How fixed-rate electricity plans work

Your bill has two halves. One is the energy you used, sold to you by a retail electric provider you choose. The other is delivery — the poles, wires, meters and the crew that comes out in a storm — provided by a utility you do not choose and cannot switch away from.

A fixed-rate plan fixes the energy half for the contract term. The delivery half is set by your utility and approved by the regulator, and it can change during your contract regardless of what your plan says. Most fixed-rate plans in Texas pass those changes straight through, which is disclosed in the terms of service.

So "fixed" means your provider will not reprice you. It does not mean your bill is identical every month — you use more electricity in August than in April, and the bill follows the usage.

Retailers advertise a cents-per-kWh figure, and two plans with the same figure can cost meaningfully different amounts over a year. The usual reason is a fixed monthly charge: a plan at 12¢ with a $9.95 base charge costs more at 1,000 kWh than a plan at 13¢ with no base charge.

That is why every plan on this site leads with a projected first-year cost rather than a rate. The figure is twelve times the retailer's own published estimated monthly bill at the usage level you pick — a number they are required to disclose on the Electricity Facts Label — so it already contains their base charges. We do not multiply a rate out ourselves, because doing so would silently drop exactly the charges that make the comparison wrong.

Every plan sold in the competitive Texas market comes with an Electricity Facts Label, a one-page standardised disclosure. It states the average price at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh a month, the rate type, the contract length, the early termination fee, and the renewable content.

It is the only document that lets you compare two plans on identical terms, and it is linked on every plan on this site. If a plan you are looking at anywhere does not have one you can open and read, that is a reason to stop.

The three usage levels are also why this site quotes at 500, 1,000 or 2,000 kWh and nothing in between. Those are the points retailers actually publish; a figure at 1,350 kWh would have to be modelled, and a modelled number is a number we could get wrong.

The early termination fee, because it is what leaving costs. The contract length, because that is how long the rate holds. Whether the plan carries a minimum-usage charge, which adds a fee in months you use less than a stated amount. And what happens at the end of the term — contracts expire, and the default rate you roll onto afterwards is usually far higher than the one you signed.

Put a reminder in your calendar for a month before the end date. That single habit is worth more than most of the shopping advice on the internet.