Texas has a distinctive electricity system. In competitive areas, customers select a Retail Electric Provider that sells the electricity plan and sends the monthly bill. The local utility owns the poles, wires, meters and substations, delivers electricity and restores service after an outage. The utility serving a property is determined by its address and normally cannot be changed.
Municipal utilities such as CPS Energy and Austin Energy work differently. They provide electricity directly to customers within their assigned territories. The following utilities were selected for their customer base, service reach, infrastructure and importance to the Texas power system.
1. Oncor Electric Delivery
Oncor is the largest electricity delivery company in Texas. Its network serves more than 400 communities, and approximately 14 million people rely on electricity delivered through its infrastructure. The service territory covers large parts of North, Central, East and West Texas, including the Dallas–Fort Worth region.
Oncor does not generate or sell electricity. It operates transmission and distribution lines, reads meters, connects new service and responds to outages. Customers in its competitive areas purchase plans from separate retail electricity providers.
The company maintains more than 145,000 miles of power lines and continues to expand its system as Texas communities and electricity demand grow.
- Why Oncor is important: Its enormous network and coverage of many fast-growing Texas communities make it central to the state’s electricity-delivery system.
- Corporate address: 1616 Woodall Rodgers Freeway, Dallas, TX 75202
- Official website: https://www.oncor.com/
The company confirms this Dallas address in its official locations directory.
2. CenterPoint Energy
CenterPoint Energy maintains the electricity-delivery network across Greater Houston. It serves nearly 2.8 million metered customers and works with dozens of retail electricity providers operating in the region.
The company maintains the poles, wires, transmission lines and related infrastructure that carry electricity to homes and businesses. Its Houston system includes more than 3,700 miles of transmission lines and nearly 50,000 miles of distribution lines.
CenterPoint also distributes natural gas in Texas and several other states. Houston-area electricity customers should contact CenterPoint about power outages, downed lines and delivery equipment, while billing and electricity-plan questions normally go to the retail provider.
- Why CenterPoint Energy is important: It operates the principal electricity-delivery network for Houston, one of the country’s largest and fastest-growing metropolitan areas.
- Corporate address: 1111 Louisiana Street, Houston, TX 77002
- Official website: https://www.centerpointenergy.com/
CenterPoint lists this Houston location as its corporate street address.
3. AEP Texas
AEP Texas delivers electricity across a vast 97,000-square-mile service territory in South and West Texas. Its system serves more than one million electric meters and covers communities around Corpus Christi, Laredo, McAllen, Victoria, Abilene and San Angelo.
The company operates regulated transmission and distribution infrastructure. It builds power lines, restores service after outages, records usage through advanced meters and performs connections or disconnections requested by retail providers.
AEP Texas is divided geographically between areas historically known as its Central and North divisions. Its territory includes major cities, coastal communities, agricultural regions and remote parts of West Texas.
- Why AEP Texas is important: Its wide geographic reach makes it essential to electricity delivery across areas where communities are separated by long distances.
- Headquarters address: 539 North Carancahua Street, Corpus Christi, TX 78401
- Official website: https://www.aeptexas.com/
AEP Texas lists this Corpus Christi location as its company headquarters.
4. CPS Energy
CPS Energy is the municipally owned electric and natural gas utility serving San Antonio and portions of seven adjoining counties. It provides electricity to more than 970,000 customers and natural gas to approximately 390,000 customers.
Unlike a transmission utility in the competitive market, CPS Energy generates or purchases energy, delivers it and bills customers directly. Its services include electric and gas connections, outage response, energy-efficiency programmes, solar assistance and customer payment support.
The utility is owned by the City of San Antonio and has operated in some form since 1860. It describes itself as the nation’s largest municipally owned electric and natural gas utility.
- Why CPS Energy is important: Its combined electric and gas network makes it one of the country’s most significant community-owned utilities.
- Headquarters address: 500 McCullough Avenue, San Antonio, TX 78215
- Official website: https://www.cpsenergy.com/
CPS Energy confirms this location as its headquarters.
5. Austin Energy
Austin Energy is the City of Austin’s community-owned electricity utility. It serves more than 560,000 residential and commercial accounts and supplies electricity to more than one million people across Greater Austin.
Its approximately 437-square-mile service territory lies mainly in Travis County, with additional coverage in Williamson County. The system includes Austin and parts of communities such as Bee Cave, Lakeway, Rollingwood, Sunset Valley, Manor, Pflugerville and Cedar Park.
Austin Energy provides electricity, billing, outage response, renewable-energy programmes, efficiency incentives and customer assistance. The Austin City Council sets its rates and service conditions.
- Why Austin Energy is important: It combines public ownership with extensive renewable-energy, conservation and customer-assistance programmes.
- Customer service address: 8716 Research Boulevard, Suite 115, Austin, TX 78758
- Official website: https://austinenergy.com/
The address is listed as Austin Energy’s north utility customer service centre.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can Texans choose their utility company?
A: Usually not. The property’s location determines the transmission and distribution utility. Customers in competitive areas can choose the retail electricity company that sells the plan.
Q: Who should be contacted during a power outage?
A: Contact the local utility, not the retail electricity provider. The Public Utility Commission of Texas provides official outage contacts and links to utility outage maps.
Q: Why does a utility charge appear on a retail electricity bill?
A: Transmission and distribution charges pay for maintaining poles, wires, substations, meters and related infrastructure. In competitive areas, the retail provider generally passes these regulated delivery charges through to the customer.
Q: Can San Antonio or Austin customers use Power to Choose?
A: Most CPS Energy and Austin Energy customers cannot select another retail electricity provider because these are municipally owned systems. Municipal utilities may participate in retail choice only after their governing bodies take the required action.
Q: Where can customers compare electricity plans?
A: Eligible customers can compare participating retail plans through Power to Choose, the official comparison website operated by the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
