Indexed plans are a third category, tied to a specific market index with a formula disclosed on the EFL. They suit customers who follow wholesale energy markets and are comfortable with more exposure.

For most Texas households, especially those without time to monitor market prices, a 12-month fixed plan from a well-reviewed REP represents the clearest trade-off between price certainty and flexibility.

Every electricity bill in competitive Texas has two main components: the REP charge (energy and any plan fees) and the TDU delivery charge. The TDU charge is a pass-through, meaning the REP collects it and remits it to the TDU. It is not a profit center for REPs and it does not vary between plans within the same territory.

What it does do is make cross-territory comparisons misleading if you ignore it. A plan that looks like 7 cents per kWh in Oncor territory and 7 cents per kWh in CenterPoint territory is not the same plan in terms of total bill, because the underlying TDU delivery fees differ. The EFL at powertochoose.org accounts for TDU fees in its all-in rates when you filter by zip code, which is one reason zip code matters so much when you begin a search.

If you are comparing rates you found in a general advertisement or a friend's bill from a different city, the numbers may not transfer. Always anchor your comparison to plans filtered for your specific zip code. Check our Texas electricity overview for more on how TDU territories break down across the state.

Yes, and the comparison works the same way. REPs in Texas offer plans backed by renewable energy certificates, or RECs, which represent generation from wind or solar sources. Some plans are 100 percent renewable-backed. Others offer a partial renewable mix.

The EFL for a green plan discloses the fuel mix and the renewable percentage, along with the same all-in rate tiers as any other plan. In many cases, as of August 2026, renewable-backed plans are competitive with standard fossil-fuel plans. The gap between green and conventional has narrowed as Texas wind generation capacity has grown substantially over the past decade.

When filtering on Power to Choose, you can select a renewable filter to limit results to green plans. From there, the EFL comparison process is identical. Read the rate at your usage tier, check contract terms, and look at early termination fees before enrolling.

The two primary resources are:

powertochoose.org: The official state portal run by the PUCT. It lists plans from licensed REPs in Texas and does not accept paid placement, but PUCT rules leave it to each REP to decide which of its offers to post, so the site does not necessarily show a REP's full plan lineup. Filtering by zip code, usage level, and contract type surfaces genuinely comparable options.

ElectricRates.org: An independent comparison site that aggregates live plan data and makes it easier to filter by TDU territory, rate type, and usage tier. Live rates update regularly, so it is a useful complement to the state portal, particularly for tracking how rates shift over a season.

A few habits make any comparison more effective. Avoid comparing a plan's advertised rate directly to another plan's advertised rate without reading both EFLs. Advertised rates are often presented at the most favorable usage tier. Check reviews or complaint history for any REP you are considering against the Industry Scorecard the PUCT publishes on powertochoose.org. And remember that the lowest rate is not always the best deal if the REP has a pattern of billing problems or poor outage communication.

The PUCT publishes licensing and complaint information for all REPs. That data is worth a quick look before you sign a 12 or 24-month contract.