Your utility delivers the electricity and restores it after an outage. Your retail provider sells you the plan.
Six utilities deliver electricity across the competitive parts of Texas. Find yours below to see the territory it covers and the number to call when the power goes out.
Service areas are shown in broad terms. Utility territories follow service addresses rather than city or ZIP boundaries, so confirm the utility for your specific address.
A Texas electric utility — usually called a TDU, for transmission and distribution utility — is the company that physically moves electricity to your home. It owns the poles, the wires, the substations, and the meter on the side of your house.
In the competitive parts of Texas, the utility does not sell you electricity and does not compete for your business. It is assigned to your address, and it does the same work regardless of which retail provider you sign up with.
The utility carries power across its poles and wires to your service address, whoever you buy that power from.
Poles, wires, substations, and the meter on your house belong to the utility, which builds and maintains all of it.
When the power fails or a line comes down, the utility dispatches the crews and restores service. Your retail provider cannot.
Delivery charges are approved by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and are the same across every retail plan in the territory.
Because the utility is tied to the address rather than to the account, switching retail providers does not change your utility, your meter, or the crew that shows up after a storm.
Two different companies are involved in your electricity service, and confusing them is the most common source of frustration on a Texas electricity bill. The utility delivers the power. The retail electricity provider (REP) sells you the plan.
You shop for and choose the provider. You do not choose the utility — it comes with the address.
| Utility (TDU) | Electricity provider (REP) | |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Delivers electricity and maintains the local grid | Sells you an electricity plan |
| Can you choose it? | No — set by your service address | Yes, in competitive areas |
| Owns the poles, wires and meter? | Yes | No |
| Handles outages and downed lines? | Yes | No |
| Sets your rate and contract terms? | No | Yes |
| Can you shop competitors? | No | Yes |
| How are its charges set? | Regulated delivery charges approved by the PUCT | Competitive pricing set by the provider |
If the lights are out, call the utility. If you have a question about your rate, your contract, or your bill, call your retail provider.
Your utility is determined by your service address. That sounds simple, but city and ZIP boundaries do not line up with utility territories, so the fastest reliable answer comes from a document tied to the address itself rather than from a map.
This is the quickest and most reliable method. A Texas electricity bill lists both companies: your retail provider at the top, and the delivery utility in the charges section, usually beside a line called TDU delivery charges. The utility named there is the one serving that address.
Your ESI ID (Electric Service Identifier) is the unique number that identifies your electric service point on the grid. It appears on your bill and belongs to the address, not to you, so it stays behind when you move out. Because it points to one specific meter, it identifies the exact utility territory serving that address, which is why providers ask for it when a ZIP code is ambiguous.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas and the utilities themselves publish service-territory information. If you have no bill to hand — for a home you are buying, for instance — an official source tied to the address is more dependable than a general city listing.
A move across town can put you in a different utility territory, and a move into a municipal or cooperative area can remove retail choice altogether. Confirm the utility for the new address before you sign a plan, and see how to switch electricity providers for the enrollment steps.
Large ZIP codes can span two utilities, and neighbors on opposite sides of a street are sometimes served by different companies. City and ZIP get you close; the bill or the ESI ID gets you certain.
Utility territories were drawn around infrastructure, not around city limits, so they rarely match the boundaries people actually think in. A single metro can touch more than one utility, and some utilities serve separated pockets of the state rather than one continuous region.
The table below works in the direction most people need: start with where you live, and see which utility generally delivers there.
| If you live in… | Your utility is generally |
|---|---|
| Dallas–Fort Worth and North Texas | Oncor |
| Greater Houston and the upper Gulf Coast | CenterPoint Energy |
| Communities just south of Houston | TNMP (in its Gulf Coast pockets) |
| Central Texas — Waco, Killeen, Temple | Oncor |
| Corpus Christi, the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas | AEP Texas Central |
| Abilene, San Angelo and West Texas | AEP Texas North |
| West Texas — Pecos, Fort Stockton | TNMP (in its West Texas pockets) |
| Lubbock | Lubbock Power & Light |
| Austin and San Antonio | Municipal utilities — no retail choice |
Metro edges: the Houston area is the clearest example. CenterPoint delivers across most of it, while communities a short drive south such as League City and Texas City sit in TNMP territory.
Scattered territories: TNMP does not serve one region. It serves separated pockets on the Gulf Coast, in North-Central Texas, and in West Texas.
Two divisions, one company: AEP Texas operates as two delivery divisions, Central and North, each with its own regulated rate schedule.
Municipal and cooperative pockets: some addresses are served by a city-owned utility or an electric cooperative, where retail choice usually does not apply.
For rates and plans in a specific market, see our Texas electricity rates guide or a city page such as Houston, Dallas, or Corpus Christi.
Part of every Texas electricity bill pays your utility to deliver the power, not your provider to supply it. These delivery charges are regulated, they are set by service territory, and they are the same no matter which retail provider you choose.
They almost always 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)
| Utility | Monthly base charge | Per-kWh delivery charge | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oncor Electric Delivery | $4.23 | 5.1234¢ | Pending |
| CenterPoint Energy | $4.39 | 5.4021¢ | Pending |
| AEP Texas Central | $5.88 | 6.1140¢ | Pending |
| AEP Texas North | $5.62 | 5.9875¢ | Pending |
| Texas-New Mexico Power | $7.85 | 6.4410¢ | Pending |
| Lubbock Power & Light | $9.20 | 4.8850¢ | Pending |
Delivery charges combine a fixed monthly base with a per-kWh charge. The table above uses current utility rates when available (with illustrative sample values as fallback). A home using about 1,000 kWh will typically see tens of dollars in delivery before any energy charges from the retail provider.
The practical takeaway does not depend on the exact numbers: switching retail providers does not change your utility or remove its delivery charges. Delivery is a floor under every plan available at your address. For how that floor interacts with what a plan actually costs, see how delivery charges affect plan pricing below.
Because delivery charges apply to every plan in a territory, they are not what separates a good plan from a bad one. What separates plans is how each provider prices energy on top of delivery — and how clearly it shows you that in advance.
That is what the Electricity Facts Label is for.
The EFL breaks out the energy charge, the TDU delivery charges, base or minimum-usage fees, bill credits, contract length, and the early termination fee. Every plan is required to have one.
The EFL shows an average price at 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh. Plans can reverse position between those levels, so read the figure closest to your own consumption rather than the one on the advertisement.
Some plans quote a rate with delivery bundled in; others quote the energy charge alone. Two plans only become comparable once you know which of the two you are looking at.
A low advertised rate that depends on hitting a bill-credit threshold can cost more than a slightly higher straightforward rate, if your usage lands on the wrong side of that threshold.
Compare the estimated total monthly cost at your own usage level rather than the advertised cents-per-kWh figure. Our guide to choosing a Texas electricity plan walks through the comparison step by step.
Call your utility, not your retail electricity provider. Providers sell plans and handle billing; they have no crews, no trucks, and no ability to restore your power. Outages, downed lines, and damaged equipment all belong 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 the utility.
| Utility | Report an outage | Service area |
|---|---|---|
| Oncor Electric Delivery | 888-313-4747 | Dallas–Fort Worth, North and Central Texas |
| CenterPoint Energy | 713-207-2222 | Greater Houston and southeast Texas |
| AEP Texas Central | 1-866-223-8508 | Corpus Christi, the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas |
| AEP Texas North | 1-866-223-8508 | Abilene, San Angelo and parts of West Texas |
| Texas-New Mexico Power | 888-866-7456 | Scattered territories on the Gulf Coast, in North-Central and in West Texas |
| Lubbock Power & Light | 806-775-2509 | Lubbock |
AEP Texas Central and AEP Texas North are separate delivery territories operated by AEP Texas and share one outage line. If you are served by a municipal utility or an electric cooperative not listed here, contact that utility directly.
Texas is often described as a deregulated electricity state, but that is only true for part of it. Retail choice depends on your service address, and a large number of Texans cannot shop for a provider at all.
Where choice exists, the utility still delivers the power — deregulation changed who sells you the plan, not who owns the wires.
Most of the ERCOT grid is open to retail competition. If your address is served by Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP Texas, or TNMP, you can generally choose among retail providers and plans, and you can switch without changing anything physical about your service.
City-owned utilities and member-owned electric cooperatives were not required to open to competition. Customers of Austin Energy and CPS Energy in San Antonio, for example, buy electricity from that utility and do not shop among providers. Cooperatives across rural Texas work much the same way, though some have chosen to participate in the competitive market.
Lubbock Power & Light shows that the line is not fixed. LP&L is city-owned, but after moving its customers onto the ERCOT grid it opened to competitive retail providers in 2024, making Lubbock the first Texas municipal utility territory where residents can shop for a plan. LP&L continues to deliver the power and handle outages. See Lubbock electricity rates for that market.
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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