How to Use Power to Choose (Texas), Explained
Last updated: October 18, 2026 · 7 min read
Power to Choose (powertochoose.org) is the official, free website run by the Public Utility Commission of Texas. It lists every electricity plan legally filed in your ZIP code, links the real Electricity Facts Label for each, and takes no commission. It is the best place to see what exists — but the plan at the top of its default list is often not your cheapest, because that list is ranked by the advertised price at exactly 1,000 kWh. Here is how to use it well.
Short on time? Use Power to Choose to see the plans filed in your ZIP, then rank them by your real usage with the TexasPowerCost comparison tool → or a free bill checkup.
What Power to Choose is — and why it's worth using
Power to Choose is the electricity marketplace the state of Texas built when it deregulated the retail market. Unlike a commercial comparison site, it is run by the PUCT, it charges providers nothing to be listed, and it earns no commission when you enroll. That independence matters: it is the authoritative, complete list of every plan legally filed in your ZIP, and it links the real Electricity Facts Label for each one. If a plan is not on Power to Choose, that is a reason to be skeptical of it.
So the portal deserves credit, and it belongs in every Texan's shopping process. Its limitation is narrow but important, and it is worth understanding exactly.
The trap: its default sort ranks by the advertised 1,000 kWh price
When your results load, they are sorted by the average price at exactly 1,000 kWh of monthly usage. That sounds neutral, but it is the one number the Texas market has spent twenty years learning to game. Because a single benchmark decides who ranks first, providers engineer bill credits and base charges to make a plan look cheapest at precisely 1,000 kWh — and only there. This is the 1,000 kWh illusion, and Power to Choose's default sort walks you straight into it.
A typical example. A plan advertises 10.5¢/kWh — and ranks near the top. But its Electricity Facts Label shows the real energy charge is 14.9¢/kWh, offset by a $100 bill credit that only applies at 1,000 kWh or more:
- At exactly 1,000 kWh: the credit lands, and the average really is about 10.5¢. The plan wins the sort.
- At 1,250 kWh (an ordinary Texas summer month): the average climbs to roughly 12.4¢ — about 18% above the advertised number.
- At 999 kWh: the credit vanishes entirely, and you pay about $99.80 more than the sticker implied — for using less electricity.
That is not a defect in the portal so much as an unintended consequence of standardized disclosure: once one number decides the ranking, plans get designed to win that number. The fix is not to abandon Power to Choose — it is to stop letting the default sort make your decision.
How to use Power to Choose the right way
- Enter your ZIP code. Power to Choose shows every plan legally filed for your ZIP in the deregulated market. This is its greatest strength — it is the complete, official list.
- Do not trust the default sort. The list opens ranked by the average price at exactly 1,000 kWh. Treat that order as marketing, not as your cheapest-to-most-expensive ranking.
- Open each finalist's Electricity Facts Label (EFL). The EFL is the real one-page contract summary. Power to Choose links it for every plan. This is where the true pricing lives.
- Read all three price points, not just the headline. Every EFL lists the average price at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh. If the 1,000 kWh number is far lower than the 500 and 2,000 numbers, that plan was built to win the benchmark.
- Watch for bill credits and minimum-usage thresholds. A credit that triggers at 1,000 kWh and vanishes at 999 kWh creates a cliff. Miss the threshold by one kilowatt-hour and your effective rate can double.
- Compare at your real usage. Rank the finalists by the effective rate at the number of kilowatt-hours your home actually uses — including your summer peak — not at 1,000 kWh.
The three numbers that actually matter on the label
Every Texas Electricity Facts Label is required to show the average price at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh. Those three points are the whole game:
- A true fixed plan shows nearly the same all-in price at all three usage levels, with $0 in bill or usage credits. What you see is what you pay.
- A benchmark-gamed plan shows a deep dip at 1,000 kWh with noticeably higher prices at 500 and 2,000 kWh — a "V" shape. That dip is the credit, and it only helps you if you land on it.
Reading all three points is exactly what Power to Choose's default sort does not do for you — it shows only the middle one. It is also the basis of how this site ranks plans: we take the same three published points and use Real-Rate Interpolation to calculate the effective rate at your usage, so the plan that wins is the one that is genuinely cheapest for your home.
The bottom line
Use Power to Choose as the source of record — the complete, official, commission-free list of what is filed in your ZIP and what each label says. Then do the ranking yourself, at your real usage, rather than trusting the 1,000 kWh sort. For a deeper look at what separates a true-cost tool from an advertised-rate sort, see how to judge any Texas comparison site.
Related guides
- The 1,000 kWh Illusion — why the advertised rate misleads, with a worked example.
- What's the best site to compare Texas electricity rates?
- How to read an Electricity Facts Label (EFL)
- Texas electricity plan types — fixed, variable, bill-credit and time-of-use, explained.
See your real cheapest plan, not the advertised one
Power to Choose shows you every plan. This shows you which one is actually cheapest at your usage — using the same Electricity Facts Label data, ranked by the bill you'd really pay.
Compare Texas electricity plans →Sources: Public Utility Commission of Texas (powertochoose.org and the PUCT consumer guide to choosing an electric plan); Texas Electricity Facts Label disclosure rules (average price at 500 / 1,000 / 2,000 kWh). Example figures are illustrative of a common bill-credit structure. This article is general information; always confirm current plan terms on the plan's own Electricity Facts Label.