Awareness Expert Reviewed

Texas Electricity Deregulation, Explained

Why Texans shop for power and most Americans don't — and what that means for your bill.

By ChooseMyPower Editorial 6 min read Updated May 2026

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Key Takeaways

Texas Senate Bill 7 (1999) split monopoly utilities into generation, transmission, and retail.
About 85% of Texas can shop for retail electricity; the rest are on municipal utilities or co-ops.
Austin (Austin Energy) and San Antonio (CPS) are the two biggest non-deregulated metros.
Texas residential rates have tracked national averages — the savings come from informed shopping.

This guide walks through the core decisions and pitfalls for Texans shopping for electricity. Full article content is ported from the design prototype. For production, connect this to your CMS or Convex content collection.

What deregulation did (and didn't)

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The map: deregulated vs. regulated areas

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Who the players are

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What it means for your choices

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Is competition actually saving you money?

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“Deregulation didn't make Texas electricity cheap. It made it shoppable. Whether you save depends on whether you shop.”

— ChooseMyPower Editorial, Editorial team

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The Bottom Line

Why Texans shop for power and most Americans don't — and what that means for your bill.

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Editorial Independence: ChooseMyPower is editorially independent. Our opinions are our own. We may earn a referral fee when you enroll through our partner ComparePower.com — this never influences our rankings or editorial content.

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Editorial team

Articles on ChooseMyPower are written and reviewed by the editorial team. Plan and rate data on every page is pulled from the live electricrates.org API on every build, so the numbers you see reflect the current Texas market.

Editorial Standards

How we research and review.

Independently researched. Every claim is verified against primary sources (PUCT, ERCOT, EFLs).
No paid placement. Rankings are never influenced by advertising or referral compensation.
Reviewed by ChooseMyPower Editorial. Plan data is pulled live from the electricrates.org API on every build and cross-checked against the EFL each REP publishes.

Read our full standards

Sources

Texas Senate Bill 7 (1999) — Electric Choice Act
PUCT — Retail Competition Reports
Texas Coalition for Affordable Power — Deregulation Studies
EIA — State Electricity Profiles

Sources are cited for informational purposes. Data may have been updated since publication.

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Frequently asked questions

Common questions related to awareness.

Where do you get your data? +

We source plan and rate data from public REP filings, the Electricity Facts Label (EFL) every plan must publish, and the live ComparePower.com database. Updates flow daily.

Are recommendations independent? +

Yes. ChooseMyPower's rankings and recommendations are made independently from any compensation we may receive when you enroll through our partner.

How often is this guide updated? +

We revisit guides on a quarterly basis at minimum, and immediately when material market or regulatory changes happen.

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