SWEPCO Texas: Service Area, Rates & Your Options in 2026

A homeowner in Longview opens her electricity bill and sees the name SWEPCO at the top. She assumes that means SWEPCO is her electricity company, that SWEPCO sets her rate, and that she has no choice in the matter. All three assumptions are wrong.

SWEPCO (Southwestern Electric Power Company) is a Transmission and Distribution Utility, or TDU, serving parts of East Texas. Its job is to own and maintain the physical wires, poles, and transformers that carry electricity to homes and businesses. It does not generate power, does not sell you electricity, and does not determine what you pay per kilowatt-hour for the energy itself.

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) regulates how TDUs like SWEPCO operate and what delivery fees they can charge. Those delivery fees appear on every electricity bill in the territory as a fixed pass-through, regardless of which Retail Electric Provider you choose. The energy charge on top of that is where competition lives, and that part is entirely up to you.

SWEPCO's Texas footprint covers a corridor of East Texas communities, including areas around Longview, Marshall, Texarkana, and surrounding counties near the Louisiana and Arkansas borders. If you live in this region and receive power through SWEPCO's lines, you are in the competitive retail electricity market administered by the PUCT.

This is different from saying you are served by SWEPCO as an electricity seller. The wires belong to SWEPCO. The electricity flowing through them is supplied by the Retail Electric Provider (REP) you have chosen, or in emergency situations, a Provider of Last Resort assigned by the PUCT.

Because SWEPCO's delivery fee structure differs from other Texas TDUs like Oncor, CenterPoint, or AEP Texas, plan pricing in the SWEPCO territory will not match what you see advertised for Dallas or Houston. Always compare plans specific to your zip code.

Texas deregulated most of its electricity market starting in 2002, giving residential customers the right to choose from dozens of competing REPs. The structure has two distinct layers.

Layer one: delivery. SWEPCO owns the local grid infrastructure. Every customer in its territory pays SWEPCO's pass-through delivery fees, which cover line maintenance, metering, and outage restoration. These fees are regulated by the PUCT and are identical for all customers in the territory regardless of which REP they choose.

Layer two: supply. A REP buys electricity on the wholesale market and sells it to you. REPs set their own rates, offer different contract terms (fixed, variable, indexed), and compete for your business. As of July 2026, the lowest all-in advertised rate among active plans statewide was approximately 7.1 cents per kWh, while the median sat near 16.5 cents per kWh, based on data for 1,000 kWh usage in the Oncor/Dallas territory. Rates in SWEPCO territory will vary based on that TDU's specific delivery fees.

Visit our Texas electricity page or powertochoose.org to see live plans filtered by your zip code.

Every REP operating in Texas is required by the PUCT to publish an Electricity Facts Label (EFL) for each plan it sells. The EFL is the single most important document when comparing electricity offers, and it is where SWEPCO customers need to pay close attention.

The EFL lists the all-in average price per kWh at three usage tiers: 500 kWh, 1,000 kWh, and 2,000 kWh. These numbers include both the REP's energy charge and the TDU's pass-through delivery fee. Because SWEPCO's delivery fee structure differs from Oncor's, the same REP plan will show a different all-in price in Longview than in Dallas.

A few things to watch for on the EFL:

- Bill credits tied to usage thresholds. Some plans offer a credit if you use exactly 1,000 kWh or more in a billing cycle. Fall below that threshold and the effective rate jumps significantly.
- Base charges. A flat monthly fee applies regardless of usage, which raises the effective per-kWh cost for lighter users.
- Contract length and early termination fees. Fixed-rate plans lock your energy charge; variable plans do not.

Always pull the EFL for any plan before enrolling, and run the math at your actual average monthly usage, not just the 1,000 kWh benchmark.

Shopping for electricity in SWEPCO territory follows the same process as anywhere else in competitive Texas, with one important starting point: use your actual zip code.

Step 1: Go to powertochoose.org. The PUCT's official shopping portal at powertochoose.org lists every PUCT-certified REP and every available plan. Enter your zip code and it filters results to plans actually available in your area with SWEPCO as the TDU.

Step 2: Sort by all-in price at your usage level. Power to Choose defaults to 2,000 kWh. If your household averages 700 kWh per month, sort at 500 kWh to avoid being misled by credits that kick in at higher thresholds.

Step 3: Open the EFL for any plan that looks attractive. Confirm the contract term, early termination fee, and any conditions attached to the advertised rate.

Step 4: Check the REP's reputation. The PUCT publishes complaint data. A REP with a very low rate and a long string of billing complaints may not be worth the savings.

Step 5: Enroll and confirm your switch date. Switching REPs does not interrupt your power. SWEPCO continues delivering electricity through the same lines. Only the billing relationship changes.

For a side-by-side comparison of current plans in East Texas, ElectricRates.org pulls live data so you can compare without visiting multiple REP websites individually.

The delivery section of your electricity bill reflects SWEPCO's regulated charges, which typically include a customer charge (a flat monthly fee), a distribution charge (per kWh), a transmission charge (per kWh), and various riders covering things like grid upgrades or storm recovery costs.

These charges are set by the PUCT through a rate-setting process and are not negotiable. No REP can waive or reduce them. What REPs compete on is everything above those delivery costs: the wholesale energy procurement, their margin, and any renewable energy or other product attributes they layer on top.

This is why comparing plans by their EFL all-in price matters more than comparing just the energy charge. Two plans might advertise the same energy rate but differ on how they present base charges, making the EFL summary at each usage tier the cleaner comparison point.

If you have a question about a specific line item on your SWEPCO delivery charges, the PUCT's consumer protection division is the appropriate contact, reachable through the PUCT's official site at puc.texas.gov.

East Texas summers are brutal. When temperatures push above 105 degrees and the entire ERCOT grid is straining, variable electricity rates can spike dramatically. That seasonal reality makes the fixed-vs-variable decision more consequential for SWEPCO territory customers than for those in milder climates.

Fixed-rate plans lock your energy charge for the contract term, typically 6, 12, or 24 months. The all-in rate still fluctuates slightly because some TDU riders are adjusted periodically, but the REP's energy charge stays flat. This predictability is valuable heading into a Texas summer.

Variable-rate plans reset monthly based on wholesale market conditions. They can be cheaper than fixed rates during mild weather or off-peak months, but offer no protection when demand peaks. Customers without a locked-in rate during an extreme heat event can see their effective per-kWh cost climb sharply.

For most households in SWEPCO territory, a fixed-rate plan for at least 12 months provides the most budget stability. Compare fixed options at your actual usage tier before signing, and note the early termination fee in case you move or want to switch before the contract ends.

Several REPs serving East Texas offer plans backed by renewable energy certificates (RECs), wind power, or solar generation. These plans function identically to standard plans from a delivery standpoint: SWEPCO's wires bring power to your home from the same grid mix. The renewable designation reflects the REP's commitment to purchase or retire RECs equivalent to your usage.

Renewable plans vary widely in how they are structured. Some carry a small premium over comparable non-renewable plans; others price competitively. When evaluating a green plan, check the EFL to confirm the percentage of renewable content and whether the RECs are sourced from Texas wind (common) or other regions.

The PUCT does not certify or rank renewable claims made by REPs, so the EFL disclosure and any third-party certification logos on the plan page are your reference points. If the environmental attributes matter to you, ask the REP directly what percentage of energy comes from renewable sources and which certification standard they use.

Occasionally, a REP loses its PUCT certification or exits the market. When that happens, customers in SWEPCO territory are temporarily moved to a Provider of Last Resort (POLR), a REP designated by the PUCT to take on displaced customers so power is never interrupted.

POLR rates are typically higher than competitive market rates, and the POLR designation is intentionally temporary: it gives customers time to shop and choose a new REP. If you ever receive notice that your REP is closing or losing its license, treat it as an opportunity to shop Power to Choose immediately rather than staying on the POLR rate.

This is a rare occurrence, but it does happen. Choosing an established REP with a solid regulatory track record reduces the risk of landing in a POLR situation. Check the PUCT's REP registration list at puc.texas.gov to confirm any provider you are considering holds an active certificate.