Texas has opened the market to free commerce in the energy sector, allowing numerous businesses to compete to offer the lowest prices for electricity service. This open market is known as deregulation, and has been in effect since 2002. Before deregulation, utilities solely controlled the cost of electricity, forcing people to accept whatever price was set for them. Today, there is electric choice, putting the power in the hands of the consumers.

Retail Energy Providers, known as REPs, purchase shares of electricity from generation facilities, much like buying a product in bulk. They resell this electricity to consumers. Multiple REPs can sell electricity in a single area, allowing consumers to choose which one is best for them. They can search based on cheap electric rates, quality of service, or for a number of perks that some REPs may offer, such as green energy plans.

Every REP must provide an electricity facts label, or EFL, which spells out in detail what comes with a plan. The EFL tells customers exactly what they’re getting, whether it’s a 100% renewable energy plan, how much it costs per kilowatt hour, a breakdown of transmission and distribution charges, and any other fees involved, like early termination.

Broker sites, like Shop Texas Electricity, allow you to search multiple REP plans all at once. You can compare several plans from different providers, and find one that meets your needs. Once you choose a plan, just sign up for it and pick a service start date. Your service start date is the day serviced is changed from one provider to your new one, or when your service begins when you move to the state. If you are switching providers, there is no interruption in service, so your electricity won’t go out. All that happens is you’ll start getting an electricity bill from the new provider.