The short answer
To use Power-to-Choose, confirm your address is inside ERCOT (~85% of Texas), enter your ZIP, then filter the REP list to fixed-rate + 12 or 24 month term + no minimum-usage credit. Compare offers using the "average price at 1,000 kWh" line on the Electricity Facts Label — that is the apples-to-apples number. Pick a REP and enroll directly through the link.
Power-to-Choose is the Texas Public Utility Commission supplier-comparison portal — and it lists the most competitive retail electricity market in the United States. Inside ERCOT (which covers ~85% of Texas by population), all electricity is mandatory-choice: Texans must pick a Retail Electric Provider (REP) when they move in or sign up for service. With 80+ active REPs and 200+ residential plans available, the challenge is filtering to the right plan. This guide walks the Electricity Facts Label that makes plans comparable.
Step 1 — Confirm you are inside ERCOT
Power-to-Choose only works for ERCOT addresses. ERCOT covers about 85% of Texas by population — Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and most of the rest. Inside ERCOT, retail electricity is fully deregulated and supplier choice is mandatory.
Outside ERCOT — El Paso area, Beaumont (Entergy Texas), and parts of the Panhandle and East Texas — electricity remains regulated. Customers in these areas have a single utility supplier and no competitive market.
Enter your ZIP on Power-to-Choose. The portal confirms your transmission and distribution utility (TDU) — Oncor (Dallas / North Texas), CenterPoint (Houston / Coast), AEP Texas (Central / South), or Texas-New Mexico Power. The TDU stays the same regardless of which REP you pick. The switching-energy-supplier-in-texas guide explains the ERCOT structure in depth.
Step 2 — The Electricity Facts Label is the only thing that matters
Every REP plan on Power-to-Choose ships with a standardized Electricity Facts Label (EFL) — a one-page summary mandated by the Texas PUC. The EFL discloses: average price at 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh/month (the apples-to-apples comparison number), term length, base charge, early-termination fee, and any teaser rate or volume threshold gimmicks.
The single most important EFL field is "average price at 1,000 kWh/month" — this is the all-in rate including base charges and any volume-discount thresholds. Use this number to compare plans, not the headline ¢/kWh rate.
Watch for "free nights" or "free weekends" plans that show low headline rates. Read the EFL — the daytime rate on those plans is often 14-18¢/kWh. They only work for households who can shift major load to nights or weekends.
Step 3 — Filter to fixed-rate, 12-month, no-gimmick
Power-to-Choose has aggressive filtering. The clean residential profile: fixed rate, 12-month term, no minimum-usage credit, no time-of-use gimmick. This filter typically reduces 200+ plans to 15-30 candidates.
Sort the filtered list by EFL average price at your usage level. Most Texas residential households fall between 1,000 and 1,500 kWh/month. Pick a finalist, click through to the REP, and enroll. Texas REPs typically activate same-day or next-business-day for new addresses.
There is no utility involved on the enrollment side — the REP handles the entire flow including TDU notification.
Infographic
Variable REP vs fixed REP over 12 months — Texas summer spike included
Recap
Bottom line
Power-to-Choose is the official Texas PUC supplier-comparison portal and the entry point for the most competitive retail electricity market in the United States. With 80+ active REPs and 200+ residential plans available, the Electricity Facts Label (EFL) is the standardized format that makes apples-to-apples comparison possible. Filter for fixed-rate, no-introductory-period, no-early-termination-fee plans for the cleanest residential profile.
Texas customers should be especially cautious about plans with usage-based rate tiers (the 1,000 kWh sweet-spot plans) and avoid real-time index plans entirely — the February 2021 Texas freeze produced individual residential bills of $5,000 to $50,000 for customers on real-time pricing. The switching-energy-supplier-in-texas guide covers TDU-specific dynamics; the early-termination-fee-explained guide covers the contract terms to read carefully before signing.
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Sources
About the author
Harry ParkerEnergy Consultant, Seenra Inc
Energy Consultant at Seenra Inc. Harry advises US commercial buyers and households on supplier procurement, multi-site aggregation, and the operator-level math behind locked-rate contracts. Eight years on the buy side across PJM and ERCOT zones — he has run the load profile, the reverse auction, and the renewal calendar for portfolios from 50 kW restaurants to 18 MW manufacturing campuses.