CenterPoint delivers electricity across greater Houston. It does not sell electricity plans — your retail provider does.
CenterPoint is the utility that delivers electricity across greater Houston. 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.
CenterPoint Energy is the transmission and distribution utility — the TDU — for most of the Houston area. It owns and operates the physical network that carries electricity to homes and businesses: the transmission lines, the local distribution wires, the substations, and the meter attached to your building.
It does not generate electricity and it does not sell electricity plans. In the competitive Houston market those are separate businesses. CenterPoint is assigned to your address, earns regulated delivery charges for moving the power, and does the same work no matter which retail provider bills you.
Whatever plan you buy and whoever you buy it from, the electricity reaches your address across CenterPoint's poles and wires.
Distribution lines, poles, substations, transformers, and the meter on your building belong to CenterPoint, which builds, inspects, and repairs all of it.
CenterPoint records the usage your retail provider bills you for. If a meter looks wrong, the utility is the one that inspects it.
Storms and equipment failures are CenterPoint's responsibility. Its crews handle downed lines and restoration — a retail provider has no crews and cannot restore service.
Two companies are involved in Houston electricity service, and mixing them up is the single most common source of confusion on a bill. CenterPoint delivers the electricity. Your retail electricity provider (REP) sells you the plan.
You chose the provider. You did not choose CenterPoint — it came with the address, and it stays put no matter how many times you switch.
| CenterPoint (utility) | Your provider (REP) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who are they? | CenterPoint Energy, 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? | CenterPoint | No one — the REP owns no equipment |
| Who restores your power? | CenterPoint | Cannot restore power |
| Who sets your rate? | No — its delivery charges are regulated | Yes |
| Who do you call about a bill? | Not CenterPoint | Your retail provider |
Power out, downed line, damaged meter, or a problem with the wires: CenterPoint. Rate, contract, deposit, bill, or enrollment question: your retail provider.
CenterPoint's electric service territory covers greater Houston and a stretch of southeast Texas around it — Harris County plus parts of Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller counties.
That makes it the utility for most, but not all, of the metro. The territory was drawn around infrastructure rather than city limits, and the edges are where people get caught out.
Houston, Pasadena, Sugar Land, Pearland, Baytown, Katy, Conroe, Galveston, Missouri City, The Woodlands, Spring, Humble, Deer Park, Stafford and Bellaire all sit in CenterPoint territory. For rates and plans in the largest of these, see our Houston electricity rates guide.
Nearby is not the same as inside: several Gulf Coast communities a short drive south of Houston — League City, Texas City, Friendswood, Dickinson and Alvin among them — are served by Texas-New Mexico Power, not CenterPoint, even though they sit in the same metro area.
Split ZIP codes: a single ZIP code can span two utility territories, and neighbours on opposite sides of a street are occasionally served by different companies. City and ZIP get you close; a bill or an ESI ID makes you certain.
Municipal and cooperative pockets: some addresses on the outer edges of the region are served by a city-owned utility or an electric cooperative, where retail choice usually does not apply at all.
For the statewide picture of which utility covers which region, see our guide to Texas electric utilities.
Report outages to CenterPoint, 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 CenterPoint.
| What you need | CenterPoint Energy |
|---|---|
| Report an outage | 713-207-2222 or 800-332-7143 |
| Report a downed line | Call 911 first if anyone is in danger, then CenterPoint |
| Outage and restoration alerts | Power Alert Service — free text, email or phone notifications |
| Rate, bill or contract question | Not CenterPoint — 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 CenterPoint already needs to hear about it.
Part of every Houston electricity bill pays CenterPoint 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.
They come in two parts: a fixed monthly charge that applies whatever you use, and a per-kWh charge that rises with your usage.
Estimated delivery cost = monthly base charge + (per-kWh delivery charge × kWh used)
| Monthly usage | Base charge | Per-kWh delivery | Estimated delivery cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 kWh | $4.39 | 5.4021¢ | $31.40 |
| 1,000 kWh | $4.39 | 5.4021¢ | $58.41 |
| 2,000 kWh | $4.39 | 5.4021¢ | $112.43 |
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 CenterPoint. 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. This is the question that stops people from shopping, so it is worth being blunt about: switching your retail electricity provider changes nothing physical about your service.
CenterPoint 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 in service 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 CenterPoint'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 — a plan that wins at 2,000 kWh can be the expensive option at 500. Houston's long cooling season makes that gap unusually wide here, so read the figure closest to your own consumption rather than the one on the advertisement.
To compare plans available in this territory, start with our Houston electricity rates page, or see how to choose a Texas electricity plan for the full comparison method.
Dozens of retail electricity providers compete for customers in the Houston market, several of them headquartered in the city. CenterPoint delivers the power for all of them equally — being on this list says nothing about CenterPoint, which 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 Houston-area retail provider with a wide range of residential plans. |
 | Long-established Texas retail provider offering fixed-rate and bill-credit residential plans. |
 | Houston-based retail provider known for 100% renewable plans and bill-credit options. |
 | Houston-based retail provider focused on 100% renewable energy plans. |
 | Houston-based provider focused on competitively priced electricity plans. |
 | 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 Houston electricity rates page.
Your utility follows the address, not you. Moving within CenterPoint's territory keeps CenterPoint as your utility, and you can take an existing plan with you or shop for a new one.
Moving out of the territory is where it changes. A move a few miles south can put you in Texas-New Mexico Power territory, and a move to a municipal utility or cooperative area can remove retail choice altogether — in which case there is no provider to shop for.
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.
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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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