Texas electricity: what you’ll pay and who you’ll pay it to.

ERCOT and the parts of Texas that aren’t on it

Most of Texas runs on its own grid, managed by ERCOT. It carries about 90% of the state’s electric load for more than 27 million customers and answers to the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Legislature. The rest of the state is wired into neighboring grids:

• El Paso is on the Western Interconnection, served by El Paso Electric. During the February 2021 freeze, when ERCOT ordered blackouts, El Paso was largely spared: about 3,000 people lost power, most of them briefly (Texas Standard, Feb 18, 2021).
• The Panhandle (Amarillo) is served by Xcel Energy, a regulated utility that both generates and delivers power. It sits in the Southwest Power Pool, not ERCOT, and Xcel says its customers are not part of retail choice (Amarillo Globe-News, Jun 2022).
• Southeast Texas (Beaumont and 27 counties in the region) is served by Entergy Texas on the MISO grid (Entergy, Feb 26, 2024). KPRC described the Entergy area as running from College Station to Beaumont (Aug 2023).

Being outside ERCOT matters for two reasons: you can’t shop on Power to Choose, and ERCOT conservation appeals and grid alerts don’t apply to you.

Where you get to choose a provider

ERCOT handles provider switching for 8 million homes and businesses in the competitive “choice” areas. In those areas you buy power from a retail electric provider (REP) and your local wires company (the TDU) delivers it. You pick the REP; you can’t pick the TDU.

The choice areas are the big investor-owned wires territories: CenterPoint (Houston), Oncor (Dallas-Fort Worth, Waco and much of North and West Central Texas), AEP Texas Central (Corpus Christi, McAllen and the Valley), AEP Texas North, TNMP and, since 2024, Lubbock Power & Light. Lubbock’s city council voted in Oct 2023 to open its market.

Where you don’t

City-owned utilities and electric co-ops are allowed to join the choice market but most have chosen not to. State law has also delayed competition in the Entergy, Southwestern Public Service (Xcel), El Paso Electric and SWEPCO territories (ComparePower, a retail broker, page modified Mar 2025). In practice:

• Austin: Austin Energy, owned by the city. See Austin.
• San Antonio: CPS Energy, owned by the city. See San Antonio.
• El Paso: El Paso Electric, regulated. See El Paso.
• Amarillo and the Panhandle: Xcel Energy (Southwestern Public Service). See Amarillo.
• Beaumont and Southeast Texas: Entergy Texas.
• College Station: a city-owned utility (see College Station).
• Rural and suburban co-op areas, such as Pedernales Electric or Bluebonnet Electric around Austin: the co-op is your only provider.

If you are moving, the address decides it. A suburb can sit in a co-op area even when the city next door is in the choice market, so check the specific address on Power to Choose or with the landlord before you assume you can shop.

How a choice-area bill is built

A bill in a choice area has two layers. The energy charge is what your REP sets in your contract. The delivery charge is set by the PUCT for your TDU and passed through by every REP in that area, so it is the same whichever plan you pick. Delivery has a fixed monthly part and a per-kWh part, and the rates officially change on March 1 and September 1 each year.

Rates are from a plan-comparison site’s roundup, not the PUCT tariff itself; we could not open the PUCT tariff pages this session. The 1,000 kWh column is simple arithmetic on those two rates (monthly charge plus 1,000 × per-kWh rate) and leaves out your REP’s energy charge, which is usually the larger part of the bill. Oncor’s own rate-case page shows the new structure as a $4.06 fixed charge plus about 6 cents per kWh, approved by the PUCT on Apr 17, 2026. The next scheduled delivery changes are due around Mar 1, 2027.

What changed in 2026

• Oncor: the PUCT approved Oncor’s rate case settlement on Apr 17, 2026. Oncor put the settlement’s effect at about $4.64 a month (around 3%) for a home using 1,000 kWh on a 15-cent plan. It can also recover the difference back to Jan 1, 2026 through a catch-up surcharge during 2026.
• CenterPoint: Rhythm, a retailer, reported CenterPoint’s per-kWh delivery charge rising from 4.999¢ to 6.413¢ on Sep 1, 2026, a 28% jump; ElectricityPlans lists 6.5333¢ now.
• AEP Texas delivery rates went down on Sep 1, 2026: about 5% for Central and 4.8% for North (Rhythm).

What Texans pay on average

Texas homes pay less per kWh than the U.S. average. A retail provider’s summary of EIA’s Electric Power Monthly put Texas residential prices at about 15.41¢ per kWh against 17.65¢ nationally (April 2026 data), down from 15.87¢ in March. EIA’s newest monthly release covers August 2026 and came out Oct 23, 2026; we could not open the state table (Table 5.6.A) to update the figure this session.

That lower price per kWh does not mean lower bills. Texas homes use a lot of power for cooling: ElectricityPlans, citing EIA, puts average Texas use at about 1,096 kWh a month, and summer use typically runs 20% to 40% above spring.

Bills in the no-choice cities

Austin Energy’s energy charge is tiered, so the per-kWh price climbs as you use more: summer bills in big houses grow faster than the 860 kWh example suggests. The Austin rates above took effect with the city’s FY2027 budget on Oct 1, 2026.

By city: who delivers your power, and can you shop?

Delivery charges are only part of a choice-area bill; add your plan’s energy charge on top. Typical bills for Xcel, Entergy and College Station will be added once we can source them from the utility.

Shopping on Power to Choose without getting burned

Power to Choose (powertochoose.org) is the PUCT’s official comparison site for the choice areas. Every plan on it links to an Electricity Facts Label (EFL), a standard disclosure that PUCT rules require. Read the EFL, not the headline price.

The 500 / 1,000 / 2,000 kWh trap

PUCT rules require the EFL to show the plan’s average all-in price at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh a month (16 TAC §25.475). Those three numbers include energy, delivery, fixed fees and any credits, and they are only accurate if you use exactly that amount.

The trap is a bill credit that kicks in at a usage threshold. Set near 1,000 kWh, it makes the 1,000 kWh price look very low. Use a bit less in a mild month and you lose the credit; your real price can jump well above what the EFL suggested. A minimum-usage fee does the same thing in reverse, and a large fixed monthly charge makes the 2,000 kWh price look better than your spring bills will be. ElectricityPlans’ guide makes the same point: the three EFL prices “are not unit prices” (updated Oct 28, 2026).

How to read an EFL in five minutes

• Find your own usage. Pull 12 months from your old bills or the smart-meter portal. Compare plans at your low month and your August, not at 1,000 kWh.
• Look for the credit or fee line. If the price section mentions a credit “if usage is” above some number, or a charge if usage is below one, do the math at your real usage.
• Check that delivery is passed through. The TDU charges in the table above should appear on the EFL. They change each March and September even on a fixed-rate plan.
• Check the term and the early termination fee. A plan with a cheap first year and a big cancellation fee costs you if you move. PUCT rules say your REP can’t charge a termination fee when you move and give a forwarding address, and month-to-month plans can’t carry one at all.
• Watch for the renewal notice. On a fixed-rate contract longer than four months, the REP must send a final expiration notice at least 30 days before it ends. Put a reminder in your calendar so you shop before the contract lapses.

Summer bills and help paying them

Summer is when Texas bills hurt. A home that uses 1,000 kWh in April can use 20% to 40% more in summer (Energy Ogre), and in El Paso the utility’s own figures showed a typical bill roughly doubling from about $72 in winter to about $140 in hot months before the 2026 increase. In a choice area, check your plan’s 2,000 kWh price before July.

Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP / LIHEAP)

Texas runs federal LIHEAP money through the Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program, managed by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) with local agencies covering all 254 counties. It helps low-income households with immediate energy bills and offers energy education. You apply through your county’s local agency; TDHCA’s Help for Texans page finds it.

TDHCA resets these limits each program year, so expect new figures for 2027. Many city utilities run their own discount programs too; ask Austin Energy, CPS Energy or El Paso Electric directly.

Grid notes

Winter Storm Uri, briefly

From Feb 14 to 17, 2021, a deep freeze knocked out power plants and left more than 4.5 million Texas homes without electricity, many for days (CBS News Texas, Jan 25, 2026). The Texas Department of State Health Services’ final report counted 246 deaths (ABC13, Jan 3, 2022). It is the reason many newcomers ask about the grid, and the reason non-ERCOT El Paso is often cited as a contrast.

What’s happening now

• New demand record. ERCOT’s hourly peak hit 91.1 GW on Jul 22, 2026, 6% above the August 2023 record of 85.5 GW. Natural gas supplied 48% of power at the peak and solar 32% (EIA, Aug 3, 2026).
• Record September. September demand peaked at 86,647 MW on Sep 12, 2026, a record for the month (ERCOT, preliminary, Oct 16, 2026). ERCOT’s September report lists no emergency alerts.
• Big projects in the queue. As of Sep 30, 2026, ERCOT’s interconnection queue held about 155,000 MW of solar and 163,000 MW of battery projects. These are proposals, not plants in service.
• Who pays for growth. Rising delivery charges reflect wires spending for a fast-growing grid. ElectricityPlans counts about $32 billion in new utility infrastructure costs approved through 2032 (updated Oct 30, 2026).

Out-of-date numbers you’ll still find online

Related pages

Electricity is one line in a Texas budget. Property and sales taxes are on Texas taxes and pay, home and auto premiums on Texas insurance, and car costs on Texas vehicle costs. For local numbers, start with Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio or El Paso, or line them all up on the city comparison.

How we check

We prefer the utility, ERCOT, EIA or the PUCT. Where only a plan-comparison site or retailer published a current figure, the source column says so, and we will swap in the tariff when we can reach it. Read the full methodology.