Electricity Plans for Apartments in Texas: 3 Rules for Renters

More and more Texas residents are choosing to rent instead of buying a home. Living in an apartment has several advantages, and one of the biggest is that electricity bills are usually lower than they are for a medium-sized house.

However, Texas is a deregulated electricity market, and the companies that sell electricity have flooded the market with many different types of plans: fixed-rate plans, plans targeted specifically to apartments, free-night plans, free-weekend plans, tiered plans, and bill-credit plans. For many renters, all these options can feel overwhelming. Unfortunately, more often than not, apartment renters end up stuck in bad deals, especially with bill-credit plans.

When you search online for something like “best electricity plans in Texas,” you will often see offers advertising rates as low as 7¢ per kWh. But many of these offers are bill-credit plans. That means the company may give you a credit of around $100 only if you use 1,000 kWh or more during the billing cycle.

That is where the problem starts for apartment renters. Many apartments, especially newer and more energy-efficient units, do not use 1,000 kWh during the spring and fall. For example, if you use only 700 kWh in March, your real rate will not be the advertised 7¢ per kWh. It may end up closer to 
20¢ per kWh, which can be a very unpleasant surprise.

To help you avoid these traps, we created this guide with three simple tips for choosing an electricity plan as an apartment renter.

This is the most important advice in this guide: do not get lured in by the lowest rates you find online. Many of those “cheap” rates are bill-credit plans, and they can come back to hurt you later.

But how do you spot these plans?

You need to find the plan’s EFL, or Electricity Facts Label. This is the official document that explains the most important details of the electricity plan. Every electricity company is required to provide an EFL when you shop for a plan, and the document must follow certain rules so customers can compare plans more clearly.

The first thing you should check is the section that shows the average price at:

This section is usually near the top of the document:

 

The table above shows an example of what a true fixed-rate plan should look like. The average price at 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh should be fairly similar.

Usually, the 500 kWh rate is slightly higher, often around 10% more, because fixed monthly base charges have a bigger impact when your usage is lower. But the rate should not jump dramatically from one usage level to another.

When you have a bill-credit plan, the EFL usually looks very different. It may show a very low average price at 1,000 kWh, but a much higher price at 500 kWh.

That big difference is the warning sign. It usually means the plan is giving you a credit only after you reach a certain usage level, often 1,000 kWh. If you stay below that amount, you lose the credit and your real price per kWh can become much higher.

Fortunately, there are tools that can help expose these tricks. You can use our Inspector Tool to review the plan’s Electricity Facts Label. The tool can help identify what type of plan it is and estimate how much you may overpay if the plan is not a good fit for your usage.

Free-nights and free-weekends plans often charge double or sometimes triple the energy rate during paid hours to make up for the free electricity period. Because of that, you can easily lose hundreds of dollars if you enroll in one of these plans but continue using most of your electricity during the paid window.

Your home’s cooling and heating system, or HVAC, is usually the biggest driver of electricity consumption. In many apartments, it can represent more than 40% of your usage. That means you need to be careful with your thermostat during paid hours.

For example, during summer, you may need to keep your thermostat around 76°F or higher during the day to make the plan work in your favor. If you work from home and that temperature makes you uncomfortable, then a free-night or free-weekend plan is probably not a good fit for you.

When you visit a provider’s website, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by all the offers, especially from large companies like Reliant, TXU, and others. Some providers even advertise plans specifically for “apartments,” but these deals are not always the cheapest or best option in the market.

Before you enroll, compare the plan against other offers. You can use tools like the government website Power to Choose, or our website, to see how the plan stacks up against similar options.

Also, when your contract is close to renewal, do not automatically accept the renewal offer. Many providers will offer a higher rate than the original one. Set a reminder before your plan expires so you have time to shop around.

If you fail to take action, your provider may move you to a month-to-month variable plan, and those plans are usually much more expensive. That can cause you to overpay for electricity without realizing it.

Shopping for electricity can feel stressful, especially with so many plans and confusing offers in the market. But once you understand which plans to avoid, the process becomes much easier.

For most apartment renters, the safest approach is simple: avoid bill-credit traps, be careful with free-night and free-weekend plans, and always compare before signing up or renewing. That way, you can have peace of mind knowing you are paying a fair rate for your electricity bill.