“What’s a good rate?” is the most common question about Texas electricity, and the honest answer is that cents per kWh is the wrong unit to ask it in. Two plans with the same advertised rate can differ by hundreds of dollars a year on the same home. Here is how to turn the question into one with an answer.
Why the advertised rate misleads
Every plan advertises its average price at exactly 1,000 kWh a month. That average includes bill credits that only pay out at that level, base charges that get cheaper per kWh the more you use, and tiered rates that change above a threshold. Your home’s price on the same plan depends on how far from 1,000 kWh your months fall, and in Texas, with 450 kWh Marches and 1,800 kWh Augusts, they fall far. See bill credit plans explained for a year where a 6.9¢ plan cost 15.1¢.
A good rate, by size of home, as of November 2026
The useful number is the all-in price on a full year: total cost, Oncor delivery included, divided by total kWh. On the plans we track in Oncor’s Dallas–Fort Worth area, priced on a year with a real summer peak, the lowest all-in prices this month are (other utilities’ delivery charges move them by a cent or so):
| Home | Cheapest plan | All-in price | A year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment or small home (~500 kWh/mo) | No Bull 12 | 12.0¢ | $717 |
| Typical home (~1,000 kWh/mo) | True Value 12 | 12.0¢ | $1,445 |
| Large home (~2,000 kWh/mo) | True Value 12 | 11.8¢ | $2,842 |
If a plan prices out below those on your own usage, it is a good rate. If an ad shows a number far below them, the difference is a credit or a tier you probably won’t earn every month. The small-home price is highest because Oncor’s fixed monthly charge, and any base charge, is spread over fewer kWh; see Oncor delivery charges.
For context, comparison sites that average across Dallas–Fort Worth homes generally land between about 13¢ and 15¢ per kWh all-in. Being under that on your own year is doing well; being under it on an ad is not yet anything.
How to compare plans properly
- Get your last 12 months of kWh. See how to find your usage.
- For each plan, build 12 bills from its Electricity Facts Label: energy charge, base charge, credits or fees for that month’s usage, plus Oncor’s charges.
- Add them up. Compare the yearly totals.
- Check the contract end date. A great price that ends in July puts you back in the market at the summer peak; see when to switch.
WattaWatt does steps 2 to 4 for every plan it tracks from a bill you upload, in about a minute, and shows every simulated bill.
Fixed or variable?
A good rate is also one that stays good. Fixed-rate plans hold the energy charge for the term; variable plans can change monthly, and in Texas they tend to drift upward, especially the holdover rates contracts roll onto. For most homes a 12-month fixed plan that ends in spring or autumn is the right shape, and the question is only which one. That part is arithmetic.