I stumbled across this article in the Houston Chronicle that has some pretty interesting information. The general gist of it is that Houstonians have the highest Utility Bills in the country. When they say Utility Bills, they mean a combination of electricity service, cable, internet service, and phone service. This doesn’t include cell phone service, in case anyone was wondering.
Anyway, there’s a lot of different information in the article, but it’s the electricity pieces that interest me. Basically, Houston is listed as having the highest utility bills, averaging $367 dollars a month, $215 of which is the bill from their electricity company. Dallas was second in the nation, at $347 (the percentage of that which was the electricity bill wasn’t listed), followed by Baltimore at third. Just some interesting information in there. But also interesting was this snippet at the bottom of the article:
Critics of Texas’ competitive electric retail market have said it contributes to the state’s high power bills, while proponents say lower rates are available to consumers willing to shop around. The range available to Houston customers signing up for new service today ranges from 9.8 cents per kilowatt-hour for a month-to-month plan to 15 cents per kwh for a 24-month fixed rate.
Pricing and the deregulated electricity market will continue to be hot-button issue in Texas, but the takeaway is pretty simple. Be constantly aware of the options you have available in your market and always shop around for your Texas electricity.