View CenterPoint Energy Rate Fees
Utility Company |
Base Customer Charge |
Per kWh Rate |
Price at 500 kWh |
Price at 1000kWh |
Price at 2000 kWh |
CenterPoint Energy (Houston) |
$5.47 |
$0.040312 cents per kWh |
0.0513 |
0.0458 |
0.0430 |
Oncor (Dallas) |
$3.42 |
$0.038447 cents per kWh |
0.0453 |
0.0419 |
0.0402 |
AEP (Abilene) |
$8.18 |
$0.024837 cents per kWh |
0.0412 |
0.0330 |
0.0289 |
TNMP (Fort Stockton) |
$7.85 |
$0.025670 cents per kWh |
0.0414 |
0.0335 |
0.0296 |
Why Are CenterPoint Energy Charges So High?
As many CenterPoint Energy customers know, TDU charges alone can add 1/3 or more to your monthly bill because they depend on how much electricity you use to power your home. For example, total CenterPoint Energy charges per kWh add up to $0.040312 (or 4.0312 cents per kWh). If you use 1000 kWh per month, you'll be charged $43.12 to have that 1000 kWh delivered to your home. Add in CenterPoint Energy's customer charge of $5.47 and your total monthly delivery charge roughly comes to $48.59!
That doesn't even include ANY of the electricity you from your electricity retail provider!
While these charges aren't welcome expenses, remember that CenterPoint Energy is required by the State of Texas to reliably operate and maintain a distribution system supplying some 300 cities and towns with electricity and in some areas, natural gas as well.
Keeping their part of the ERCOT electric grid running smoothly to supply nearly 2.5 million people with reliable energy in all kinds of Texas weather is an intensive and expensive job.
Before CenterPoint Energy can change its rates, it must file a request with the Public Utility Commision of Texas. The PUC updates rates (also called "tariffs") twice a year. CenterPoint Energy and other TDUs can file rate change requests whenever they want but all such changes must be first reviewed and approved by the commission before they can go into effect.
Compare and Save on Your CenterPoint Electricity Bill
CenterPoint Energy Rate Breakdown
Electricity customers in Texas pay separate charges for their electricity supply and the electricity's transmission and distribution. Transmission and distribution charges on your bill covers the cost of maintaining the poles and wires of the local grid to get your electricity to your home or business. Basically, TDSP or TDU charges are really transmission and distribution charges from your local utility.
On your bill, TDSP or TDU charges reflect two main charges:
- A fixed-rate customer charge. This charge is made up of the cost of maintaining an account with CenterPoint Energy and a metering charge measuring your usage.
- Transmission/distribution charges per kWh used during the month.
But while TDSP or TDU charges are usually somewhat explained on the monthly bill, many customers are often confused because providers "TDSP" and "TDU" sometimes use these terms interchangeably.
What do TDSP and TDU Mean?
The problem is that when deregulation started, "TDSP" and "TDU" were bandied about interchangeably by regulators, legislators, and providers to mean the same thing; local distribution charges. But there is actually a somewhat subtle difference.
"TDSP" or "Transmission/Distribution Service Provider" is mainly used by ERCOT. ERCOT runs the electricity markets plus takes care of the day to day BULK transmission/distribution operations on the Texas grid (those tall HIGH VOLTAGE, high tension power lines.) ERCOT works with transmission/distribution service providers (the companies that own and operate these big power lines) to send megawatts of electricity where it needs to go at the right time. According to ERCOT, "TDSPs own/operate, for compensation, the equipment/facilities to transmit and/or distribute electricity in Texas."
TDSPs include:
- Bulk transmission companies (high tension lines that move hundreds of megawatts across the state)
- Rural Electric Cooperatives (RECs)
- Municipal-Owned Utilities (MOUs)
- Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) that operate a Transmission and Distribution Utility (TDU) in Texas.
"TDU" or "Transmission/Distribution Utility" is mainly used by the PUC of Texas. The PUCT regulates and approves transmission rates set by the different utilities such as MOUs and IOUs that deliver electricity locally to homes and businesses. According to PUCT, a TDU is the local utility company (which includes the monopoly IOU companies) that handles the local transmission and distribution to local customers within its service territory. In short, TDUs handle the local distribution to home and business users, track usage, and bill everyone equally to help maintain the equipment.
TDUs include:
- CenterPoint Energy
- Oncor Energy
- AEP (North and Central)
- TNMP
- Sharyland Utilities
One way to think of this whole transmission/distribution process is that once the electricity arrives from the TDSP (bulk supply) at the local city/town switching station it then becomes the TDU's job to deliver the electricity to homes and businesses at the PUC approved tariff amount.
Oddly enough, this would-be clear distinction is clouded by the fact that all the major TDU companies that distribute power on local grids are also TDSPs. This is because the same companies are all involved in planning, building, and operating the major transmission lines reaching across the state.
So, it's not surprising that twenty years ago, TDSPs and TDUs became interchangeable terms in the Texas energy energy industry because there didn't seem to be a significant reason to distinguish between the two roles. In fact, even though "TDU" is a PUCT term, a number of PUCT reports concerning local transmission/distribution companies that date before 2006 only use "TDSP". However, beginning around 2006, the PUCT began using "Transmission and Distribution Utility" or "TDU" in its orders and rulings. In one PUCT rule-making case in 2006, TDU is used 679 times throughout the report but TDSP is used only once.
Which is right: TDSP or TDU? Both. Texas electricity customers still see local distribution or deliver charges on their bills listed as TDSP or TDU charges and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.
But technically speaking because these are PUCT-approved delivery tariff charges from the Transmission/Distribution Utility (TDU) and not bulk transmission from ERCOT's Transmission/Distribution Service Provider (TDSP), it's more accurate to call these "TDU distribution charges".
Electricity Rates in CenterPoint Energy Service Area, Houston
We've created a step by step guide to help you get the cheapest electricity rate. Plus we've built tools to help analyse your Texas electricity plan and CenterPoint Energy rate. Or you can use our CenterPoint Energy Bill Calculator tool.