Power to Choose Texas Electricity Guide

Power to Choose only covers areas with electric choice, where you pick your own provider. In those areas, your utility delivers the electricity and maintains the lines, and the provider you choose sets your price.

That includes most of Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, the Rio Grande Valley and Lubbock. Customers of most electric cooperatives and city-owned utilities, such as Austin Energy and CPS Energy in San Antonio, can't choose a provider. See Texas electric utilities to check which one serves your address.

1. 01

   Enter your ZIP code

   Plans and delivery charges depend on your utility, so results are specific to your service area.

2. 02

   Filter out plans you don't want

   Narrow the list by contract length and plan type. If you don't want prepaid or time-of-use pricing, exclude them so the comparison stays like for like.

3. 03

   Compare at your own usage

   Look at the price closest to your typical month, not just the 1,000 kWh column. If you use 2,000 kWh in summer and 800 kWh in spring, check both. Find your usage first.

4. 04

   Open the Electricity Facts Label

   The EFL shows the charges behind the average price, including bill credits, minimum-usage fees and when the price can change. Learn how to read one.

5. 05

   Look past the price

   Customer service and renewal practices matter after you sign up. Check our provider reviews before you commit.

6. 06

   Enroll with the provider

   Follow the link to the provider to sign up, and read the Terms of Service and Your Rights as a Customer before you finish.

In the Houston area alone, Power to Choose lists more than 169 plans today. Sorting by the 1,000 kWh price puts the plans that look cheapest at that one usage level first, and those are often bill credit or time-of-use plans.

CenterPoint (Houston) area, ZIP 77002. The lowest 1,000 kWh price among 12-month or longer plans, and the lowest simple fixed-rate plan, average price with delivery charges included. Updated November 13, 2026.

Power to Choose provides transparency and access to plan information, but it compares plans by advertised average price. That leaves out the things that decide what you actually pay.

• It doesn't know your usage

  The average prices are calculated at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh. Your home's real usage, month by month, can land far from those points.

• Bill credit plans can look cheaper than they are

  A credit that starts at 1,000 kWh can produce a very low 1,000 kWh price and a much higher price at your actual usage.

• It doesn't know when you use electricity

  Time-of-use plans only save money if your usage falls in the cheaper hours. The listing can't tell you whether yours does.

• It doesn't list every plan

  Providers choose which plans to list, and they often keep other plans for their own websites, including many EV plans.

• The lowest prices are often loss leaders

  Providers often list their sharpest prices here because it's a low-cost way to win customers. Many count on renewing you later at a much higher rate.

• Its provider ratings only count complaints

  Each provider's star rating is based on complaints filed with the PUCT. That's useful, but it leaves out pricing transparency and renewal practices, two of the four criteria in our reviews.

• Picking the first plan in the list without checking the price at your usage
• Comparing only the 1,000 kWh price
• Skipping the Electricity Facts Label
• Missing a minimum-usage fee or a bill credit threshold
• Ignoring the early termination fee and contract length
• Letting a contract expire and rolling onto a month-to-month rate