Are bill credit electricity plans worth it in Texas?

Updated October 18, 2026

Sometimes. A bill credit is money off your bill in any month you use at least a set number of kilowatt-hours (kWh). Use less, and you get nothing. That number is the plan's threshold.

So a bill credit plan is cheap only in the months your home reaches the threshold. The advertised price is the price at exactly the threshold, which makes it the plan's best case.

A home that reaches it every month can come out ahead. A home that misses it in some months has to add up its own 12 months to know.

A year in one home

Here is an example home, made up for this page. It uses 13,190 kWh a year, most of it in summer, which is 1,099 kWh a month on average. The average is above a 1,000 kWh threshold, but 6 of the 12 months fall under it. On the chart, the line is the threshold.

The same plan, one kWh apart

Now an example plan, also made up. It charges 10¢ per kWh for energy. On top of that come your utility's delivery charges, the cost of the poles and wires: 7¢ per kWh and $4 a month. It gives $75 back in any month you use 1,000 kWh or more, and its ad says 9.9¢ per kWh.

One kWh less costs $74.83 more. Use more than the threshold and the price per kWh climbs too, because the same $75 is spread over more usage. At 2,000 kWh this plan costs 13.5¢ per kWh.

What the year costs

The example home on the example plan, month by month.

The credit lands in 6 of 12 months. The other 6 pay full price, and $450 of credits never arrive. The year costs $1,840.30, which is 14.0¢ per kWh against an advertised 9.9¢.

What to check on your own bills

• Find the credit's amount and its threshold on the plan's Electricity Facts Label (EFL), the price sheet every plan comes with.
• Read the three prices the EFL prints, at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh. A 500 kWh price far above the 1,000 kWh price is the mark of a bill credit. On the example plan they are 17.8¢, 9.9¢ and 13.5¢.
• Count the months in your last 12 bills that fall under the threshold. Each one loses the whole credit.

Then compare plans on what the year would cost your home, not on the advertised price.

How these numbers were worked out

Each month's bill is energy plus delivery, minus the credit when usage reaches the threshold. The plan and the home are examples made up for this page, and we show no real plan. Our methodology works the same example through, line by line.