The strongest-sounding free in Texas
Most free-nights pitches hide something in the word free. Reliant's does not, at night. Truly Free Nights promises "no energy charge ($0) and no delivery fee ($0) during your free time-of-use period," and the plan's own Electricity Facts Label backs that up: between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., the energy charge is $0.00 per kWh and the utility's usage-based delivery charge is $0.00 per kWh. That is the strongest free window marketed in Texas, and it is real.
First, a naming note. As of August 2026, reliant.com's Truly Free Nights pages land on a plan Reliant now sells as the Free Overnight plan. Same structure, same pitch, same $0/$0 window. Reliant's own site uses both names for the offer, so if you searched for Truly Free Nights and found Free Overnight, you are in the right place. This review covers that plan, priced through Reliant's own shop for Houston ZIP 77002.
The teardown is not about the window. It is about the other 15 hours. A plan that gives away 9 hours of electricity every day has to collect its money somewhere, and the Electricity Facts Label shows exactly where: a daytime rate that runs roughly double the cheapest flat plan in the same wires territory. Whether this plan saves you money comes down to one number, the share of your monthly kWh you can push past 9 p.m. We do that math below.
Claims vs. fine print
Four claims on the front. Four footnotes on the back. Here they are, side by side.
The mailer says
"Free electricity means you'll enjoy no energy charge ($0) and no delivery fee ($0) during your free time-of-use period."
The fine print says
True for usage-based charges, and verified on the EFL. But "no delivery fee" means the per-kWh delivery charge only. CenterPoint's $4.90 monthly charge bills every cycle, nights included, and every daytime kWh still carries a 5.1-cent delivery charge on top of the 19.4-cent energy charge.
Source: reliant.com Free Overnight plan page; Reliant Free Overnight 24 plan EFL, CenterPoint service area, dated June 1, 2026
The mailer says
"Kick back and save EVERY night with free electricity from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m."
The fine print says
The window is 9 of 24 hours, 37.5% of the clock. It opens at 9 p.m. sharp, after the hours when a Texas home does most of its living: dinner, laundry, and the brutal late-afternoon and evening air conditioning all bill at the full day rate, roughly 24.6 cents per kWh all-in.
Source: Reliant Free Overnight 24 plan EFL: "Nighttime Charge applies to usage from 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM every day"
The mailer says
An advertised average price of 17.2 cents per kWh at 1,000 kWh.
The fine print says
That average is built on Reliant's own assumption that 32% of your consumption happens at night. The EFL prints the formula: if your nighttime share is lower than 32%, your real average is higher than the advertised one. Nothing about the plan moves your usage to the window; only you can do that.
Source: Reliant Free Overnight 24 plan EFL: "Average price calculation is based on usage profile over 12 months of 32% of consumption at nighttime"
The mailer says
"90 Day Satisfaction Guarantee": Reliant will help you switch if the plan isn't working for you, with no early termination fees.
The fine print says
The guarantee is a switch to another Reliant plan, one time only, within the first 90 days, and the offer does not restart once used. Leaving Reliant itself still triggers the cancellation fee, $295 on the 24-month version we priced.
Source: reliant.com Change Your Plan page, August 2026; Reliant Free Overnight 24 plan EFL disclosure chart
The rate Reliant gates behind a ZIP box
You will not find this plan's price on the plan page. Reliant shows the pitch first and the numbers only after you enter a ZIP code. We entered Houston ZIP 77002 on August 6, 2026 and pulled the Electricity Facts Label for the Reliant Free Overnight 24 plan, CenterPoint service area, dated June 1, 2026. The components: a $0.00 base charge from Reliant, a $4.90 monthly charge from CenterPoint, a daytime energy charge of 19.4 cents per kWh, daytime delivery of 5.1 cents per kWh, and $0.00 for both at night. Advertised averages: 17.7 cents at 500 kWh, 17.2 at 1,000, 16.9 at 2,000.
Note which of those three numbers is smallest. The 2,000 kWh tier prints 16.9 cents, the flattering end of the table, while a 1,000 kWh home should expect 17.2 by the EFL's own math. So when an ad or plan card leads with a price based on 2,000 kWh usage, you are seeing the plan at its best angle. That display choice shows up across the market; we wrote about the 2,000 kWh trap here.
Two more availability findings, both checked August 6, 2026. The plan is not listed on powertochoose.org, the PUCT's shopping site, where Reliant offers only five "Power On" plans for ZIP 77002. And it does not appear in the marketplace feed we run on this site. To compare it against the market, you have to dig out the EFL yourself. We did.
The plan is sold on reliant.com, where pricing appears only after you enter a ZIP code. The numbers in this review come from the CenterPoint (Houston) EFL dated June 1, 2026, pulled via ZIP 77002 on August 6, 2026; rates differ by utility territory, so pull the EFL for your own ZIP before comparing. As of August 2026 the plan is not listed on powertochoose.org.
How the free window works
The mechanics are clean by category standards. Your smart meter reports usage in intervals; every kWh you burn between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., any day of the week, bills at $0 for energy and $0 for usage-based delivery. Every kWh outside the window bills at 19.4 cents energy plus 5.1 cents delivery. CenterPoint's $4.90 monthly charge applies regardless. The daytime energy charge is fixed for the term, 24 months on the version we priced, with a $295 cancellation fee that is waived only if you move and provide a forwarding address.
One mechanic worth knowing: the plan depends on complete interval data from your meter. The EFL states that if less than 50% of your interval data arrives, Reliant splits the unaccounted usage by formula, 68% billed at the day rate and 32% credited to the night rate. In other words, when the data goes missing, your free share gets set by an assumption rather than by what you did after 9 p.m.
The same structure runs across Reliant's shelf. Truly Free Weekends applies the identical $0 energy, $0 delivery trade to a window from 8 p.m. Friday to 12 a.m. Monday, which is 52 of the week's 168 hours, about 31%, with the other 69% billed at a premium weekday rate. And another structure plan on Reliant's featured-plans page, Flextra Credits 24, stacks two gimmick classes into one product: your 2 highest-use days each week free, a retroactive pick that works like the mechanic we tore down in the TXU Free Pass review, plus "$200 in bonus bill credits" that arrive as one $100 and two $50 credits, each in a separate billing period, so collecting the full $200 takes at least three billing cycles.
Do the math on nine free hours
Start with the ceiling. Nine hours out of 24 is 37.5% of the clock. But homes do not spread kWh evenly around the clock; air conditioning, cooking, and laundry cluster in the afternoon and evening, before the window opens. Reliant's own EFL tells you what a realistic night share looks like: the company assumes 32% of consumption lands between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. when it calculates the advertised 17.2-cent average.
Now the funding side. As of August 2026, the cheapest flat, no-gimmick plan in CenterPoint territory on our live feed was 12.4 cents per kWh at 1,000 kWh. This plan's daytime cost is roughly 24.6 cents all-in, about double. On Reliant's own 32% assumption you average 17.2 cents, which at 1,000 kWh is about $48 more each month than the flat plan, roughly $1,150 over the 24-month term. The free window is real; it is just prepaid, every day, between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.
The break-even: with the EFL's numbers, you need about 52% of your monthly kWh inside the nighttime window to match that 12.4-cent flat plan, and about 43% just to beat Reliant's own no-gimmick Pure Power 12, which sat at 14.5 cents at 1,000 kWh on our feed. An EV charging on a timer overnight, in a home that runs light during the day, can approach those shares. A typical Texas home running air conditioning through a summer afternoon does not get close; Reliant's own math says 32%. Our full guide to free nights and weekends plans walks through who the exceptions are.
37.5%
Share of the clock the 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. window covers
32%
Night-usage share Reliant's own EFL assumes for its advertised average
24.6¢
All-in daytime cost per kWh, energy plus delivery, CenterPoint EFL, June 2026
52%
Night share needed to match the cheapest flat CenterPoint plan (12.4¢, August 2026)
Fine print, decoded
The five footnotes on the back of the mailer, translated into plain English.
| What the footnote says | What it means |
|---|---|
| "Nighttime Charge applies to usage from 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM every day." | Free starts at 9 p.m., not at sunset and not after work. Dinner, laundry, and evening air conditioning before 9 p.m. bill at roughly 24.6 cents per kWh all-in. |
| "CenterPoint Energy Monthly Charges: $4.90 per billing cycle." Base charge from Reliant: $0.00. | The utility's fixed monthly charge never goes free. "$0 delivery fee" covers the per-kWh charge at night only. |
| "Do I have a termination fee? Yes. $295. Applies through the end of the contract term. This fee does not apply if the customer moves, and provides a forwarding address and other evidence that may be requested." | You are in for 24 months. Moving is the only free exit, and Reliant can ask for proof. |
| "If less than 50% of the interval data is received from the TDSP or is estimated by Reliant, the usage difference... will be applied as 68% at the Daytime Energy Charge and 32% at the Nighttime Energy Charge." | If your meter data comes in incomplete, a formula decides how much of your usage was free. You could run everything after 9 p.m. that month and still get 68% of the gap billed at the day rate. |
| "Renewable Content: This product is 22% renewable. The statewide average for renewable content is: 37%." | The version we priced is below the Texas average on renewable content. If you saw solar branding on a free-nights pitch, check the EFL for the version you are buying. |
| 90 Day Satisfaction Guarantee: "You can change your plan without a penalty fee one time only within the first 90 days of starting the qualifying plan. The offer to change your plan does not restart once exercised." | The guarantee moves you to another Reliant plan, once. It is not a free way out of Reliant, and you cannot use it twice. |
What to do instead
For contrast, here is the live CenterPoint market on the day we published (August 2026). The cheapest all-in plan at 1,000 kWh was 6.2 cents per kWh, but it earns that number with a bill credit that punishes you in low-usage months; threshold plans cut both ways. The cheapest flat plan with no credits, no tiers, and no time windows was 12.4 cents at 1,000 kWh. Every plan below publishes its full Electricity Facts Label before you enroll.