Failing to renew your expired Texas electric plan can cost you hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year.
Many Retail Electricity Providers (REPs) are notorious for raising your rates when your original contract expires. In many cases, their business model counts on you forgetting to renew so they can quietly move you into an expensive month-to-month “default renewal product”. How expensive? So expensive that you generally won’t find the details online or by calling their customer service reps. These rates are so special that they generally only reveal them once, to comply with PUC requirements, somewhere between 60 and 14 days prior to your contract’s expiration. (Note: At 14 days prior, you can switch providers/plans without incurring an early termination fee.)
We need your help to shed light on this problem. If your fixed rate plan is near or past its expiration, please email us the Electricity Facts Label (EFL) of the default renewal product your retailer will apply if you take no other action. We’ll anonymously add it to the chart below to help other Texans understand the significance of never letting your electric plan expire. And to whomever submits the worst plan (as judged by us), we offer two very special prizes: anonymous fame forever and free personal use of RateGrinder for life!
Of course, after sending us your default renewal details, you should then use RateGrinder to find your better options and save. Signing up with a new provider takes as little as 15 minutes. By law, your new provider will completely manage the switch (you don’t need to inform the old provider) and there’s no risk of electricity loss. Don’t let rate creep happen to you.
We welcome your thoughts in the Comments section below.
Recent Default Renewal Electric Plans
| TDU Area | Retailer | Product | ¢/kWh @500 | ¢/kWh @1000 | ¢/kWh @2000 | Issue Date |
| CNTRPT | DISCOUNT POWER | Default Renewal Plan | 12.5 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 6/15/15 |
| CNTRPT | PENNYWISE POWER | Wise Buy Monthly | 14.6 | 12.0 | 11.7 | 6/1/17 |
| ONCOR | PENNYWISE POWER | Wise Buy Monthly | 14.2 | 11.7 | 11.4 | 6/1/17 |
| CNTRPT | RELIANT | Reliant Clear Flex Plan | 12.7 | 10.1 | 9.9 | 12/15/16 |
| CNTRPT | RELIANT | Reliant Flex plan | 12.1 | 11.0 | 10.5 | 12/15/16 |
| CNTRPT | RELIANT | Reliant Keep Your Cash Nights & Weekends plan | 14.4 | 13.8 | 13.5 | 12/15/16 |
Source: Electricity Facts Labels variously submitted by TPG users