Published: August 28, 2026
Texas Electricity Delivery Charges Change September 1, 2026 — What Every ERCOT Household Should Know
Quick Summary: Texas TDU delivery charges — the regulated portion of your bill that pays to move power over the poles and wires — are adjusted on a fixed schedule twice a year, and the next update lands September 1, 2026. These routine adjustments are usually small (often a fraction of a cent per kWh). The key thing most people get backwards: the delivery charge is identical for every provider in your area, so a change moves everyone's bill equally and does not change which energy plan is cheapest for you.
What's Actually Changing
Every Texas home in the deregulated market pays two very different things on one bill. The energy (supply) charge is what your retail provider sells you — the part you shop and can switch. The delivery (TDU) charge pays your local transmission and distribution utility to physically deliver the power. That delivery charge is set by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), not by your provider, and it is the same no matter which company you buy your plan from.
Those delivery charges are refreshed on a regular calendar: March 1 and September 1 each year. On those dates the PUCT approves each utility's updated tariff, which rolls in adjustment riders for things like transmission cost recovery and energy-efficiency programs. The September 1, 2026 update is one of these scheduled refreshes.
Scheduled adjustments are typically modest — often a tenth of a cent per kilowatt-hour up or down, which is a dollar or two a month for a typical 1,000 kWh home. The big moves come from full base-rate cases instead, like Oncor's June 1, 2026 increase (see our Oncor rate-change explainer) and CenterPoint's roughly 16.7% delivery-rate cut earlier in 2026.
Where the Delivery Charge Stands Going Into September 1
Here is the current all-in delivery cost for a 1,000 kWh home by utility, as of late August 2026. Use it as your baseline: when the September 1 tariffs post, compare against these figures to see your exact change. (These are delivery charges only — the regulated part — not your energy rate.)
| Utility (TDU) | Main service area | Delivery at 1,000 kWh |
|---|---|---|
| CenterPoint Energy | Houston & Gulf Coast | ~$54.71 (lowest) |
| AEP Texas North | Abilene & West Texas | ~$58.55 |
| AEP Texas Central | Corpus Christi & South Texas | ~$60.14 |
| Oncor | Dallas–Fort Worth & North Texas | ~$64.36 |
| TNMP | Scattered areas (parts of Gulf Coast, West & North Texas) | ~$72.52 (highest) |
Baseline figures are from the PUCT's official residential rate summary for August 2026 (CenterPoint reflects its August 15 tariff), at 1,000 kWh of monthly usage. Exact September 1, 2026 rates are published by the PUCT and each utility around the effective date. Your delivery charge scales with how much you use, so a higher-usage home pays proportionally more.
Why You Can't Shop Your Way Out of It
Because the delivery charge is regulated and identical for every retail provider in your utility's territory, no plan or promotion can waive it or undercut it. That leads to the single most useful thing to understand about these updates: since the change applies equally to every plan, it does not change which plan is cheapest for you. The plan that was cheapest at your usage before September 1 is still the cheapest after — every plan's total simply moves by the same delivery amount.
Consumer takeaway: You can't shop the delivery charge, but you can shop the energy charge — and that's where the real money is. A delivery-rate update is a good annual prompt to make sure you're not also overpaying on the part of the bill you actually control.
What to Do Before and After September 1
First, know your utility. If you're in Houston you're on CenterPoint; DFW and most of North Texas is Oncor; West and South Texas is AEP; and TNMP covers a patchwork of smaller areas. That tells you which tariff applies to you. Not sure? Our guide on how to find your provider and TDU walks through it.
Then focus on the lever you control. Use our real-cost comparison tool to rank plans at your actual usage, run a free bill checkup to see whether your current rate is competitive, and for the full picture of how delivery charges work, see our guides on how TDU delivery charges work and the TDU charge comparison by utility. Want a heads-up when a cheaper plan appears in your ZIP? Set a free Rate Watch alert.
Related Texas Electricity Resources
How Texas TDU Delivery Charges Work
Understand the regulated delivery portion of your bill and why it's the same for every provider.
TDU Delivery Charges Compared by Utility
See how Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP, and TNMP stack up on delivery cost.
Oncor's June 2026 Delivery Increase
The off-cycle rate-case increase that hit DFW and North Texas earlier this year.
How to Read Your Texas Electricity Bill
Break down delivery vs. energy charges so you know exactly what you're paying for.
Can't Beat the Delivery Charge? Beat the Energy Charge.
Delivery charges are fixed by the PUCT, but the energy rate is yours to shop. Compare Texas plans at your real usage and make sure you're not overpaying on the part you control.
Compare Texas Electricity Plans →