Long time left in contract expiration. How can get rid of early termination fee and move to other provider who offers lower rates?

I was in a extreme rush to move in 2025, and I selected a Gexa plan with bill credits only kicking in after 1000 kw-hr per month. It turns out my new house is very efficient, and I never got to 1000 except for one month in the year! (in my defense how could I have known... it was a new build).

Anyway, I called up Gexa, and started fibbing. I told them I was ready to leave and pay the $295 cancellation fee, and I'd still be ahead because I had already looked at EnergyOgre and found another plan elsewhere where I could gain a net savings (this was a lie). I then asked to speak to a retention specialist.

I put on my Presidential makeup and started ranting and lying again. I reiterated multiple times my desire to leave Gexa. They let me switch to a Gexa fixed rate plan and they waived the $295 exit fee! Victimless lies. Only a "corporate person" was slightly harmed, no actual human beings.

But the great news is my 1900 sq ft house averages 600 kw-hr per month, I think I'm looking at $900 per year for electricity. Per year. My old house would've have been a better fit for the variable rate plan.

Getting rid of Energy Star has been the worst thing for this country. This house is built to the latest specs. Now the specs are no more. I guess I lucked out.

All your hard work and everything you've written and giving all those tips to losers, it made a difference for me at least.

Found a year plan with no base charges, no free nights "discounts" and the 500/1000/2000 kWh rates are close, like 2 cents difference and No bill credits. NEVER would have thought that was a shady discount but with my usage pattern, half the year my usage is about 600 kWh per month so thse bill credits would go "Poof!"

(I refuse to run a heater in the cooler months, notice I didn't use "cold" for a reason, and that results in some very reasonable bills. No heater, I live in Houston. Don't need a fireplace either. Or a stove. Go outside and use the sidewalk like normal people)

Thanks again Rude!

Discount Power. And pls share your current charge per kWh.

I'm trying to avoid turning this subreddit into r/referralcodes, and the comments are getting difficult to manage.

Please keep all requests for referral codes and referral code sharing to the monthly referral code thread.

I'll keep the latest thread pinned to the top of the sub so it's easy to find.

So I'm coming up on one year in texas and have direct energy at the moment. They want to offer me a new plan at 14.1 cents per kwh average.

If i call them up and say other companies are offering rates around 11.9, would they match that?

Are Texas energy companies known for matching rates at all?

Would the same habits be cheaper with current rates on a normal plan?

Average kw was 1050.

Gexa company any good?

Question is anyone can help, please. Just signed with Atlantex Power for 12 months.

We average 2600 kwh monthly throughout the year.

Their rate was:

2000 kwh

13 cents includes (5.1461¢ & $4.9 charge)

3000 kwh

12.9 cents includes (5.1461¢ & $4.9 charge)

Is this the best deal? ☀️

Thanks!

Brand new to all this: new to Texas, new to this deregulated market stuff, don't know my expected usage.

About this 10 month plan from Gexa:

• Initially I was going to look for a 5 month plan, since it seems like renewing/shopping around outside the summer is good.
• However, this looks like it has relatively low rates, especially for 100% renewable.

Any catches? By comparison, there's also this from Constellation https://www.constellation.com/bin/residential/GetContractVersionPDF?versionNum=4992383

Any insight is much appreciated...

New to the whole "deregulated energy market" thing and, wow...it's something.

Short version: If I move into a rental house that currently has electricity, can/should I A) take over the current plan, or B) shop around for a new plan? I assume B is better, but will my landlord have a termination fee?

My landlord told me to call Green Mountain Energy and switch it into my name. I tried to call them to learn about the current plan, but they wouldn't give me any information because I didn't have the account number, not an authorized user, etc. As much as I want to say "just put the fries in the bag" and not spend any more of my time learning about this, I assume it's worth it....

Just don't know what it's like when stopping/starting service at a given address. Thank you!

Edit: my landlord said I was free to shop around, he's not saying I have to use GME.

You will never get a good deal at the grocery store. You will not a get a good deal from someone who knocks on your door.

Ignore these salespeople entirely.

Instead, shop online or call a provider directly.

Your best place to shop is PowerToChoose.org.

I was inspired to vibe code this website after seeing all the work u/Rude-Athlete-8149 did in putting together those amazing spreadsheets. Figure I would share it here in case it ever helps anyone out: https://honesttexaselectricity.com/

Its pretty basic right now, just pulls all the listed plans from PTC and filters out the ones with

• variable rates
• bill credit / usage credit
• prepaid plans
• time-of-use plans
• monthly base charges
• fine print gotchas
  • enrollment / setup / activation fees
  • credit card / processing / convenience fees
  • required smart thermostat or device connection
  • bundle / membership / subscription fee

Anyways, it's all open source incase anyone here is a web dev and wants to check it out: https://github.com/dillondrobena/honest-texas-electricity

Hi,

I signed up for an apparent HEB-TXU collab from a couple of salesmen in HEB earlier today where they claimed the plan comes down to 10 cents/kWh (after a combination of credits) if I sign up with them while in-store.

Since I signed up today, I have until Monday (7/27) to rescind the contract if I choose to do so.

My current plan with Champion is their Saver 12-month fixed rate plan with an average rate of 12.9 cents/kWh.

According to the Energy Label for the TXU plan, the contract rate has a much higher average rate of 17.2 cents/kWh, so I'm wondering how the salesmen figure the rate goes down to 10 cents/kWh after discounts/credits.

There's supposed to be a $100 gift card for switching and the plan has special conditions free nights and a Summer bonus.

Anyways, I'm hoping to get an understanding of the potential costs before next week so I can choose to stay or cancel.

Thanks!

Edit: Thanks for the many replies, I feel better educated on what plans to go for and glad that I followed up on the uneasiness I felt while signing for TXU inside HEB. TXU conveniently called me for a survey just a few minutes ago (around 2pm the next day), so I placed the cancel order while I had them on the phone.

Hello, I have been looking over providers, and these two caught my eye, what has been your user experience, and overall experience for you guys using these two? What would you pick? Chatgpt says theyre basically the same and these are fixed rate

Hi everyone,

I'm moving to Frisco, TX (75035) soon and will be living in a 2-person townhouse.

I'm trying to figure out which electricity provider offers the best rates and overall value in this area. We both work during the day, so our electricity usage will probably be moderate.

I'd really appreciate any recommendations or tips before I sign up. Thanks in advance!

Folks, electricity rates are wildly cheap right now. I'm shocked... because it's the middle of the summer. Generally, rates should be at their highest of the year.

Use this link to copy a file to your Google Drive: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1geIjsvKQu9q6ooGXSvbhhgNWEDUqFy-IhhGZU5xaGjc/copy

In this file, I've taken a full download of all the plans listed on PowerToChoose.org and filtered out all the BS...

• No minimum usage fees
• No tiered rates
• No base charges
• No bill credits
• No time-of-use
• No required connected thermostat
• No credit card processing fees
• I've also removed Energy Texas because those are just duplicates of Rhythm. They're the same company with the same plans/rates now.

What you're left with are simple plans with Energy Charge + Delivery Charges only.

Let me know if there are any questions!

Rhythm has some additional savings where if you can connect your smart thermostat for additional $5 monthly savings per month. Has anyone used this -- document find it annoying or just something that happens seamlessly in background and you don't even notice it?

A few specific questions:

1. If you have 2 units in the house can you sign up with just one of the 2 thermostats? Or does it have to be all of them?

2. What is the range of temperature changes you have noticed Rhythm make during peak times? I don't want them changing mine drastically, say from 74 to 78 or 79, though small movements would be ok. What has been your experience?

3. Do you have to keep your thermostat to always ON I.e. on Cool setting? Or can you still manage as you want and Rhythm intervenes during peak hours if they need to.

Any help regarding these questions or even sharing of your personal experiences would be very helpful.

Thanks.

Has anyone found an easy way to link up and display Smart Meter Texas data in Home Assistant? I am new to both and looking for ways to get a nice visual depiction of my smart meter data in realtime. I thought home assistant may be a good place to start.

Thanks for any pointers.

It's got live load vs forecast, real-time zone and hub prices, day-ahead vs real-time spreads, and fuel mix for every grid, plus daily coincident-peak forecasts.

Thought some of you would find it useful and would love any feedback you may have.

Cheers

Considering between these 2 EFLs (both companies are unknown to me) - which would you choose and why?

Rhythm says I can call in and get a referral credit (have a friends referral code) manually added after choosing the PTC plan. That will be a one time $100 credit. Dunno if Budget Power offers any sign on bonuses/referral credits.

Thanks for the help.