Methodology

How Plainly researches electricity

Plainly researches Texas residential electricity so you can understand a plan, a bill, or a contract-ending notice without becoming a market expert. We show our work. We do not enroll you. We are not a broker.

EFL average prices on this page are Fact.

Every rate we publish

If we state a ¢, it has all of these or it does not ship:

1. Plan name
2. Retail electric provider
3. TDU, named. Never a statewide blend.
4. Date on the document (Electricity Facts Label, PUCT “as of,” or the clock when we fetched a Power to Choose listing)
5. Version or product id
6. The file or page we opened
7. When we last reviewed it
8. Confidence: Fact, Estimate, or Plainly judgment

What we open

• Electricity Facts Labels we have actually opened, using the date and version on the document
• Power to Choose as a listing of current offers, not as an evaluation and not as an archive. That listing has no as-of column. We date it by when we fetched it.
• PUCT delivery-rate summaries as of the header date, for a named TDU. We do not use that table to overwrite an EFL’s average prices.
• Utility tariff PDFs and PUCT docket items when we have opened those PDFs.
• Provider terms of service for what happens when a contract ends, not for a holdover ¢ we have not seen
• Texas law: PURA §39.112 and 16 TAC §25.475
• A bill, expiration notice, or default-renewal EFL you give us

If two sources disagree, we print both, named, and we do not split the difference.

TDU stays on the number

Delivery charges differ by utility. An Oncor ¢ is not a CenterPoint ¢. We will not mix them in a ranking or call either “the Texas rate.”

The PUCT residential delivery table we have opened is as of 1 August 2026. That is not a September 1 all-in rate. We will not publish a September 1 TDU ¢ until that table updates or we have opened that tariff PDF.

An EFL average price is quoted as an EFL average price. If we ever rebuild a bill from parts, that rebuild is an estimate. It lists every input. It is not the plan.

Bill credits, in the EFL’s words

We quote credits the way the opened EFL writes them: for each billing cycle, or in a billing cycle. We do not swap in Power to Choose language such as “for the next 12 months.”

Legal names, once: TXU Energy Retail Company LLC and AP GAS & ELECTRIC (TX), LLC.

A TXU plan that has two credits has two credits. We will not collapse TXU Energy Smart 1000 Select 12 (Oncor) to “a $100 bill credit.” That EFL also has a $25 summer bill credit for each billing cycle ending in July, August, or September when usage is 1,000 kWh or more.

If we mention APG&E SimpleSaver 12 (CenterPoint, EFL version RESFIXEN73.335, dated 2026-08-29), the printed pieces stay in their units: energy 12.729¢ per kWh (Fact), delivery $4.90 per month plus 4.98110¢ per kWh on that EFL (Fact), and a $125 credit per billing cycle at 1,000 kWh or more. Turning $4.90 or $125 into ¢ per kWh is only done with the kWh in the denominator shown. The EFL average price at 1,000 kWh on that document is 5.7¢ (Fact). 5.85% on that EFL is renewable content, not a rate.

Specimens, not a ranking

When we walk through a named plan, it is a specimen of how pricing works, not “the cheap plan” and not a scorecard of every provider.

Two acquisition EFLs we have opened for mechanics, not as a sort:

• TXU Energy Smart 1000 Select 12, TXU Energy Retail Company LLC, Oncor, version ONXSMSL1KC12AB, 29 August 2026. EFL average prices 22.9¢ / 10.9¢ / 15.5¢ at 500 / 1,000 / 2,000 kWh (Fact). Energy charge 14.1000¢ per kWh (Fact).
• APG&E SimpleSaver 12, AP GAS & ELECTRIC (TX), LLC, CenterPoint, version RESFIXEN73.335, 29 August 2026. EFL average prices 18.7¢ / 5.7¢ / 11.7¢ at 500 / 1,000 / 2,000 kWh (Fact).

Those 10.9¢ and 5.7¢ figures sit in different TDU territories. They are not comparable as a ranking.

What we will not claim yet

• A default-renewal or holdover ¢. The EFLs above are acquisition labels. The default-renewal EFL goes to the customer with the final expiration notice. We have not opened one.
• What a plan advertised in 2025 versus what it costs now. Power to Choose is not an archive.
• A September 1, 2026 all-in delivery ¢
• One Texas average that blends TDUs
• A month-over-month change until we have two dated listings
• That Power to Choose is every plan a provider sells
• Rankings, a cheapest-10, a ZIP marketplace

We would rather leave a hole than fill it with a ¢ we have not opened.

Homepage numbers marked temporary

Chips on the homepage marked temporary are specimen data, not a Plainly market index. A plan page does not replace them. When we have a dated, TDU-pinned sample Ken has approved, that sample is what replaces them. Until then they stay labeled as they are.

Last reviewed 29 August 2026.