If a stranger knocked on your door and your electricity provider changed without your clear consent, that is not a sales mistake. It may be a crime under Texas law.
Most Texans pick their own Retail Electric Provider (REP). The test is whether you're inside ERCOT and not served by a co-op or a municipally owned utility that has stayed out of retail competition. A few have opted in, including Lubbock Power & Light, whose customers began choosing their own provider in 2024. If you are, the choice is yours. That freedom is genuinely valuable. It also attracts a small number of bad actors who use door-to-door sales to enroll customers without proper authorization. The practice has a name, it is regulated, and there is a clear path to fixing it.
What Door-to-Door Electricity Sales Are
Legitimate REPs are permitted to send sales representatives to residential neighborhoods. The representative is supposed to identify themselves, name the company they represent, explain the plan terms, and obtain your clear, verifiable consent before submitting an enrollment. Texas law requires that consent to be documented.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) sets the rules. Under 16 Texas Administrative Code, a REP must provide a Terms of Service, an Electricity Facts Label (EFL), and a Your Rights as a Customer document before or at the time of enrollment. A representative who pockets your signature or verbal agreement without handing over those documents is already out of compliance.
The sales visit itself is not the problem. The problem starts when a representative misrepresents who they work for, overstates savings without showing you an EFL, pressures you into signing something you cannot read, or submits your account information without any agreement from you at all.
What Slamming Means in Texas
Slamming is the unauthorized transfer of your electric account to a different REP. You did not agree to switch, or you were tricked into agreeing through deception, and your service provider changed anyway.
Slamming is illegal. The PUCT can revoke a REP's certificate, issue fines, and require the REP to refund any charges above what the customer would have paid with their original provider. ERCOT, which operates the transmission grid and processes enrollment transactions, records every switch event with a timestamp, so the paper trail exists even when the sales rep has left your porch.
Common slamming scenarios in Texas include:
- A representative says they are from your current provider and are "updating your account," then submits a switch to a competitor.
- You sign what you are told is a form to receive a free gift or a rate quote, and the form turns out to be an enrollment authorization.
- A representative reads your Electric Service Identifier (ESI ID) off your meter or a visible bill and submits an enrollment without your knowledge.
- You verbally agree to receive more information, and the representative records that as consent to enroll.
All four scenarios violate PUCT rules. None of them require you to accept the switch.
How to Tell Whether You Were Switched Without Permission
The first sign is usually a confirmation letter or email from an unfamiliar company, or a different name on your next bill. Because ERCOT processes most residential switches within one to three business days, the change can happen fast.
Steps to take immediately:
- Check your bill or online account. Your REP's name appears on every Oncor, CenterPoint, or AEP Texas bill. If it changed and you did not initiate that change, that is a red flag.
- Call your original provider. Ask them to confirm whether an outgoing transfer was submitted and on what date. They can see the ERCOT transaction record.
- Contact the new provider. Ask them to provide proof of your enrollment authorization. Under PUCT rules, they are required to have it. If they cannot produce a signed document or a verifiable verbal recording, the enrollment was not properly authorized.
- Request a rescission. You have the right to cancel a switch within three federal business days of receiving the Terms of Service under PUCT rule 16 TAC §25.474(j), and a door-to-door sale also carries a separate three-day cooling-off right under the FTC's Rule (16 C.F.R. Part 429). Texas rules also allow rescission in slamming cases regardless of that window.
If your original provider is cooperative, they can submit a re-enrollment request to move your account back. You should not owe any early termination fee if the switch was unauthorized.
Red Flags During a Door-to-Door Sales Visit
Not every visit ends in slamming. These signals suggest a representative is not operating within the rules:
- They will not show you a company ID or a REP certificate number.
- They cannot provide a printed or digital EFL for the plan they are quoting.
- They quote a rate per kilowatt-hour but refuse to specify which usage level (500, 1,000, or 2,000 kWh) that rate applies to. This matters: as of August 13, 2026, 18 of the 126 plans listed on Choose My Power carried a bill-credit cliff where a bill at 500 kWh ran more than $25 above the bill at 1,000 kWh. A rate that looks cheap at 1,000 kWh can become expensive at lower usage.
- They create urgency by claiming the rate expires tonight or is available "only for your street."
- They ask to see your bill and then photograph or transcribe your ESI ID without explaining why.
- They say your current provider "sent" them or that they are working on behalf of your utility. Transmission and distribution utilities (TDUs) like Oncor do not sell electricity plans and do not send door-to-door representatives.
The last point is worth repeating. Oncor, CenterPoint Energy, AEP Texas, and Texas New Mexico Power deliver electricity. They do not sell it. Anyone claiming to represent your wires company and offering you a rate is misrepresenting themselves.
How to Report a Door-to-Door Electricity Scam in Texas
Three agencies handle these complaints, and filing with all three is reasonable.
PUCT (Public Utility Commission of Texas). This is the primary regulator for REPs. File at puc.texas.gov/consumer-help/complaints/complaint or call 1-888-782-8477. The PUCT's Consumer Protection Division investigates complaints against licensed REPs and can initiate enforcement action. Keep your account number, the date of the visit, a description of what was said, and any documents the representative left behind.
Texas Attorney General's Office. The AG's Consumer Protection Division handles deceptive trade practice complaints. File at texasattorneygeneral.gov. If a representative misrepresented who they were or forged your signature, this is the appropriate channel in addition to the PUCT.
Federal Trade Commission. If the representative's conduct involved identity theft or the use of personal information beyond the electricity account, file at reportfraud.ftc.gov. The FTC does not resolve individual complaints but uses them to identify patterns and pursue enforcement.
Document everything before you file. A written timeline, the name or physical description of the representative, the company name on any materials they left, and a copy of your bill showing the unauthorized switch will all strengthen the complaint.
When Switching on Your Own Terms Makes Sense
None of this means door-to-door sales are inherently harmful, or that switching providers is a bad idea. As of August 13, 2026, the median listed rate across 126 plans on Choose My Power was 15.1 cents per kWh at 1,000 kWh, while the lowest-cost plan sat at 5.6 cents per kWh all-in at the same usage level (Just Energy, Smart Choice 12, in the lowest-cost utility area). The spread between those numbers is large enough that a deliberate, informed switch can produce real savings.
The distinction is who initiates the switch and whether you have read the EFL before agreeing to anything. A switch you research, compare, and authorize on your own timeline is the system working correctly. A switch that appears on your bill after a conversation you did not fully understand is the system being abused.
Texas gives consumers the right to choose. That right includes the right to say no, to ask for documentation, and to take as long as needed before signing anything. A legitimate REP will respect all three.