The confusing issue some electricity service customers still face is with a variable electricity rate. You can be quoted an initial rate in the advertisement when choosing a variable rate but some providers can change that electricity price even before receiving your first months electric bill. To our knowledge none of the Houston electricity companies in the chart below adjust their initial quoted variable rate until after you have been with them for atleast a month. If you choose a fixed Houston electricity rate the rate will not change the entire term of the fixed electricity agreement. We strongly recommend choosing a fixed electricity rate in the Houston Texas area to avoid any surprises.

Most electricity companies in Houston will also notify you before your fixed electricity agreement is up so you can renew before being put on a variable electricity rate. By having advanced notification that your electricity contract is about to expire you can have assurance that you will never have to deal with a fluctuating variable electricity price. Most Houston home owners and renters choose a fixed electricity rate because they have knowledge of exactly what the rate will be. By simply multiplying the rate times the kWh usage used during the month you can confirm you are being charged correctly.

Right now a 1 year fixed Houston residential electricity rate for September 2009 is the most popular fixed electricity rate agreement. We believe that a 3 year fixed rate actually makes sense right now considering Houston electric prices are close to all time lows. We think some electricity service customers in Houston could even consider signing up for something even longer term like the Just Energy 5 year residential electricity agreement. Most people are uncomfortable committing to an electricity price for that long but because electricity rates are this low right now it really isn’t that bad of a choice.

If you are like me 2 or 3 years is about the max amount of time you will want to commit to for a fixed Houston electricity rate. If you pick a longer term rate with a Houston electricity company you are basically buying insurance betting that electricity prices will be going up in the next few years. This keeps you in a low electricity price for several years while prices will likely head back up considering they are near as close to zero as they will probably go. If you choose a 1 month fixed electricity rate you have price insurance only for the first month of the rate, after that the rate can change with fuel prices. If you choose a variable rate plan with no initial 1 month term the rate could do just about anything. Even if you see an electricity price in a quoted advertisement the rate can legally adjust even before your first months electricity usage.

We recommend if you are considering a variable electricity rate in Houston that you atleast choose a 1 to 3 month fixed rate. After the initial term the rate follows a fuel commodity or index price along with the market. There are several choices when picking a fixed Houston electric rate and right now you can pick from 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2, and 3 year terms. Occasionally there will be other alternative fixed terms like a 9, 15, or 18 month fixed electricity rate. You can compare electricity rates for September 2009 using the historical snapshot below. These rates are for historical reference for the month of September 2009 so you can track what electricity companies in Houston were charging during this time. TXU Energy and Reliant Energy in Houston are both falling behind on price when compared with some of the cheapest electric companies in Houston. Although TXU and Reliant remain the two biggest Houston electricity providers they still do not offer low prices compared to some of the other Houston electric providers.

September 2009 Houston Texas Electricity Rates

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Today is August 14 2009 and we have gone out to the power to choose website to check on electricity rates from companies like Champion, Startex, Green Mountain Energy, Spark Energy, TXU, Ambit, Stream, Bounce, Texas Power and Reliant Energy.  We checked on some other Texas electricity providers but these energy companies provide a good overall comparison of rates. We have sorted the electricity rates  in order from cheapest to most expensive using the pricing available on the Power to Choose website.

Startex Power, Champion, and Green Mountain Energy, are some of the more popular electricity companies we recommend and Startex and Champion are currently offering some of the cheapest available electricity plans in the Dallas Texas area. There are no hidden fees or charges with Startex or Champion. If you use below 500 kWh per month than a $4.95 monthly service fee will kick in with Startex Power but other than that you are going to be good with the top two cheapest Dallas electricity plans in the chart.

This chart above is a historical snapshot of what Dallas residential electricity rates looked like for the month and day of August 14 2009. These charts sometimes help in determining the track record of a Texas electricity companies overall consistent performance in delivering a low cost electricity price to Texas energy consumers. To see a current comparison of our recommended electricity companies in Dallas Texas please click on our Dallas electricity comparison link by clicking here.

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Electric rates in Dallas and Houston have started coming back up the last couple of weeks although today energy prices are back down a little. This trend up represents the possible beginning of a new trend back up. The summer is approaching and if anyone remembers what electric rates were doing last summer you would be wise to lock into an electricity rate now.

Since Texas electricity rates are still quite low as of today (May 20 2009) I wanted to see what Reliant Energy and TXU Energy were offering for residential electric service in some of the larger cities like Houston and Dallas Texas. I first went out to the powertochoose website to see what the government was showing for TXU Energy’s 12 month fixed electric rate. They are showing that TXU Energy is advertising a rate of 14.7 cents per kWh. This is very high when you compare it with the cheapest reputable electric provider in the bunch. The cheapest provider in Dallas that is a quality company is with Champion Energy. They are currently showing an electricity rate at 9.2 cents per kWh with a $4.95 monthly service fee. This is multiple times cheaper then TXU Energy and you can learn more about this residential electric rate in the Dallas and North Texas area by clicking on the link below.

Champion Energy Electric Rates

We also checked to see what TXU Energy’s closest competitor was offering in the Dallas Texas area. Right now Reliant Energy is working very hard via radio and billboard ads to take residential electric service customers away from TXU Energy in TXU’s territory. Reliant has a cheaper electric rate plan then TXU Energy in TXU’s own backyard. The Reliant Energy rate is also 20% renewable energy which offers a feel good factor for those wanting to save the environment from the pollution of coal fired power plants. One issue with the wind energy plan is that it may be energy that has been produced in another state so Texas doesn’t benefit from the environmental clean energy. Reliant Energy’s rate is 14.1 cents per kWh for their 12 month fixed rate. So we see that Reliant Energy beats TXU but Champion Energy beats both Reliant and TXU on price by several cents. If you compare the 14.1 and the 14.7 cent rate next to 9.2 cents per kWh with a $4.95 monthly service fee you end up saving several hundred dollars over the course of the year by signing up with a wholesale provider like Champion Energy.

You can learn more about Champion Energy by visiting their link and see for yourself why Champion Energy is a better choice over TXU Energy and Reliant Energy.

Learn more about Champion Energy and check rates in your area online

The Reliant and TXU Energy rates when compared in the Houston and Harris county area are similar in price difference with Champion Energy in that area as well. If you live in the Houston Texas area and would like to compare electric rates with multiple energy providers then please click on the comparison link below to learn more.

Houston Electric Rate Comparison

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As many know, Reliant Energy remains the largest residential retail electricity company in the Houston area. Reliant has spent a lot of money trying to enter new territories such as Dallas, Arlington, Tyler, and Irving to take thousands of customers away from TXU Energy from their own backyard. Reliant Energy has done this through feet on the street tactics where the sales person at the home owners door will offer them a $50 dollar rebate or something similar and provide an electric rate that is a few cents cheaper then TXU Energy. This strategy has worked out very well for the large electricity companies like Reliant and TXU because most people have heard of these brand names and trust them. I live in the Tyler Texas area and have seen probably 3 different Reliant Energy billboards in what is considered TXU Energy’s backyard. This aggressive marketing approach is very simple, the big guys are going to the easiest customers. TXU and Reliant customers will pay a few cents higher for their energy in order to stay with a brand name they trust when switching away to the other well known brand. If they pay $500 more per year to be with Reliant or TXU they will do it and so Reliant Energy in Houston has taken the path of least resistance which is to take as many TXU Energy customers away from TXU as possible. We want to suggest checking out other reputable Houston area electric providers that have substantially lower electric rates then both Reliant and TXU. We have the best Houston residential electric rates listed on the top left of this page. All fees and charges are disclosed. Simply find the term and rate you want and click on “sign up now”. You can then read more about the rate and other plans and decide if it is the right fit for you or click here to compare all cheap Houston electricity company offers.

Has Reliant Energy Been Knocking on Your Door?

If you are a TXU Energy customer and have been approached by Reliant Energy of Houston to sign up on a slightly cheaper rate then TXU Energy offered, you are the customer we are talking about. We checked today on the Texas government website, “power to choose” and discovered that Reliant is offering a 12 month fixed rate at the price of 15.6 cents kWh. TXU Energy is offering a 14.7 cent per kWh rate in the Houston area and is most likely trying to compete on price solely with Reliant Energy in order to continue to steal Reliant Energy customers away from them. Like we said, for TXU it is easier to just take Reliant Energy customers when in Houston. There are millions of people in Houston signed up with Reliant and the price isn’t all that great so TXU continues to go after their customers until something in the market changes. We would like to suggest an alternative for Reliant Energy customers that are signing up with TXU Energy because they have a slightly better rate. Read below…

Reputable Texas Electricity Company and Cheapest Price

Don’t go with Brand go with the Best

If you are a TXU Energy customer, instead of saving a penny per kWh with Reliant Energy Houston you could potentially be saving as much as 4.8 cents per kWh. For a residential energy consumer in Houston that uses 1,000 kWh a month this equates to about $576 in savings per year. If you use about 2,000 kWh a month it would be double that in savings over Reliant Energy. There are now several reputable Houston electric companies that are not as big as TXU Energy or Reliant but have very good rates, billing, and customer service. These Houston electric providers also do not have hidden fees, gimmicks, or fuel adjustment surcharges. Our site focuses on getting these reputable electric companies into the public eye so you have other choices then falling for a slight decrease in rate against what Reliant Energy is offering. Right now at the time of this article we would like to suggest you give Startex Power a try. They are currently advertising their cheapest rates at a price of 10.8 cents a kWh for a 1 year fixed rate in the Houston area as of (April 17 2009 – the date this article was published). Startex also has other fixed rate terms available and they have no hidden fees or gimmicks to worry about. You can click here to learn more about Startex Power.

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We have compiled a list of some of the best and worst residential electricity rates in the Houston Texas area. You will find this detailed list below. The best Houston electric rate at this time is with Champion Energy - Learn More. Reliant Energy and TXU Energy again remain at near the bottom of this list. Trickster Electric Company is near the top although we have received several complaints that Trickster raises the electric rate through TDSP related charges once the customer gets the electricity bill. Because of this we want to warn customers about the potential of Trickster’s (name withheld by legal) electric rate being higher then what it appears. If you are one of Trickster’s customers that thought you were going to be charged one rate but once you received the energy bill were charged a much higher energy price then please feel free to comment below. Read below from one of our readers and a customer of Trickster (name withheld by legal):

Gary Huber
April 6th, 2009 at 2:33 am

Stay away!! 9.7 cent plan kept going up 13,14 and finally to 16 cents!!! Ridiculous!!

Tim Gundlach
March 5th, 2009 at 3:09 pm

Trickster Energy (name withheld by legal) is a rip off. SIgn up for .12 kilowatt, but have been billed up to .17/kw. Also the customer service is horrible. Stay away !!

If TXU Energy or Reliant Energy called asking you to renew at an electric rate several cents higher then where the market is currently at we recommend checking out our recommended Houston electric providers on the top left of this page. All fees and charges are disclosed.

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Have you moved into a new Houston apartment or rental house? Are you a student and are just getting your credit history established? You may have tried switching to Reliant Energy if you are in the Houston area only to be told they need a very large deposit to have Houston electricity service turned on in your name. If your credit score is less then fair they may need a $400 deposit or possibly even higher. For many in this situation you may have even had to already save up and pay your deposit for your apartment or rental house. To now be asked for an additional $400 as a deposit for electric service to be turned on can be a very frustrating issue. If you are in this situation or something similar we recommend you give Bounce Energy a call. They can get your electric service turned on right away and they guarantee no deposit will be required. You can call Bounce Electric Company at: 1-866-945-8937

Reliant Energy in Houston rejects hundreds of customers a day who just do not meet their credit requirements. A good credit score is 630 while a bad credit score could be anything below 600. Now having a 600 credit score really isn’t that bad but when turning on electricity service many Houston electricity companies have to be conservative about what credit risk they take on. Energy providers make a profit by signing up large volumes of customers. They cannot afford for too many of these electricity service customers to default on their energy contract. We do not know what credit score Reliant Energy uses to flag a customer for a deposit or no deposit because it is an always changing number with most Texas energy providers.

Without an effective risk management strategy a Houston electric provider can easily go out of business which was the case with Riverway Power and National Power in the summer of 2008. Reliant Energy is not the enemy but they are one of the biggest Houston electricity companies if not the biggest and so they have to be very careful which energy customers they sign up as they could end up with too many credit risk customers and actually lose money. A Reliant deposit however is not the end of the road for a credit risk customer. If you have limited or no credit you can be approved for a guaranteed no deposit electricity rate with Bounce Energy. You can call them using the phone number listed above and get immediately switched to Bounce Energy at a very unique electric rate plan. The way Bounce has created their no deposit electricity rate plan is by charging you a little higher rate the first 3 months. If you pay your electricity bill on time the first 3 months they will proactively reward you by lowering your Texas electricity rate to the cheapest plan they offer.

If you have good credit we recommend trying out our cheapest available electricity rate offers which are listed on the top left of this page. Find the fixed rate plan that suits you best whether it be a 1 year fixed rate, 2 year, 3 year, or 6 month rate and click on the “sign up now” link. You will then need to enter your Texas service address and your rate will be confirmed based on the area you live in. We pride ourselves in disclosing all fees and charges in our electricity rates we advertise on our site. We are not trying trick someone into an energy contract that is not what it clearly states it is. Some energy companies in Houston and other deregulated areas in Texas will have unclear terms and conditions with their pricing which can only be found by investigating their pricing in their terms of servive in their energy contract. Reliant Energy is not a Texas electric provider that deceives their customers and so you will not have to worry about being tricked into a rate that isn’t clearly advertised for what it is when signing up with Reliant. Reliant Energy however has uncompetitive Houston electricity service rates in comparison to several of the reputable electric companies we have listed in our best residential rates on the top left of this page. At this time we recommend you choose an electric provider other then Reliant until their electricity prices improve.

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Reliant Energy is one of the prominent electricity company brands in Texas. With 1.8 million customers in Texas they are known by quite a few Texans as “the lights company”. Because of credit issues they sold their retail electricity business to NGR Energy for $287.5 million dollars. Reliant is now officially out of the retail electricity sales business. Reliant will still be generating power and distributing that power on the ERCOT electric grid. When we said Reliant Energy was one of the large electric providers facing trouble we had a few people comment that there is no way Reliant is in trouble. They are a big Texas energy provider and are doing fine were some peoples impression that have been with Reliant since the days when they were known as Houston Lighting and Power. Those days are long gone for Reliant Energy and if you have been paying attention to their electricity rates the last few months you may have noticed they weren’t exactly the price leader when selling residential electric service. For example, take a look at the chart below and you will notice as of today they almost come in last place in regards to the price you pay per kWh for Reliant electric service.

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Reliant Energy is one of the top residential electric providers in the state of Texas. With several million residential customers most would think they are in good shape. A few months ago the Houston Chronicle reported that Reliant was potentially having some credit issues and might need to sell off their commercial and industrial portions of their business. This is still a bit cloudy as no one knows exactly what Reliant is going to do. Their residential division has been rumored to possibly be for sale or to be for sale sometime in the near future as well. Until then we really are not sure what will happen but Reliant Energy’s electric rates seem unreasonably high when comparing their fixed electric rate contract to other Texas electric providers prices.

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Long Time Customer Drops Reliant Energy and Goes with a Cheaper Power and Lights Company

My father in law called me a few days ago and said his rate this month has been around 18 cents kWh. This seems strange as an energy provider selling unhedged energy right now could make a fairly decent profit selling electricity in the 13 – 14 cents kWh range if they were to buy energy a month in advance to sell their customers. My father in law called Reliant Energy and they said they could lower the residential electric rate to somewhere in the range of 15.5 cents kWh. This seems a little outrageous as well. Most electric companies we work with are only charging an electric rate in the range of 10 – 12.5 cents kWh for a 1 year fixed rate.

Comparing Reliant Energy Prices with Other Electricity Companies

When comparing Reliant Energy’s residential electric rate for the month of February 2009 they just do not offer a competitive electric rate with a majority of the discount electric companies out there. My father in law called me and I told him about Startex Power’s 1 year fixed rate and a few other providers electric rates. He eventually signed on a fixed rate contract for 1 year with the cheapest provider. If you want to compare available electric rate offers in your area then I encourage you to check rates on the upper left hand corner of this site. We keep these Texas electric rates updated daily and you can sign up with confidence that your electric rate will not change the entire term of the agreement. If you are a Reliant Energy customer and have called them to complain about your 18 cents kWh rate and are now shopping to find a cheaper electric provider then we welcome you to compare among our list of reputable Texas electricity providers.

Feel Free to Contact us with Your Electricity Questions

If you have any questions about the energy prices you see on this site then please feel free to click on our contact us link and call or email us with any questions you may have.

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The last few months energy has come down quite a bit a long with the stock market, the economy, and consumer confidence. Even our dollar isn’t doing so good but it has started a climb up. Residential electric rates in Dallas have come down some but not as much as some were anticipating. The problem is when fuel prices drop quickly it doesn’t necessrily have the same effect on the conversion over to electricity. There is a cost associated with converting natural gas and coal to electric power. This cost is called a heat factor cost. When natural gas comes down quickly you will usually see the heat factor go up. This makes it a little difficult to anticipate exactly what electric rates will do when fuel and energy comes down. Below is a comparison list of some of the cheapest electric companies in Dallas Texas.

These rates are subject to change as the month progresses but are accurate as of the date this article was written. To see an updated comparison list go to : Dallas Electric Rate Comparison

Dec 2008 Dallas Electric Rate Chart

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The Reliant One Rate Flex plan sounds interesting but what is it really? It comes with a $50 target gift card and there is no term commitment or early termination fee. You pay 13.4 cents kwh for this month to month no commitment rate. Do you really want to pay 1.1 cents more per kwh for a target gift card? There are electric rates as low as 12.3 cents kwh out there for a 12 month commitment. Most residences use on average around 800 kwh a month and 9600 kwh a year. This comes to $101 more a year you are paying Reliant for your $50 Target gift card.

If you like the flexibility of being able to get out of the rate plan without penalty then you will do well to stay on this plan as it is one of the lowest cost no term rates out there. The problem is that a no term rate is never a good idea. It’s like betting on the stock market or driving a car without insurance. You want to lock in on a low cost term rate if at all possible. There are 3 month 4 month 6 month and 12 month short term rate plans out there as a better solution over a no term rate. These shorter term rates are 1 cent kwh cheaper and sometimes more.

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