The Power to Choose Controversy: How Texas's Official Electricity Site Can Cost You Hundreds<
It carries the state seal, so shoppers trust the No. 1 result. But for more than a decade, regulators, researchers and consumer advocates have warned that Power to Choose rewards the plans engineered to look cheapest not the ones that actually are.
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Quick answer: Is Power to Choose misleading?
Power to Choose Texas (powertochoose.org) is the legitimate, official electricity-shopping site of the Public Utility Commission of Texas it is not a scam. The problem is its default ranking: it sorts plans by the advertised price at exactly 1,000 kWh of monthly use, which lets providers design "teaser" plans often using bill credits that look cheapest at that single point but cost far more at real-world usage. A typical 1,200 kWh home can pay roughly $580 more per year by trusting the top-ranked plan instead of shopping by real cost.
Power to Choose explained in under 2 minutes
Before the mechanics, here's the short version from the Texas Electricity Ratings team.
What is Power to Choose, exactly?
Power to Choose (powertochoose.org) is the official electricity-shopping website run by the Texas PUC (Public Utility Commission of Texas). In Texas's deregulated market, most homes and businesses buy their power from a Retail Electric Provider (REP), and the state built Power to Choose as a neutral, ad-free place to compare those offers.
The goal is genuinely good, and the site is legitimate it is not a scam. The controversy isn't whether the plans are real. It's that the way the site ranks and displays plans has, for years, let providers dress up expensive or restrictive plans to appear at the very top. Because the page carries the authority of a state agency, shoppers trust the No. 1 result exactly the behavior the gimmicks are built to exploit.
The Power to Choose controversy in numbers
These figures come from journalists, analysts and the PUCT's own complaint data over the past decade. They point at the same thing: small print with big price tags.
Figures are illustrative examples drawn from the sources listed at the bottom of this page. Individual results vary with your usage, utility (TDU) territory and the specific plan.
Why isn't the #1-ranked plan actually the cheapest?
By default, Power to Choose ranks plans by their advertised price at exactly 1,000 kWh of monthly usage. Every plan's Electricity Facts Label (EFL) is only required to publish a price at three usage points: 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh. Between and around those points, the real price can move dramatically. (It's worth learning to understand EFLs before you sign anything.)
So providers do the rational thing: they engineer plans to hit a rock-bottom number at 1,000 kWh to win the sort even if the price at 900 or 1,100 kWh is far higher. A plan can advertise a headline rate that only materializes if you use almost exactly 1,000 kWh in a billing cycle, which few homes ever do consistently.
| Monthly usage | Effective rate | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 800 kWh | ~22.9¢/kWh | Far above the headline once a bill credit drops off |
| 1,000 kWh | 9.9¢/kWh | The number that wins the default sort |
| 1,200 kWh | ~14??"17¢/kWh | Higher again at real-world usage |
What is a bill-credit "cliff"?
One of the most common ways to hit a low number at 1,000 kWh is a bill credit for example, "$100 off if you use between 1,000 and 2,000 kWh." Spread across exactly 1,000 kWh, that credit slashes the average price and rockets the plan up the rankings.
The problem is the cliff. Use 999 kWh in a mild month and the credit can vanish entirely, so your effective rate spikes. A plan showing 9.9¢/kWh at 1,000 kWh can jump to 22.9¢/kWh at 800 kWh once the credit disappears. Your real electricity habits not the provider's ideal number decide whether you ever see the advertised price.
What are minimum-usage fees?
The mirror image of the bill credit is the minimum-usage fee: a flat charge often $10??"$25 a month added when you use below a threshold, commonly 500 to 1,000 kWh. Analysts estimate a large majority of Power to Choose plans carry one.
These fees rarely show up in the headline rate, so a plan that looks like a bargain at 1,000 kWh can quietly become one of the most expensive options for a light user. Again, the households hit hardest are small apartments, efficient homes and part-time residents the people who "did the right thing" and used less.
Are "free nights" and "free weekends" plans a good deal?
"Free Nights" and "Free Weekends" plans advertise eye-catching low average rates. The catch is that the free window is paid for by a much higher daytime rate and to actually benefit, you'd have to shift a big share of your usage (laundry, EV charging, cooling) into the free hours.
For most households that can't move that much load, the effective all-in rate lands well above the advertised average. A plan promoting an 8.5¢/kWh average can work out to an effective 15??"17¢/kWh once daytime usage is counted. These plans aren't always bad for a night-shift household or an overnight EV charger they can genuinely win but the headline hides who they actually work for.
Does Power to Choose vet the providers?
No. Power to Choose lists plans; it does not rank or filter providers by customer-service record, complaint history, BBB rating or financial stability. A well-run REP like Reliant Energy or TXU Energy appears next to a company with a poor track record and no visible difference the shopper gets no signal from the site about who they're actually signing with.
Layered on top are charges that don't live in the per-kWh headline at all: base/monthly service charges, paper-billing fees, payment-processing fees and late fees. Add outdated delivery-charge assumptions and partial-cycle charges, and the "cheapest" plan on screen can carry $20??"$40+ a month of cost the ranking never reflected. If something goes wrong, the site itself offers no dispute resolution you're left calling the provider or filing a complaint with the PUCT.
A decade of warnings about Power to Choose
The striking thing about this controversy is how consistent it's been. The same criticisms surface again and again including from the state's own regulators.
Consumer analyses go public
Reporting from Texas Standard, StateImpact Texas and Houston Public Media features Blue Dot Analysis founder Robert Poor, whose review of several hundred Texas bills argued shoppers could cut costs dramatically. The PUC chair's initial response: "I am not aware of what you're talking about."
The PUCT chair calls out the gaming
Chairman Donna Nelson tells a commission meeting that "some REPs may be working the system on Power to Choose in order to be listed as offering the lowest price," points at "tricky little things in their prices," and floats changing the sort or scrapping the site entirely.
Regulators vow to make shopping easier
The commission opens the design to public comment, acknowledging a hard truth: "Whatever practice we put in place to try to end the confusion, they always find a way around that."
The mechanics get documented
Independent guides break down the 1,000 kWh "teaser" math in detail, showing typical homes paying hundreds more per year by trusting the default ranking.
Winter Storm Uri raises the stakes
The February 2021 grid crisis and the wholesale-indexed plans that produced shock bills push plan transparency and consumer protection back to the center of the Texas electricity conversation.
Renewed scrutiny amid grid strain
With summer heat, data-center and crypto load straining ERCOT, and average residential rates around 16¢/kWh, plan selection matters more than ever and billing issues remain the top category of PUCT complaints (~48%).
Power to Choose vs. shopping by real cost
The lesson from ten years of criticism isn't "never use Power to Choose." It's "never trust the ranking." The plans don't have to be confusing the display makes them that way. Here's the difference between shopping the default sort and shopping by what you'll actually pay.
Ranked by the 1,000 kWh headline
- Sorts on a single usage point most homes never hit exactly
- Rewards bill-credit cliffs and teaser math
- Minimum-usage fees hidden below the rate
- No signal on provider complaints or reliability
- "Free nights" averages that don't match your habits
Ranked by your real annual cost
- Estimates cost at your usage, not a fixed 1,000 kWh
- Reads the full EFL credits, fees and cliffs included
- Flags minimum-usage and monthly base charges up front
- Surfaces provider ratings and real customer reviews
- Shows the total you'll pay over the contract term
How to protect yourself on any electricity site
Whether you shop Power to Choose or anywhere else, five habits neutralize almost every trick on this page:
- Know your real usage. Pull 12 months of kWh from your current bill or utility portal and find your typical and your low months. That's your true benchmark not 1,000 kWh.
- Read the EFL, not the headline. Check the price at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh. If the number jumps sharply between them, that's a teaser or bill-credit plan.
- Hunt for the credit and the minimum. Look specifically for "bill credit" thresholds and "minimum usage" fees. Ask what you pay 100 kWh above and below your average.
- Add the fixed charges. Base/monthly charges and per-billing fees change the ranking. Do the math on your usage, all-in.
- Vet the provider, not just the price. Check Texas electricity companies' complaint history and reviews before you sign. The site's #1 plan tells you nothing about the company behind it.
Glossary: the terms behind the tricks
- EFL (Electricity Facts Label)
- The standardized disclosure for each plan, required to list a price at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh. The three-point rule is what teaser plans are built around.
- REP (Retail Electric Provider)
- The company that sells you the electricity plan and bills you in a deregulated area the brands you see on Power to Choose.
- TDU / TDSP
- Transmission & Distribution Utility (like Oncor or CenterPoint) that delivers the power and charges regulated delivery fees, no matter which REP you pick.
- Teaser rate
- A headline price engineered to look lowest at a single usage point (usually 1,000 kWh) while costing far more at other usage levels.
- Bill credit
- A dollar credit applied only within a usage window (e.g. 1,000??"2,000 kWh). It creates a "cliff" miss the window and your effective rate spikes.
- Minimum-usage fee
- A flat charge (often $10??"$25) added when you use below a threshold. Penalizes light and efficient users.
Power to Choose: frequently asked questions
Is Power to Choose a scam?
No. Power to Choose is the legitimate, official website of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, and the plans on it are real, contracted offers. The controversy is about how the site ranks and displays plans its default sort can push plans that only look cheapest at a single usage point to the top, which is not the same as being cheapest for your home.
Why is the plan ranked #1 not actually the cheapest?
The default ranking sorts by the advertised price at exactly 1,000 kWh of monthly usage. Providers design plans often with bill credits to hit a rock-bottom number at that one point. If your real usage is above or below 1,000 kWh, or you lose a bill credit, the plan can end up costing hundreds more per year than a lower-ranked option.
What is a bill-credit "cliff"?
Many cheap-looking plans include a credit (for example, $100 off if you use 1,000??"2,000 kWh). If you use even slightly less than the threshold, the credit disappears and your effective per-kWh rate can jump sharply for instance from around 9.9¢ at 1,000 kWh to about 22.9¢ at 800 kWh.
What are minimum-usage fees?
They're flat charges commonly $10 to $25 a month added when your usage falls below a set level, often 500 to 1,000 kWh. They don't appear in the headline rate, so they quietly make "cheap" plans expensive for apartments, efficient homes and part-time residents.
Are "free nights" and "free weekends" plans a good deal?
Only if you can shift most of your electricity use into the free window. The free hours are paid for by higher rates the rest of the time, so a plan advertising an 8.5¢ average can work out to an effective 15??"17¢/kWh for a typical household. They can be worthwhile for night-shift homes or EV owners who charge overnight.
Has Texas tried to fix Power to Choose?
Yes, repeatedly. As far back as 2016, PUCT leadership publicly acknowledged that providers were "working the system," proposed changing how plans are sorted, and even floated scrapping the site. Regulators have opened the design to public comment more than once, but critics note that providers keep finding new ways around each fix.
What's the safest way to shop for a Texas electricity plan?
Start from your own 12 months of usage, read the full Electricity Facts Label (not just the headline), check the price above and below your typical usage, add any base or minimum-usage fees, and vet the provider's complaint history. Comparison tools like Texas Electricity Ratings estimate cost at your real usage and surface provider reviews, so the top result reflects what you'll actually pay.
Sources & further reading
- Texas Standard / StateImpact Texas / Houston Public Media "Power To Choose Or To Pay More? State Of Texas Website Faulted By Consumers" (2015)
- The Texas Tribune "Texas regulators want crackdown on deceptive electricity plans" and "Texas regulator vows to make electricity shopping easier" (2016)
- Texas Standard "Texas Considers Scrapping 'Power To Choose' Website Some Say Is Deceptive" (2016)
- Texas Power Guide "The Problem with 'Power To Choose'" (2017)
- Simple Texas Energy "7 Hidden Problems with Power to Choose Texas"
- Public Utility Commission of Texas complaint data and powertochoose.org
This page is an educational consumer resource published by Texas Electricity Ratings. Specific rates, fees, plan structures and statistics vary by provider, utility (TDU) territory, contract and time; verify current terms on each plan's Electricity Facts Label before enrolling. Dollar figures cited are illustrative examples drawn from the sources above and will differ for your household. "Power to Choose" and powertochoose.org are operated by the Public Utility Commission of Texas; Texas Electricity Ratings is an independent comparison service and is not affiliated with the PUCT.
