When Texas deregulated its electricity market in 2002, the state created Power to Choose (powertochoose.org) as a neutral, public search engine where consumers could compare rates. It was a noble idea: provide a single government portal to search all plans, foster competition, and save Texans money.
Today, however, Power to Choose is a minefield. Many retail electric providers (REPs) have learned how to game the system, turning the official state portal into a showcase of confusing rates and gimmicky contracts.
Here is why the official state website fails consumers—and how you can shop smarter.
Key Takeaways
- Gaming the System: Providers design plans to display low rates at exactly 500, 1,000, or 2,000 kWh usage points, which are the only data points Power to Choose displays.
- Lack of Verification: The site has no mechanism to cross-reference advertised rates against actual customer bills.
- EFL Complexity: The portal forces users to manually parse through hundreds of PDFs to find hidden fees.
- The Solution: A true comparison requires loading your historical 15-minute smart meter data and calculating your annual cost automatically.
The Core Flaw of Power to Choose
Power to Choose operates on a simple directory structure. Providers upload their rate sheets, and the website displays them. The site sorts plans by the price per kWh at three specific monthly volumes:
- 500 kWh
- 1,000 kWh
- 2,000 kWh
Because the site's default sorting lists the cheapest plans at the top, providers have a massive incentive to make their plans look incredibly cheap at exactly those volumes.
For example, a provider might design a plan that costs 8.5¢ per kWh at exactly 1,000 kWh using a specific bill credit. But if your home uses 990 kWh or 1,010 kWh, the rate might jump to 16¢ per kWh. Power to Choose will still display the plan at the top of the search results as an 8.5¢ plan, completely hiding the rate spikes.
Three Reasons Power to Choose is a Trap
1. The Teaser Rate Explosion
If you look at the top plans on Power to Choose, you will see a parade of "Usage Discount" and "Bill Credit" plans. These are complex mathematical models designed to look good in a search engine but perform terribly in the real world. The moment your usage drifts from the target numbers, your average cost spikes.
2. Manual PDF Archaeology
To find out how a plan actually works, you have to click on the "Electricity Facts Label" (EFL) link. This downloads a PDF filled with fine print. If there are 50 plans available in your area, you would have to download and study 50 separate PDFs, plotting the rates on a spreadsheet to see which plan actually fits your home's usage.
3. Missing Regulatory Protection
While the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) runs the site, they do not guarantee that the prices uploaded by providers are easy to understand or that they represent what you will actually pay. The site is a bulletin board, not an advisory service. Providers can—and do—upload dozens of slightly different plans to crowd out competitors and occupy all the top slots.
Power to Choose vs. GetElectricity
Shopping for electricity shouldn't feel like a math exam. Below is an interactive comparison between the official state portal and GetElectricity's data-driven model:
A Better Way: Shop with Smart Meter Data
To get a plan that actually saves you money, you need to stop shopping by estimated averages.
- Get Your SMT History: Access your historical smart meter data. Your home has a smart meter that records your electricity usage in 15-minute intervals.
- Find Your Annual Footprint: Calculate how many kilowatt-hours you use in January, April, August, and every other month of the year.
- Run the Math for the Year: Don't just compare plans for the current month. A plan that is cheap in the winter might be incredibly expensive in the summer.
- Use GetElectricity: The GetElectricity platform securely connects to your smart meter data and automatically calculates your exact annual bill for every active plan in Texas, showing you the true cheapest option for your home's specific footprint.
Shop the Way Power to Choose Should Have Worked on GetElectricity
Everything wrong with Power to Choose traces back to one flaw: it prices plans at three artificial usage points instead of your real consumption — and retailers design their rates to win exactly that game.
GetElectricity connects directly to your Smart Meter Texas data to build your real 12-month usage profile, then simulates hundreds of active plans across Houston, Dallas, Spring, and Pasadena, computing what each plan would actually have cost you over the last 12 months instead of what it advertises.
Enter your ZIP code on GetElectricity to see plan shopping done with your real data instead of teaser math.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do the cheapest plans on Power to Choose often cost more in real life?
Power to Choose only displays each plan's price at exactly 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh, so providers engineer bill credits that produce a very low rate at those exact points. A plan might show 8.5¢ per kWh at exactly 1,000 kWh, but jump to 16¢ per kWh if your home uses 990 or 1,010 kWh — and the portal still lists it at the top as an 8.5¢ plan.
Does the PUCT verify the rates shown on Power to Choose?
No. Although the Public Utility Commission of Texas runs the site, it operates as a bulletin board, not an advisory service. There is no mechanism to cross-reference advertised rates against actual customer bills, and providers can upload dozens of slightly different plans to crowd out competitors and occupy the top search slots.
What is the most accurate way to compare Texas electricity plans?
Stop shopping by estimated averages. Pull your historical 15-minute smart meter data, calculate your usage for every month of the year — including summer and winter peaks — and run the math for the full 12 months. GetElectricity connects securely to your smart meter data and automatically calculates your exact annual bill for every active plan in Texas.
Related reading: If the state site cannot give you a straight answer, a well-built comparison marketplace can — see how independent electricity marketplaces in Texas fix the filtering and disclosure problems this article calls out.