NEW this month! Our team is now analyzing rates using 1000 kWh instead of 2000 kWh as the estimated monthly consumption used for price comparison. We made this change because according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the residential average monthly consumption in Texas is 1140 kWh (in 2019).
We will spice things up this month by focusing on green energy. We will bring answers to a frequent question asked by our customers:
If I “go green” with my electricity plan, how will my bill be impacted?
Our team at EnergySavings.com is capturing daily snapshots of electricity plans from the Power to Choose website. Data collected* are analyzed monthly to give you an understanding of the offers available and the market trends. Grouping the most common plans by category, we analyze the same plan categories every month to give you an apples-to-apples comparison.
TRENDS: MAY vs APRIL
CenterPoint Delivery Area – May 2021: Rates and Trends for Most Common Plans1
| Fixed Rate (cents/kWh) 12mo Plans |
Variable Rate (cents/kWh) | |||||
| Apr | May | Trends | Apr | May | Trends | |
| Lowest | 8.9 | 9.1 |  2% |
8.2 | 8.2 | 0% |
| Highest | 12.8 | 12.8 | 0% | 17.0 | 17.0 | 0% |
| Average | 9.8 | 10.0 | 2% |
$11.2 | 11.0 |  -2% |
| Number of REPs | 28 | 30 | 7% | 11 | 11 | 0% |
1Trends compare in percentage the rate of the previous month for the same category of products. This table compares the lowest price offered by each Retail Electric Provider that offered the respective type of plan in each month. The “Highest” row above compares the highest of the lowest price offered by a Retail Electric Providers.
Fixed rate category: we captured a slight increase for the lowest rates (2%); the average rate also increased slightly by 2%.
RANCHERO POWER, PULSE POWER LLC and ENERGY TO GO are the three retail electric providers in Texas that started to show offers on the Power to Choose website in May 2021. HERITAGE POWER LLC stopped offering plans on Power to Choose.
Concerning the variable rate category, we see a decrease in the average rate by 2%.
CenterPoint Delivery Area – May 2021: Rates and Trends for Most Common 100% Green Plans1
| 100% green, Fixed Rate (cents/kWh) 12mo Plans |
100% green, Variable Rate (cents/kWh) | |||||
| Apr | May | Trends | Apr | May | Trends | |
| Lowest | 8.9 | 9.1 | 2% |
12.0 | 12.1 | 1% |
| Highest | 14.8 | 14.8 | 0% | 17.2 | 17.2 | 0% |
| Average | 10.6 | 10.8 | 1% |
14.5 | 14.5 | 0% |
| Number of REPs | 10 | 13 | 30% | 3 | 3 | 0% |
1Trends compare in percentage the rate of the previous month for the same category of products. This table compares the lowest price offered by each Retail Electric Provider that offered the respective type of plan in each month. The “Highest” row above compares the highest of the lowest price offered by a Retail Electric Provider.
Between April and May, the number of Texas retail electric providers showing offers in the fixed price category on the Power to Choose website increased in the 100% green table above: OCTOPUS ENERGY, PULSE POWER LLC and ENERGY TO GO started to show 12-month offers in May in this delivery area.
The prices were stable in these two categories as we only see slight increases in the lowest rate: 2% for the first one and only 1% for the variable rate category.
GREEN OR NOT GREEN?
CenterPoint Delivery Area – May 2021: How fixed rates and variable rate plans compare 2?
| Fixed Rate Plans, 12-mo (cents/kWh) | Variable Rate Plans (cents/kWh) | |||||
| 100% green | Not green | Difference | 100% green | Not green | Difference | |
| Lowest | 9.1 | 9.1 | 0% | 12.1 | 8.2 | 48% |
| Highest | 14.8 | 12.8 | 16% | 17.2 | 17.0 | 1% |
| Average rate | 10.8 | 10.0 | 8% | 14.5 | 11.0 | 32% |
| Number of REPs | 13 | 30 | -57% | 3 | 11 | -73% |
2Trends compare in percentage the average rate of each category of products. This table compares the average rates price offered by each Retail Electric Providers that offered the respective type of plan in each category.
Our comparison shows that 100% green plans in CenterPoint are on average 8% more expensive for the fixed rate category and 32% more expensive for the variable rate category.
To give you a better idea of what this price difference looks like on a bill, let’s compare it using a 1000 kWh monthly usage and the lowest rates: the 100% green fixed rate plan will cost you the same each month while the variable rate plan, 100% green plan will cost you $39 more each month. Which plan would you choose if you decide to go Green?
If you like the electricity plan options you see from non-green plans but do want to go green for your electricity usage, you could look into buying carbon offsets separately. You can simply subscribe to a monthly plan that fits your lifestyle with companies such as Terrapass3.
3Terrapass is an affiliate of IEG.
Enter your ZIP Code and compare electricity rates
LIST OF ENERGY PROVIDERS/ PRICES
CenterPoint Delivery Area – May 2021: List of Lowest Reported EFL Prices for an estimated 1000 kWh’s*
Lowest Electricity Prices in Houston, Texas (or CenterPoint TDU area): 12mo- Fixed Rate Plans
(lowest to highest rate)
| Energy Providers | Rate for 1000 kWh (¢/kWh) |
| FRONTIER UTILITIES | 9.1 |
| THINK ENERGY | 9.1 |
| V247 POWER CORPORATION | 9.1 |
| DISCOUNT POWER | 9.2 |
| FIRST CHOICE POWER | 9.2 |
| SPARK ENERGY LLC | 9.2 |
| DIRECT ENERGY | 9.3 |
| POWERNEXT | 9.3 |
| CIRRO ENERGY | 9.4 |
| SOUTHWEST POWER & LIGHT | 9.4 |
| YEP | 9.4 |
| EXPRESS ENERGY | 9.6 |
| 4CHANGE ENERGY | 9.7 |
| VETERAN ENERGY | 9.8 |
| WINDROSE ENERGY | 9.8 |
| AMIGO ENERGY | 9.9 |
| INFUSE ENERGY LLC | 9.9 |
| JUST ENERGY | 9.9 |
| SOUTHERN FEDERAL POWER LLC | 9.9 |
| TARA ENERGY | 9.9 |
| RANCHERO POWER | 10.0 |
| SUMMER ENERGY LLC | 10.0 |
| CHAMPION ENERGY SERVICES LLC | 10.5 |
| RELIANT | 10.5 |
| AP GAS & ELECTRIC (TX) LLC | 10.9 |
| PULSE POWER LLC | 10.9 |
| TRIEAGLE ENERGY LP | 11.2 |
| ENERGY TO GO | 11.4 |
| TXU ENERGY | 11.6 |
| AMBIT ENERGY | 12.8 |
FRONTIER UTILITIES, V247 POWER CORPORATION and THINK ENERGY held the lowest price spot and AMBIT ENERGY offered the highest rate in this plan category in May. Of the electricity providers in this list, 50% kept their price stable. Among the ones that changed their prices during the month, the majority of them increased their rates.
Lowest Electricity Prices in Houston, Texas (or CenterPoint TDU area): Variable Rate Plans
(lowest to highest rate)
| Energy Providers | Rate for 1000 kWh (¢/kWh) |
| SOUTHERN FEDERAL POWER LLC | 8.2 |
| DIRECT ENERGY | 8.8 |
| FIRST CHOICE POWER | 8.8 |
| RELIANT | 10.2 |
| SOUTHWEST POWER & LIGHT | 10.2 |
| YEP | 10.2 |
| TEXPO ENERGY | 10.4 |
| INFUSE ENERGY LLC | 12.0 |
| NEC CO-OP ENERGY | 12.2 |
| TXU ENERGY | 13.2 |
| AMBIT ENERGY | 17.0 |
SOUTHERN FEDERAL POWER LLC offered the lowest price this month while AMBIT ENERGY offered the highest price. Of the REPs in this category, 82% changed their rate; among them 4 decreased it and 5 increased it.
Lowest Electricity Prices in Houston, Texas (or CenterPoint TDU area): 100% Green 12mo-Fixed Rate Plans
(lowest to highest rate)
| Energy Providers | Rate for 1000 kWh (¢/kWh) |
| GEXA ENERGY | 9.1 |
| OCTOPUS ENERGY | 9.4 |
| MP2 ENERGY TEXAS LLC | 9.5 |
| CLEANSKY ENERGY | 9.6 |
| 4CHANGE ENERGY | 9.9 |
| IBERDROLA TEXAS | 10.2 |
| RHYTHM | 10.8 |
| GREEN MOUNTAIN ENERGY COMPANY | 10.9 |
| AP GAS & ELECTRIC (TX) LLC | 11.0 |
| PULSE POWER LLC | 11.3 |
| TRIEAGLE ENERGY LP | 11.7 |
| ENERGY TO GO | 11.8 |
| TXU ENERGY | 14.8 |
GEXA ENERGY had the lowest electricity rate spot while TXU ENERGY had the highest price spot in the above table. Five of them (38%) changed their price within the month of May.
Lowest Electricity Prices in Houston, Texas (or CenterPoint TDU area): 100% Green Variable Rate Plan
(lowest to highest rate)
| Energy Providers | Rate for 1000 kWh (¢/kWh) |
| INFUSE ENERGY LLC | 12.1 |
| GREEN MOUNTAIN ENERGY COMPANY | 14.3 |
| AMBIT ENERGY | 17.2 |
Only 1 REP, AMBIT ENERGY, offered the same rate the whole month. The two other Retail Electric Providers of this table increased their rates during the month of May.
* Data obtained from powertochoose.org (Power to Choose) for the days from 5/1/2021 to 5/31/2021. The tables above list the lowest price in cents/kWh offered by each retail electricity provider (REP) for a given type of plan for a monthly usage of 1000 kWh. If more than one product was available from the same REP for a given type of plan, EnergySavings.com only included the one with the lowest rate in its analysis. Please note that as products and rates may change at any time in the day on Power to Choose; EnergySavings.com’s analysis is based on information captured in its single daily snapshot, and therefore cannot guarantee that every product and rate made available in the month has been captured. Please reach out to [email protected] if you feel that any meaningful data has not been captured and EnergySavings.com may, at its sole discretion, issue a correction to the report. The analysis is performed by excluding plans that are marked as “Minimum usage fees/credits”, “Time of Use”, and “Prepaid” according to the data captured from Power to Choose. For more information about the electricity plans mentioned in this report, please consult both the Electricity Fact Label (EFL) and Terms of Service (TOS) for those plans. Those documents are available on the Power to Choose site if the plan is still currently offered. The rates listed may differ if the REP has changed its pricing.