A high electricity bill in Texas usually has one of seven causes, and the bill itself says which. Most of them are not about using more electricity. They are about the plan: what it charges, what it stopped charging, and what it was never going to charge you at the price on the ad. Here they are, most common first, with where to look.
1. Your contract ended and you’re on the holdover rate
This is the big one. When a fixed-rate contract expires and you don’t pick a new plan, the lights stay on and the provider moves you to its default month-to-month product. It is almost always variable, and almost always priced well above what the same provider offers new customers. People stay on it for years without noticing, because the bill looks like every other bill.
Where to look: the plan name on the bill. If it says month-to-month, variable, holdover, default or renewal, or if the contract end date is in the past, this is your answer. There is no cancellation fee for leaving a month-to-month plan, so there is no reason to stay another day. See how to switch.
2. It’s summer, and the price was set for a steady 1,000 kWh
A Texas home uses two to three times as much electricity in August as in March, nearly all of it air conditioning. The price on a plan’s ad is measured at a flat 1,000 kWh a month, which is a month that never happens. If the bill is high in July, August or September, compare the kWh on it with the same month last year before you blame the plan: usage up 10% on a hotter summer is weather, not pricing.
Where to look: the usage history chart most bills print, or the kWh figure against last year’s. The fix is a plan priced on your whole year, so the summer months are part of the comparison instead of a surprise.
3. A bill-credit plan didn’t pay its credit
Bill-credit plans charge a high energy rate and give back $50 to $125 in any month your usage lands in a range, usually 1,000 kWh or more. At 1,000 kWh they advertise 7¢ or 8¢. At 999 kWh the credit vanishes and the same month costs 50% more. A home that averages 1,000 kWh a year spends most of its months under it, and every one of those months is billed at the full rate with nothing taken off.
Where to look: a line that says usage credit or bill credit, present on some bills and missing on others. The bill-credit guide walks through a real year. This month in Dallas–Fort Worth, the plan with the lowest advertised price, SimpleSaver 12 at 6.9¢, would cost a typical home $383 a year more than the cheapest plan, and ranks #149 of 388.
4. A tier or a minimum-usage fee kicked in
Some plans change the price at a usage line. Block tiers charge one rate for the first 500 or 1,000 kWh and another above it, which is fine. Whole-month tiers are not: the month’s total picks a single rate for every kWh, so using 1,001 kWh instead of 999 can reprice the whole month. Minimum-usage fees work the other way: a $10 to $15 charge in any month under 500 or 1,000 kWh, which punishes mild weather and holidays away.
Where to look: the Electricity Facts Label, under the energy charge. Two rates with a kWh figure between them is a tier; a fee “if usage is below” a number is a minimum-usage fee. See how to read an EFL.
5. Delivery charges went up
Roughly a third to a half of a Texas bill goes to the delivery utility, the company that owns the wires, and its charges change a few times a year, usually in March and September. A fixed-rate plan fixes the energy charge; delivery passes through at the new rate on every plan alike. The jump is a few dollars a month, not a doubling, but it lands on a fixed-rate bill that was supposed to stay the same.
Where to look: the delivery or TDU lines on the bill, against last month’s. The current charges for all six utilities are on one page.
6. A base charge on a low-usage month
A fixed monthly charge of $5 to $15 is nothing on a 2,000 kWh August and a lot on a 300 kWh April: $9.95 on 300 kWh is 3.3¢ added to every kWh. Apartments and small homes feel this most, which is why the cheapest plan for a large house is rarely the cheapest for a one-bedroom.
Where to look: a base charge, customer charge or monthly fee line on the bill, and the 500 kWh column of the EFL, which is where it shows.
7. The advertised price was never your price
Every plan publishes three average prices, at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh, and advertises the middle one. The three can be 7¢, 12¢ and 20¢ on the same label. If your months look like the 500 or 2,000 column more than the 1,000 one, the ad told you about someone else’s bill.
Where to look: the average price line on the bill (most print one, in cents per kWh), against the three on the EFL.
How much is the plan, and how much is you?
More than people expect. On the 388 plans of 12 months or longer we track in Dallas–Fort Worth this month, a typical home using 1,000 kWh a month would pay about $1,445 a year on the cheapest, True Value 12, and about $3,588 on the most expensive, Power Balance 12. Same home, same 12,000 kWh, a gap of $2,143. A holdover rate can sit above the top of that range. Cutting usage 10% saves a tenth of the bill; the right plan can save a quarter.
Check your bill in a minute
- Plan name and contract end date: is it a fixed-term plan, and is the term still running?
- kWh this month against the same month last year.
- Average price per kWh on the bill against the three on the plan’s EFL.
- Any credit, tier, minimum-usage or base-charge line.
- Delivery charges against last month’s.
Or skip the detective work: upload the bill. We read the 12 months of usage printed on it, price every plan sold where you live on that year, and show what each would have cost, including the one you’re on. If you’re still under contract, tell us the end date and the fee, and we work out whether switching now beats waiting. See when to switch.