Moving and starting electricity service
In most of Texas you choose your own electricity provider, so a move comes with a decision and a deadline. These pages cover both, and all of them end at the same ZIP search.
Start here
The statewide answer, and the sequence for getting power on at a new address.
Your situation
An apartment, a house purchase, a move mid-contract, or a deposit request at enrolment — each changes which part of a plan matters most.
How to start electricity service
Starting service is a scheduling job wrapped around a shopping decision. Here is the order that keeps the two from colliding.
Electricity for a new apartment
Apartments are the household type most often caught out by Texas electricity plan structures, and for a specific, fixable reason: they use less power than the plans are advertised against.
Electricity for a new home
Buying a house adds two things to the electricity decision that renting does not: a closing date you cannot move, and a usage profile you have not seen yet.
Moving while you are still under contract
Moving is not the same as cancelling, and most Texas retailers treat it differently — but the details are in your contract rather than in a rule that applies to everybody.
Deposits and credit checks
A deposit request at enrolment surprises people who have shopped on price and found the plan they wanted. It is a separate decision from the plan, made by the retailer, and it is worth understanding before it happens.
Moving to a specific market
Only where the local answer is genuinely different: a different delivery utility, a nearby city with no retail choice, or a new-build timeline.
Setting up electricity when you move to Houston
Houston is the largest competitive electricity market in the country by customer count, which means a move here comes with more choice than almost anywhere — and with a metro whose edges are genuinely complicated.
Setting up electricity when you move to Dallas
Dallas itself is one of the simpler markets in Texas to move into. The complication is the ring of suburbs around it, where the rules change without any visible boundary.
Setting up electricity when you move to Fort Worth
Fort Worth is Oncor territory across Tarrant County, and a move here is straightforward as long as you know where the competitive market ends to the west.
Setting up electricity when you move to Katy
Katy is one of the largest new-construction markets in Texas, which makes the move-in question here less about switching and more about getting permanent power turned on at a property that has never had any.
Setting up electricity when you move to Frisco
Frisco is among the fastest-growing addresses in Texas, so a large share of the electricity decisions here are being made by somebody who has never made one before.
Setting up electricity when you move to Killeen
Killeen turns over housing on assignment cycles rather than on the usual local rhythm, which changes which part of an electricity contract matters most.
Setting up electricity when you move to Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi sits in a different delivery territory from Houston or Dallas, which means the plan list here is genuinely its own — not the same offers with a different heading.