Guides to fixed-rate electricity
Short, plain explanations of the things that actually change what you pay. No sales copy and no predictions about where rates are going.
Fixed-rate basics
3 guidesWhat a fixed rate actually fixes, how it differs from a variable one, and what to do when prices are moving.
How fixed-rate electricity plans work
A fixed-rate plan holds your energy rate steady for the length of the contract. That is a genuinely useful promise, and it is narrower than most people assume — here is exactly what it covers.
Read guideFixed vs variable electricity rates
The two are not different prices for the same product. They are different allocations of risk, and which one suits you depends on something nobody can forecast.
Read guideWhat to do when electricity rates are high
The advice you will read everywhere is to "lock in when rates are low". That is only useful if you can tell which is which, and you cannot — so here is what you can actually decide.
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Plan structures
5 guidesThe conditions attached to a rate — bill credits, usage floors, contract length, exit fees and renewable content.
Bill-credit electricity plans, explained
A bill-credit plan can advertise a strikingly low average price. Understanding where that number comes from is the single most useful thing you can learn about shopping for electricity in Texas.
Read guideMinimum usage charges, explained
A minimum-usage charge is a flat fee added in any month your usage falls below a stated level. It does not change the energy rate, which is why plans that carry one are still fixed-rate plans — and why it is easy to miss.
Read guideChoosing between 12, 24 and 36 months
Contract length is the decision most people make last and should probably make first. It is not really a price question — it is a question about how long you want to stop thinking about this.
Read guideEarly termination fees
The early termination fee is what leaving costs. It is disclosed on every plan, it is frequently the deciding number in a switching decision, and it is the one most people do not look at until they need it.
Read guideRenewable fixed-rate electricity plans
A renewable plan does something real, and it is not what most of the marketing implies. Here is the mechanism, stated plainly.
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Your bill
7 guidesWhat each line on the bill pays for, what moves the total from month to month, and how to read the paperwork before you sign.
The Electricity Facts Label, explained
The Electricity Facts Label is the most useful document in Texas electricity shopping and the least read. It is one page, it is standardised, and it is the only thing that lets you compare two plans on identical terms.
Read guideWhy prices are quoted at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh
Every Texas electricity plan publishes an average price at three specific usage levels and nowhere in between. Understanding why is the difference between comparing plans and comparing marketing.
Read guideWhy your bill changes even on a fixed-rate plan
"Fixed rate" is the most commonly misread phrase in electricity shopping. It fixes a price per kilowatt-hour, not a monthly total — and here is everything that still moves.
Read guideHow delivery charges work
A meaningful share of every Texas electricity bill goes to a company you did not choose and cannot switch away from. That is not a loophole — it is how the market was built — but it explains a lot of confusing bills.
Read guideHow to read an electricity plan
Most electricity plans are presented rate-first, which is the least useful order. Here is a reading order that puts the numbers that decide your bill at the top.
Read guideTexas summer bills, and what to do about them
A August bill twice the size of an April one, on a plan whose rate never moved, is the most common electricity complaint in Texas — and almost always the plan working exactly as described.
Read guideChoosing a plan for an all-electric home
A home with electric heating, an electric water heater and an electric range uses electricity in a shape that most plan marketing is not written for.
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Switching and moving
5 guidesStarting, ending and renewing service, and what to do when a sales call or a bill goes wrong.
How to switch electricity providers
Switching retail providers is an administrative change, not a physical one. Nothing is installed, nothing is disconnected, and nobody needs to visit your home.
Read guideWhat happens when your contract expires
This is the single most expensive thing that happens to Texas electricity customers, and it happens by doing nothing at all.
Read guideScams and high-pressure sales tactics
Most retail electricity providers in Texas are legitimate businesses selling disclosed products. A small number of sales practices around them are not, and the checks that protect you take about two minutes.
Read guideRenewing with your provider, or switching
As your contract nears its end, your retailer will offer you a renewal. It is a real offer and sometimes a good one — it is just not automatically the best one available to you.
Read guideHow to complain about an electricity provider
Texas retail electricity customers have a defined set of protections and a defined route for enforcing them. Using it in the right order gets results faster than starting at the top.
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The Texas market
6 guidesWho does what in the deregulated market: the grid operator, the delivery utility, the retailer and the meter.
How the Texas electricity market works
Most of Texas splits a job that one company does in most of the country across four different kinds of organisation. Knowing which is which explains almost every confusing thing about a Texas electricity bill.
Read guideWhat is a retail electric provider?
A retail electric provider — REP — is the company you buy electricity from and the only part of the arrangement you choose. It is worth being precise about what that company is responsible for.
Read guideWhat is a TDU, and which one serves you?
TDU stands for transmission and distribution utility — the company that owns the wires to your house. You do not choose it, you cannot switch it, and it decides which retail plans you are offered.
Read guideSmart meters and your usage data
Nearly every home in the competitive Texas market has an advanced meter that records usage in short intervals. That data is yours, and it is the most useful input you have for choosing a plan.
Read guidePower outages: who to call, and why it is not your retailer
The most common wasted phone call in Texas electricity is to the company on your bill. They are not the ones who can restore your power.
Read guidePower to Choose Texas: How to Use the Official Electricity Shopping Site
Power to Choose is the official electricity shopping website operated by the Public Utility Commission of Texas. It gives Texans in competitive electricity areas a broad view of available retail plans, and understanding its filters, price displays and Electricity Facts Labels makes it much easier to compare plans correctly.
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