Should I accept my electricity provider's renewal offer in Texas?

Updated October 18, 2026

Not before you compare it. A renewal offer can be higher than the price the same provider gives a new customer for the same kind of plan.

Do not let it lapse either. When a contract ends, your plan rolls to a month-to-month rate the provider can raise any month.

The same home, three prices

Here is an example, made up for this page. A home uses 13,190 kilowatt-hours (kWh) a year. Its provider mails a renewal offer at 14¢ per kWh for energy. The same provider sells a 12-month plan to new customers at 11¢. If the home does nothing, it rolls to a month-to-month rate, here 17¢.

Each adds your utility's delivery charges, the cost of the poles and wires: 7¢ per kWh and $4 a month.

On this example the renewal offer costs $395.70 more over the year than the same provider's own plan for a new customer. Doing nothing costs more still: $3,213.60 for the year, which is $791.40 more, if the month-to-month rate stayed where it started.

What your provider has to send you

At least 3 written notices in the last third of a fixed-rate contract, one with a set price for a set length. For a contract longer than 4 months, the last one has to reach you at least 30 days before the end. The notice says what happens if you do nothing. The rule is the Public Utility Commission of Texas's, 16 TAC §25.475(e) (opens in a new tab).

What to check

• The price and the term (the contract's length) in the renewal offer, and the early-termination fee (ETF) it would put you under.
• What the same provider sells to new customers today, on its own site or on Power to Choose, the state's comparison site.
• Providers sell some plans to new customers only. If your provider will not give you that price, compare other providers' plans.
• Your fee-free window: the last 14 days of your contract, when you can switch without an ETF.

How these numbers were worked out

Each figure is energy plus delivery over the home's 12 months. The three prices and the home are examples made up for this page, and we show no real plan or provider. Our methodology has the full method.