AEP Texas North delivers electricity across Abilene, San Angelo and West Texas. It does not sell electricity plans.
AEP Texas North is the utility that delivers electricity across much of West Texas. Here is what that means for your service, your bill, and who to call when the lights go out.
Utility territories follow service addresses rather than city or ZIP boundaries. Confirm the utility for your specific address before you rely on it.
AEP Texas North is one of two delivery divisions of AEP Texas. The North division covers the western half of the company's footprint — Abilene, San Angelo, and the smaller West Texas communities spread across the Big Country and Concho Valley.
It is the former West Texas Utilities company, which came into American Electric Power in 2000, and it keeps its own delivery rate schedule approved by the Public Utility Commission of Texas — set separately from the other division’s.
AEP Texas does not generate electricity and does not sell electricity plans. It delivers power on behalf of retail providers, regardless of which one a customer chooses.
Across a large, thinly populated stretch of West Texas, whoever you buy your plan from.
Poles, wires, substations and the meter on your building belong to AEP Texas, which builds, inspects and repairs all of it.
AEP Texas records the usage your retail provider bills you for.
Long distribution runs between West Texas towns make restoration slower here than in a dense metro. Crews are dispatched by AEP Texas; a retail provider has none.
Two companies are involved in your electricity service. AEP Texas North delivers the electricity. Your retail electricity provider (REP) sells you the plan.
You chose the provider. You did not choose AEP Texas — it came with the address, and it stays put however many times you switch.
| AEP Texas North (utility) | Your provider (REP) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who are they? | AEP Texas North, your utility | The retail provider you signed up with |
| What do they do? | Delivers electricity to your meter | Sells you the electricity plan |
| Did you choose them? | No — set by your address | Yes |
| Who owns the wires and meter? | AEP Texas | No one — the REP owns no equipment |
| Who restores your power? | AEP Texas | Cannot restore power |
| Who sets your rate? | No — its delivery charges are regulated | Yes |
| Who do you call about a bill? | Not AEP Texas | Your retail provider |
Power out, downed line, damaged meter, or a problem with the wires: AEP Texas. Rate, contract, deposit, bill, or enrollment question: your retail provider.
The North division covers West Texas — Abilene and San Angelo are the two largest cities, surrounded by a wide scatter of smaller towns across the Big Country, the Concho Valley and up toward the Red River at Vernon.
It is a fundamentally different service area from the Central division: fewer customers spread over long distances, rather than the dense coastal and border markets to the south. For that territory, see our page on AEP Texas Central.
For that territory, see our page on AEP Texas Central.
Abilene, San Angelo, Vernon, Ballinger, Stamford, Winters and a number of smaller Big Country and Concho Valley communities sit in AEP Texas North territory.
Cooperative country: West Texas has some of the highest concentrations of electric cooperative territory in the state. Large areas between AEP Texas North's towns are served by member-owned cooperatives, which generally sit outside retail choice, so an address a few miles outside town may have no provider to shop for.
Municipal utilities: several West Texas towns run their own municipal electric utility and are not AEP Texas customers at all.
Not every West Texas address is AEP Texas: Lubbock, for instance, is served by Lubbock Power & Light, and parts of the Permian Basin around Midland and Odessa are Oncor territory rather than AEP Texas.
For the statewide picture of which utility covers which region, see our guide to Texas electric utilities.
Report outages to AEP Texas North, not to your retail electricity provider. Providers sell plans and handle billing; they have no crews, no trucks, and no ability to restore your power. Every outage, downed line and piece of damaged equipment belongs to the utility.
Never approach or drive over a downed line, and assume it is live. Move well clear, call 911 if anyone is in danger, then report it to AEP Texas North.
| What you need | AEP Texas North |
|---|---|
| Report an outage | 1-866-223-8508 |
| Report a downed line | Call 911 first if anyone is in danger, then AEP Texas North |
| Rate, bill or contract question | Not the utility — contact your retail electricity provider |
Check whether the outage is only your property. If your neighbours have power, the problem may be your own breaker or equipment on your side of the meter, which is the property owner's responsibility rather than the utility's. If the whole street is dark, it is a distribution outage and the utility already needs to hear about it.
Part of every West Texas electricity bill pays AEP Texas to deliver the power rather than your provider to supply it. These delivery charges are regulated, they apply to every plan in the territory, and they are the same whichever retail provider you choose.
Because the North division has its own rate schedule, its delivery charges are set separately from the Central division's, even though one company operates both.
Estimated delivery cost = monthly base charge + (per-kWh delivery charge × kWh used)
| Monthly usage | Base charge | Per-kWh delivery | Estimated delivery cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 kWh | $5.62 | 5.9875¢ | $35.56 |
| 1,000 kWh | $5.62 | 5.9875¢ | $65.50 |
| 2,000 kWh | $5.62 | 5.9875¢ | $125.37 |
Providers present delivery charges in one of two ways, and the difference matters when you compare plans. Some itemize them as a separate TDU delivery charge line, so you can see exactly what goes to AEP Texas North. Others fold them into a single all-in cents-per-kWh rate. Neither is cheaper by itself — but two plans are only comparable once you know which style you are looking at.
Delivery is a floor under every plan available at your address, so it is not what separates a good plan from a bad one. For a deeper look at how these charges move and why a "fixed" rate can still change, see our guide to TDU delivery charges in Texas.
No. Switching your retail electricity provider changes nothing physical about your service.
AEP Texas remains your utility. The same wires deliver your power, the same meter records it, the same crews respond when it fails, and the same regulated delivery charges apply. Nobody visits your home, nothing is disconnected, and there is no interruption during the switch.
Your energy charge, your contract length, your plan structure, any bill credits or fees, and who sends your bill. In other words, the parts of the bill a competitive market is meant to compete over — not the delivery infrastructure underneath it.
If you are considering a change, our guide to how to switch electricity providers walks through the process and the timing.
Because AEP Texas North's delivery charges apply identically to every plan at your address, they are not the variable worth shopping. What varies between plans is how each provider prices energy on top of delivery, and how clearly it tells you so in advance.
Start with the Electricity Facts Label. Every plan is required to have one, and it breaks out the energy charge, the TDU delivery charges, base or minimum-usage fees, bill credits, contract length, and the early termination fee.
Then check the price at your usage. The EFL shows an average price at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh, and plans routinely swap places between those levels. West Texas households often run high summer cooling loads and meaningful winter heating loads, so a plan that looks competitive at one usage level can be a poor fit across the year as a whole.
To compare plans available in this territory, start with our Texas electricity rates page, or see how to choose a Texas electricity plan for the full comparison method.
Retail electricity providers compete across AEP Texas North's territory, though the market here is smaller than in the state's metro areas. AEP Texas delivers the power for all of them equally, and neither endorses nor has any relationship with the providers serving its territory.
The providers below are a selection of established names operating in the area, not a ranking.
| Provider | What They’re Known For |
|---|---|
 | Large, long-established Texas retail provider with a wide range of residential plans. |
 | Long-established Texas retail provider offering fixed-rate and bill-credit plans. |
 | Retail provider known for 100% renewable plans and bill-credit options. |
 | Established Texas electricity provider known for straightforward service. |
Availability and plan terms vary by address and change over time. Compare current offers for a specific address on our Texas electricity rates page.
Your utility follows the address, not you. Moving within the North division keeps AEP Texas North as your utility, and you can take an existing plan with you or shop for a new one.
Moving elsewhere in West Texas is where it changes. Cooperative and municipal territory is common out here, and a short move can leave you with no retail choice at all — while a move south into the Coastal Bend or the Valley puts you in the Central division with its own rate schedule.
Confirm the utility for that exact address rather than the city or ZIP, since both can straddle a boundary. An existing electricity bill for the property, or its ESI ID, settles it. Then start service in your name before your move-in date so the power is on when you arrive.
Texas electricity plans can be difficult to compare. Power Texas brings rates, providers, plan details, and helpful information together so you can understand your options and choose an electricity plan with confidence.
Whether you want to shop on your own or have questions along the way, our goal is to make finding electricity simpler.
Learn more about Power Texas →
Power Texas may receive compensation from electricity providers when customers enroll through our marketplace. However, commissions, advertising relationships, and other commercial arrangements do not determine our editorial content or recommendations.
Our recommendations are based on our independent assessment of the Texas electricity market and the information we believe is most useful to consumers.
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