How the single-plan recommendation works
How does ElectricRates.org pick the single best Texas electricity plan for my home?
ElectricRates.org picks the single best Texas electricity plan by simulating every available plan's 12-month total cost at the household's kWh usage profile, then surfacing the cheapest result that beats the customer's current rate. The pipeline starts with a bill parse that pulls ZIP code, transmission utility, and the customer's current effective rate. For the usage shape, the analyzer uses the 12-month history printed on the bill when present, or falls back to an address-level estimate derived from the meter (ESIID) and home characteristics. Customers can authorize a one-time Smart Meter Texas pull from inside the tool to replace the estimate with actual meter readings. The recommender then pulls every active plan in the customer's ZIP from ComparePower, interpolates each plan's pricing curve between the 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh published price points, and computes the bill at each of the 12 monthly usage values. Plans sort ascending by simulated 12-month total cost. The top plan is shown with its estimated effective rate, projected monthly bill, projected annual cost, and estimated annual savings versus the customer's current rate. These are estimates based on the plan's published rate and the customer's usage profile — real bills vary with seasonal swings, rate changes, and fees. One pick, not a 47-plan grid — because most Texas households don't need 47 options, they need the right one.
Why does the recommended plan's effective rate look higher than the rate advertised on Power to Choose?
The effective rate on a recommended ElectricRates.org plan is the customer's projected cents-per-kWh across their own 12-month usage shape, not the marketed average rate published on Power to Choose at exactly 1,000 kWh. Texas retail electricity providers often use bill-credit plans, where a fixed dollar credit — typically $35 to $150 — subtracts from the bill once monthly usage crosses a threshold like 1,000 kWh. The Power to Choose disclosure rate, which the Public Utility Commission of Texas requires every retail electricity provider to publish, is calculated at that 1,000 kWh threshold, where the credit fires and the effective rate looks artificially low (often 7-9¢/kWh). An apartment household using 400 kWh per month never triggers the credit, so the projected effective rate is the underlying energy charge plus the transmission utility pass-through, usually 14-18¢/kWh. The recommended plan's effective rate reflects what the customer is most likely to pay across a full year, not the brochure rate at one reference point.
What if I want to compare other Texas plans instead of just the recommended one?
Every recommendation on ElectricRates.org links to the full plan grid for the customer's utility and ZIP, where the same 12-month simulation is applied to every available plan and sorted by annual cost. Customers can browse alternates at /texas/utilities/{utility-slug}/{zip}/ — for example, /texas/utilities/oncor/75201/ for a Dallas Oncor address or /texas/utilities/centerpoint/77002/ for a Houston CenterPoint address. The grid shows the same effective rate, monthly bill, and projected annual cost columns as the recommendation card, so the ranking logic stays consistent across both surfaces. ElectricRates.org does not hide alternates or lock customers into a single offer; the single-plan recommendation exists to reduce decision fatigue for households that want one clear answer, not to limit choice. The underlying 12-month-cost ranking is the same engine ComparePower has used to enroll 5 million Texans since 2009, applied to the customer's individual usage profile rather than a generic 1,000 kWh benchmark.