HOUSTON – You’re getting a little relief on your electric bill as energy charges tacked onto everyone’s bills just went down. But before you spend those small savings, brace your budget for another increase that is coming within a few months.
Update on electricity prices in our area
There is good news and bad news. Let’s start with the good news. The transmission and delivery charge on our bills went down on March 1. This rate adjusts every year in the spring and goes up in the fall.
On your bill, it may be labeled “TDU” or Centerpoint energy delivery.
Centerpoint’s rate was a flat $4.39 for each bill and then 4.9 cents a kilowatt. The rate is now 3.56 cents a kilowatt.
If you use a thousand kilowatts in a month, you would pay $14 less this month than what you paid for the same amount of electricity last month.
Small increase in electric bills
Now for that bad news. The Public Utility Commission just gave Centerpoint permission to recover $200 million from Houston customers for costs it paid to lease mobile power generation units during emergencies. Centerpoint will get that money by charging customers about $1 extra every month.
The PUC hasn’t signed the final order yet so we don’t know exactly when it will hit your bill but it will likely be within the next couple of months. These are charges you’ll pay no matter which electric provider you choose but if you need to shop for a new plan, the COO of Energy Ogre says rates are looking a lot better than they were last fall.
“If you haven’t looked at your electricity rates for some time, it’s probably a good time to do that,” said Energy Ogre COO David Kinchen. “You know, if you were signed by the peak of the market, there’s certainly better rates to be had a lot of the rates have come off significantly from the highs that we’re looking at today.”
Comparison shopping for electric rates
Even if you don’t sign up with Energy Ogre to help you find a new electric plan, you can use their comparison tool online.
Scroll all the way to the bottom where it says “compare texas electric rates.” Type in your zip code to see the lowest rates in your area for 6-month and 12-month plans. For example, right now the lowest rates for zip code 77375 are between 10-point-8 and 13 cents a kilowatt.