Power to Choose (powertochoose.org) is the Public Utility Commission of Texas’s official plan list. Every retail provider can list its plans there, it costs nothing, and it links to each plan’s Electricity Facts Label. It is the right place to see what exists. It is a poor place to decide what to buy, for one reason that has nothing to do with the site and everything to do with how plans are priced.
What it shows
You enter a ZIP code and get a table of plans with the average price at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh, the term length, the plan type (fixed, variable, indexed), the renewable share, and links to the EFL and the provider. Filters narrow by term, plan type, price range, renewable content and whether the plan is prepaid or requires a deposit. Sorting by the 1,000 kWh price is the default, and it is the sort nearly everyone uses.
What it can’t show
Your usage. The three prices assume you use exactly 500, 1,000 or 2,000 kWh every single month. A Dallas home that averages 1,000 kWh uses perhaps 450 in March and 1,800 in August, and on plans with bill credits or tiers the price in those two months is nothing like the average. Sorted by the 1,000 kWh price, the top of the list is dominated by credit plans whose advertised number only a perfectly steady home would ever pay. See bill credit plans explained for a real year where a cheap-looking credit plan cost $344 more than a plainer one.
The site doesn’t rate providers, doesn’t vet plans beyond the legal requirements, and doesn’t tell you when a contract would end relative to the summer peak.
How to use it well
- Filter to fixed-rate plans with a term of 12 months or more, unless you specifically want a short summer plan.
- Look at all three prices, not just 1,000. A plan showing 20¢ at 500 kWh and 7¢ at 1,000 has a credit or fee at the line between them. The flatter the three numbers, the more honest the advertised one is.
- Open the EFL for anything you’re considering and read the energy charge, base charge, credits and fees. See how to read an EFL.
- Price the shortlist on your own 12 months before enrolling. That is the step the site leaves to you.
Lookalike sites
Several commercial comparison sites use names and .org domains that resemble the state site. They are businesses paid by providers for sign-ups. That isn’t sinister (if WattaWatt is ever paid by a provider, its plans will be labeled), but it is worth knowing which site is which. The official one is powertochoose.org, run by the PUCT.
Where WattaWatt fits
WattaWatt does the step Power to Choose can’t: it takes your real 12 months from a bill and prices every plan it tracks on them, Oncor delivery included, then ranks by the year’s total and shows all 12 simulated bills. We track fewer plans than the state list and we say so; plans we haven’t verified against their EFL are labeled. The two sites go together: the state list for what exists, your own usage for what it costs.