Texas Scraps the "Formal Complaint" Track for Electricity Customers

What the PUCT Changed in October 2026

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) adopted a final rule in early October 2026 that rewrites how customers of retail electric providers (REPs) file complaints. The change comes through Project 59557, which amends the commission's customer-complaint rule, Substantive Rule §25.485 ("Customer Access and Complaint Handling") (EnergyChoiceMatters, Oct. 2, 2026).

Until now, Texas ran a two-tier complaint system. You first filed an informal complaint with the PUCT, which investigates and pushes the provider toward a resolution. If you were still unsatisfied, you could escalate to a formal complaint — a court-like proceeding the commission itself recommended hiring an attorney for — within two years of the commission closing the informal case. The new rule strikes the word "informal" throughout the rule and removes the formal-complaint section entirely, folding everything into one standardized "complaint" process that keeps the existing procedures, deadlines and information requirements that governed informal complaints (PUCT Project 59557 staff proposal for adoption).

For the vast majority of residential customers, this is a simplification rather than a loss. The formal track was rarely used precisely because it was slow, legalistic and effectively required a lawyer. The tool Texans actually rely on — the complaint filed with the PUCT's Customer Protection Division — survives intact.

How to File a Complaint Against Your Electricity Provider

The process is straightforward, and the rule puts the clock on the provider, not on you:

• Start with your provider. Contact your REP's customer service and ask for a resolution — in writing where possible, with your account number, the amount in dispute and the dates. Under §25.485, a provider that receives a complaint directly must investigate and advise you of the result within 21 days.
• Escalate to the PUCT if it isn't fixed. File a complaint with the PUCT Customer Protection Division using the official online complaint form at puc.texas.gov. The commission forwards your complaint to the provider, which must respond in writing to the PUCT within 15 days of the forward.
• Keep your paper trail. Save your Electricity Facts Label (EFL), your contract, bills and any emails or call notes. A documented timeline is what turns a he-said/she-said dispute into an enforceable one.

The PUCT reports it currently resolves complaints in roughly 13.6 days on average (PUCT Consumer Protection Division). If a provider is found to have broken a rule, the commission can order it to fix the problem and can pursue enforcement — which is why a well-documented complaint carries real weight even without the old formal track.

Your Complaint Is Leverage — But the Right Plan Prevents Most of Them

This is a consumer-protection process change, not a rate order. It does not touch your energy charge, your regulated TDU delivery charge, or which plan is cheapest for your home — the delivery charge is set by the PUCT and is identical for every provider in your ZIP, so it never reorders the cheapest plan. What the complaint system does give you is accountability after the fact. The PUCT even publishes complaint statistics by provider, so you can check a company's record before you ever sign with it.

But the cheapest complaint is the one you never have to file. A large share of Texas billing disputes trace back to the same trap: "bill credit" plans engineered to look cheapest at exactly 1,000 kWh. Use a little more or a little less than the target and the credit vanishes, so the effective rate can more than double — and the "surprise" bill that follows feels like an error even when the plan is working exactly as written. We call this the "1,000 kWh illusion," and a large home that shops on the 1,000 kWh headline rate can overpay by roughly $43 a month versus the plan that is genuinely cheapest at its usage.

The fix is the same one that wins you money in the first place: ignore the advertised "as low as" number and compare the real effective rate at your own usage. Pull your last 12 months of kWh, read the EFL for the plan type and any bill credits, and price the top plans at your average month, a low month and a high month. Pick a plan that's honestly cheapest across your real usage and you remove the most common reason Texans end up at the PUCT at all.

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