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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What to Know Before Signing up With Just Anyone

We have compiled a list of some of the more popular residential Texas electricity companies and rate plans. If there is a known issue with one of the residential electricity companies we list that concern next to the provider. There are some providers that have blatantly obvious tricks we know of that shows one rate on their website but when receiving your first electricity bill the rate is much higher due to the TDSP charges not being clearly apparent. A note should be made that these Texas electricity providers are usually involved in leaving off the TDSP charge on their advertised rate. We are not sure exactly how many energy companies participate in this practice as well as they change their practices depending on how much heat they are receiving from PUCT complaints. You can read Consumer Energy complaints from some of these providers customers who can explain what exactly can occur when switching to a gimmicky energy company better than we can.

August 7 2009 Residential Houston Electricity Company Comparison, Cheapest to Most Expensive

Understanding Your Houston Residential Electricity Rate

Most electric providers in Texas will bundle the TDSP charges into the energy only rate giving you an all-in rate that can be compared against other Texas electricity companies like TXU Energy and Reliant Energy. We have listed both TXU and Reliant in our comparison chart in order to compare their electricity prices with other Texas electric providers. You will notice that the two largest energy providers in Texas have much higher electricity prices than some of the smaller but good electric companies. Right now Champion Energy and Startex Power are two reputable electricity providers in Texas offering very cheap fixed electricity rate offers. All fees and charges are disclosed with these two companies. With Startex if a customer uses less then 500 kWh hours a month there will be a $4.95 monthly service fee although most Texas electricity consumers use more then this so it shouldn’t be an issue for most customers. A monthly service fee is simply an additional charge many electricity providers have in addition to their electricity price. It is important that a provider disclose this fee upfront rather than hide it in the contract details. We have made these fees obvious in our rate chart so you can make a clear apples to apples comparison of electricity prices in Texas.

Historical Houston Electricity Rate Snapshot for August 7 2009

Since this Houston electricity comparison chart is an update for August 7 2009 it only represents a historical snapshot of what Texas electricity providers were charging on this date. An updated and daily refreshed electricity rate chart is also provided below with some of the cheapest Houston electricity companies. We hope this historical list of Houston energy providers in prices above will keep you informed of how prices move over the course of several months. If you have any questions or comments about one of these Houston electricity companies please feel free to leave a comment below. If you are interested in a no deposit Houston electricity choice please visit our no deposit electricity page.

Current Houston Electricity Rates, Companies, and Plans

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Luminate which is a subsidiary company of Energy Future Holdings and is the power generation side of their business was fined by the PUCT for approximately 15 Million around December of 2008 for what the PUCT called “market power abuse”. Energy Future Holdings bought TXU Corp which included Luminate, Oncor, and TXU Energy and is now a new company although still uses the same brand names. After looking into the issue further it appears PUCT Commissioner Barry Smitherman has some valid points that the $15 million penalty that was pushed by the staff at the PUCT may have been the wrong decision against TXU which now goes by Energy Future Holdings and whose power generation side is actually known as Luminate. After reviewing the commissioners detailed notes about what caused the MCPE balancing energy markets prices to spike in the summer of 2005 it looks like Luminate’s dominant position in the wholesale energy market in Texas created a bias against TXU simply because Luminant happened to be one of the biggest participants in the wholesale energy market. By having what the PUCT commissioner and others refer to as a “shame cap” it likely hindered other wholesale generation companies from bidding into this market which would have kept prices down. You can read what an uneducated consumer believes to be the truth and then we recommend you read the facts for yourself below which has more to do with unnecessary government regulation over the Texas energy market.

Sent: Friday, December 19 2008 8:41 AM

To: Smitherman, Barry

Subject: TXU fine

As expected! As I look at your picture I could not see the ring around your head from you having your head stuck up Perry’s or Craddick’s @ss. You came in after your predecessor oked the fine two hundred million for stealing from us usurers. We payed double for our electricity and now you let TXU off the hook for stealing from us. Go big business! When you were appointed by the governor I wrote you at the time and called you out on this exact chess move. I consider as big a thief as the other two above mentioned crooks. I plan to run a full page ad in the paper reminding everyone of the Governor’s big business protective practices. He is going down! I can only hope so are you @ss sniffer.

Julio Bejarano

juliobejarano@sbcglobal.net

972-735-0444

PUCT Commisioner Barry Smitherman Explains The Problems With This Penalty Against Luminate

You can read in more detail about this case against TXU on the PUCT website when searching for control number: 34061

Meeting Date: Dec 18, 2008

Date Delivered: Dec 18, 2008

Agenda Item No.: 18

Caption: Docket No. 34061 – Notices of Violation by TXU Corporation, et al., of PURA 39.157 (a) and P.U.C. Subst. R. 25.503(g)(7).

In this docket, the Commission is asked to approve a $15 million dollar settlement between the Commission and Luminant regarding the accusation that Luminant engaged in “market power abuse” as that term is defined in PURA and our substantive rules. I will vote to approve this settlement, the largest in the history of the PUCT, but would like to take this opportunity to explain why I think such a settlement is appropriate.

By way of review, the Notice of Violation (NOV) initially arose out of the “ERCOT 2005 State of the Market Report,” prepared by Potomac Economics (Potomac), which at that time was serving as “advisor” to the Wholesale Market Oversight group within the PUCT. This report was published in July 2006. In Chapter V, “Analysis of Competitive Performance,” Potomac avaluated whether any electric power suppliers had engaged in either “physical withholding” or “economic withholding.” According to Potomac, physical withholding occurs when a particpant makes resources unavailble for dispatch that are otherwise physically capable of providing energy and that are economic at prevailing market prices. Potential economic withholding is evaluated by calculating an “output gap”. The output gap is defined as the quantity of energy that is not being produced by in-service capacity even though the in-service capacity is economic by a substantial margin, given the balancing energy price. A participant can economically withhold resources, as measured by the output gap, by raising the balancing energy offers so as to be dispatched or by not offering unscheduled energy in the balancing energy market.

Potomac concluded, wth regard to physical withholding, that they did not find evidence of physical withholding and that there were positive indicators that the largest suppliers did not engage in physical withholding, but “that firm conclusions would require a more detailed examination.” With regard to economic withholding, Potomac was concerned that Company C (TXU) began offering energy in the last week of June (2005) at prices far in excess of generic costs–that being more than $50 per MWh above generic short run marginal costs. This activity therefore led to an additional investigation by Potomac. Subsequently, Potomac, now in their new role as ERCOT Independent Market Monitor, conducted an “Investigation of the Wholesale Market Activities of TXU from June 1 to September 30, 2005.” That report was filed in March 2007.

In assessing the report of March 2007, it is important to note a couple of things. First, during the period analyzed by Potomac, there was no definition of “market power.” PURA section 39.157 (a) defines “market power abuse” as “practices by persons possessing market power that are unreasonably discriminatory or tend to unreasonably restrict, impair, or reduce the level of competition, including practices that tie unregulated products or services to regulated products or services or unreasonably discriminate in the provision of regulated services. For purposes of this section, market power abuses include predatory pricing, withholding of production, precluding entry, and collusion.” However, PURA does not define “market power”. In PUC substantive rule 25.504, which became effective on September 13, 2006, the Commission defined “market power” to be “The ability to control prices or exclude competition.” Because there was no definition of market power during the June 1 to September 30, 2005 time period, Potomac created its own definition of market power as “the ability for a market participant to profitably raise prices above competitive levels.”

Second, in its analysis, Potomac excluded un-offered capacity from online units. In other words, there were other suppliers of power that could have provided power but shose not to offer energy into the balancing energy market (BES). (To some degree, I believe this was caused by $300 “shame” cap which the Commission has subsequently done away with.) Had those other suppliers offered energy into the BES market, then TXU would have been the pivotal supplier less of the time.

Third, TXU’s offers during the study period were designed to cover the “full costs of owning, operating, and maintaining units expected to be needed to satisfy the forecasted load. This amount includes the initial investment costs and other fixed costs such as leasing arrangements for gas turbines.” Potomac rejected this approach claiming that in a competitive market, there is no basis for an entity to take into account sunk costs [when designing a bidding strategy]. According to Potomac, TXU’s strategy should be the same “regardless of whether TXU won the units in a lottery or TXU paid a large sum to buy the units.” In other words, according to Potomac, TXU should have been bid its generation units either at or near its short run marginal costs.

I have been and continue to be skeptical of all three of Potomac’s above enumerated positions. The Commission’s definition of market power is different and I believe better that the one used by Potomac. In any competitive market, one or more participants may have the ability to raise prices above “competitive levels” for a limited period of time. However, in a market, the response to high prices from one producer is that other competitors, both existing and new, will eventually begin to offer prices below your prices and soon take away your market share and your profits. I don’t know why other generators didn’t offer power into the BES market during the study period (perhaps it was the fear of the $300 shame cap), but we know that had they done so, TXU would have been pivotal less of the time and therefore TXU’s offers would have set the price less frequently. Therefore, it is unclear to me why TXU should be punished for the inactions of others.

In a previous memo by me, filed on May 11, 2005, in Project No. 30513, which was a “staff investigation into the Wholesale Market Activities of TXU” during the fall of 2004 (and which resulted in a determination that TXU did not engage in market power abuse during that time frame), I took exception to Potomac’s previous analysis. In that memo (a copy of which is attached), I said, “It seems perfectly rational to me that a generator would attempt to recover a return on and of capital investment through its BES offers. I think it a bit theoretical to assert that generators in ERCOT are acting rationally only when they offer at short-run marginal cost. If generators are unable to recover long-run marginal costs, then I fear we run the risk of discouraging additional generation at a time when it appears that we are really beginning to need it.” I still believe this to be the case. As a report on Capacity, Demand and Reserves (CDR) recently released by ERCOT demonstrates (page attached), ERCOT’s reserve margins have dramatically improved since May of 2007 when they were projected to be below 12.5% as early as 2009. I am unconvinced that the ERCOT region would have experienced such a robust new generation build were we to limit generators to recovering only their short run marginal costs.

In Order No. 26, issued in this docket on July 21, 2008, ALJs Harvel and Walston opined on the issue of the maximum penalty that could be assessed against TXU if the alleged violation(s) of market power abuse was found to be true. Staff argued for $171 million, Luminant argued for $610,000 or $7.930 million, in the alternative. According to the judges, there is no way to justify staff’s proposed penalty of $171 million. Using the most generous calculation available-3,085 alleged seperate bid curves times the maximum penalty of $5,000 per violation (which was the previous maximum dollar amount but has subsequently been raised to $25,000), the total maximum penalty would be $15.525 million. The ALJs said, “In this case, Staff’s proposed trebling of Luminant’s alleged damage to the market would result in an adminstrative penalty that would greatly exceed the penalty cap contained in section 15.023 (of PURA). Staff has not provided any legal authority to authorize such a penalty.”

Because I believe it would be very difficult to prove in a court of law that Luminant’s bidding behavior in the BES market during the study period was an abuse of market power, and because the proposed settlement is at the high end of the highest probably recovery if Luminant were actually found guilty, I propose that we accept the settlement.

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If you have been needing to compare and shop for a cheaper Texas electric provider but just have not had the time we would like to encourage you to do so. Texas electric rates are at some of their cheapest prices they have been at for years. Last summer at this time a cheap rate would have been 16 cents a kWh. You can now sign up for a cheap electric rate in the Dallas area at around 9.4 cents a kWh. In Houston the rate is closer to 10 cents a kWh for a 1 year fixed rate. If your TXU Energy rates are becoming unbearably high then we recommend switching to a cheaper electric company. We only recommend that you come off of your TXU Energy rate if you are currently off contract with TXU Energy. We never recommend that you break a current contract that has not expired yet. The default area in the comparison chart above is for the Dallas area. If you live in a different area you can select it in the selection box above and click on get rates. Prices for your area will appear after clicking on get rates. Once you have decided on an energy rate just click on “continue”.

Going From TXU to Reliant Energy

If you have considered switching off of TXU Energy and onto a new electric provider that you have heard advertise on the radio than please read this. Reliant Energy rates are currently being advertised on billboards and on radio saying that they are now lowering their electric rates by “up to %10″. Unfortunately this means that you would still have to pay Reliant Energy around 13 – 14 cents a kWh when there are several energy providers offering residential electric rates in the 9 – 10 cents per kWh range for a 1 year fixed rate. Don’t be fooled by a clever marketing campaign. Reliant Energy radio ads have their coworkers on the ads explaining that they love being able to help people but in reality paying an inflated price for electricity service is not really a help in this current economy. There are several reputable electric companies in Texas that offer much cheaper electricity service than Reliant and TXU Energy rates. We have a comparison chart of electric companies that beat both Reliant Energy rates and TXU Electric rates listed in the comparison chart above.

Comparison Chart Shows All Fees and Charges in Energy Rate

We encourage you to browse through the 1 year, 2 year, and 3 year fixed electric rate terms and pick the rate and monthly term that suits you best. The chart above has all fees and charges disclosed so you know exactly what you are signing up for. We want you to have no surprises when signing up for electric service as some providers we do not have on the chart do not disclose all charges in their rate. We do not work with Texas electricity companies that hide certain fees and charges that most electric companies will disclose in plain english.

Other Energy Providers and Rates

Spark Energy
Amigo Energy
Champion Energy
Stream Energy

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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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The TDSP Smart meter surcharge is being felt by Texas residential electric customers as the Oncor utility area has rolled out the meter fee on all residential electric service customers in the Oncor Electric Delivery utility area. The below TXU Energy customer filed a complaint with the Public Utility Commission about the meter fee but is a little confused about TXU Energy’s role in the fee.

TXU Energy back in 2008 actually tried to work to have the PUCT reconsider the meter fee or atleast how the PUCT and ERCOT charged the customer for it. At the time TXU was objecting, the issue raised was how the public would perceive the additional charge. The meter fee would have a large impact on their core business. Most of TXU Energy’s customers are in the Oncor Utility area. A majority of Oncor Electric Delivery’s customers are located in the Dallas Fort Worth area. Most of TXU Energy’s customers are also in the Dallas and Fort Worth Texas areas. The TXU Energy customer quoted below did raise a valid point about TXU Energy’s electric rate being quite high. There are actually much cheaper Texas electric rates out there than what TXU electric company is currently charging and you can check these out on the top left of this page or click below on our Dallas electricity rate comparison link:

Dallas Electricity rate comparison

What many energy consumers are just not aware of is the fact that the advanced meter fee is not a product child of TXU Electric Company. This meter fee also known as a smart meter fee is also not the product brain child of Oncor Electric Delivery even though Oncor will be rolling it out. Oncor is not TXU and TXU is not Oncor. Oncor Electric Delivery maintains and services the pole and wires as well as reads the meters for all retail electric providers and electric service customers and several years prior to deregulation went under the name TU ELectric as did TXU Energy. Oncor and TXU are seperate companies that cannot favor one another although they are owned by the same holding company, Energy Futures Holdings. Recently as of 2009 Oncor was mandated to pass these smart meter TDSP charges onto the retail electric providers like TXU and Reliant Energy. TXU and Reliant are not responsible for these charges but they get blamed for them because they have a large customer base in the areas that have been hit by this meter fee. Oncor Electric Delivery is also known as the Dallas and Fort Worth area TDSP company. TDSP stands for transmission and distribution service provider.

To Whom it May Concern
I am writing this letter to protest the “Monthly TDSP Meter Surcharge” of $2.21 that appeared on my TXU Energy bill (Invoice #054200111455) for May 2009. I believe the charge is for the new type of digital meter that when installed allows the utility company to read the usage amount each month automatically, a huge benefit for the utility company, but not for the customer. The customer can also use the digital meter to determine how much electricity each appliance in his home is using. Big Whoop…I don’t care. This type of meter has not been installed at my apartment complex; however, I am being charged for it. Since when, is it allowed to charge for a utility’s capital expenditures before the benefit has been received by the customer? In the future, are the electric utilities going to be allowed to charge the customer for each individual pole replaced?

According to news reports, Texans pay the highest electric utility rates in the nation. My bill states that I pay13.95 cents per kWh excluding taxes. That’s way too much. It appears that the PUC simply rubber-stamps any rate increase or new “made up” category that utilities such as TXU requests. In the recent past, utilities such as cable companies were not allowed to provide “additional” services, such as high speed internet, to only the affluent sections of a city (this is called “cherry picking”). All sections of the city would receive the new services, and customers would only be charged for new services when new services were available to the customer. I do not have access to the new digital meter technology and therefore, I should not have to pay for it. In addition, the rate charged by a utility should include all capital expenditures it makes to deliver its product.

The “Monthly TDSP Meter Surcharge” is unjust and I refuse to pay it. The PUC is supposed to represent the public, not the electric, telephone, and cable monopolies. Just because Energy Future Holdings paid too much to acquire TXU is not a justification for the PUC to grant special rate increase for bogus surcharges that have never been charged in the past.

What course of action should the PUC take? Eliminate the TDSP Meter Surcharge and reduce the electric utility rates paid by customers, especially residential customers. These charges are unjust and excessive.
Sincerely,
Charles
Dallas Texas 75220

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We have gone back to check Dallas Texas electricity rates for the month of April 2009 to see where the electric providers fall in line on their prices. Some Dallas energy providers have prices that are several cents cheaper then some of the larger electric companies like TXU and Reliant. One of the reasons we put this list together is so that Dallas energy consumers can see that there are much better offers available for Dallas electricity service then what TXU Energy has to offer. For instance, checking the rates TXU Energy is offering as of today, April 17 2009, we see that they have a 1 year fixed rate listed at 13.8 cents a kWh. The cheapest available 12 month offer in the chart is for 9.4 cents per kWh with Champion Energy.

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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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