Gimmick Watch · Case file № 2 · Free days + bill credits
Flextra Credits 12 Reviewed Reliant "Flextra Credits": two free days a week — priced into the other five.
It's the first plan Reliant shows you. Unlike our last case file, this one publishes its Electricity Facts Label — and the EFL says the quiet part in a single line: a 21.5¢ energy charge.
The pitch
Reliant's front-page plan
Open Reliant's plan page and Flextra Credits greets you first, in their own words: "Get your 2 highest-use days a week FREE + $200 in bonus bill credits for extra savings." Free days and free money — it reads like they're paying you to sign up.
Credit where due: unlike the mail-only plan in our first case file, this one plays by the disclosure rules. The Electricity Facts Label is public, current, and one click away. Which means we don't have to estimate anything. We can just read it to you.
The EFL for the 12-month version (Oncor area — Dallas–Fort Worth — dated August 1, 2026) prices the plan at 19.6¢ / 19.2¢ / 19.0¢ per kWh at 500 / 1,000 / 2,000 kWh — with the free days already included in the average. Hold that thought.
The receipts
The ad on the left. The EFL on the right.
Marketing quoted from reliant.com; fine print quoted from the plan's own Electricity Facts Label (Oncor, dated 08/01/2026). Both checked August 6, 2026.
What the ad says
“Get your 2 highest-use days a week FREE + $200 in bonus bill credits for extra savings.”
What the fine print says
The EFL caps the gift: “up to a total of eight (8) Free Days per monthly billing period that is 28 days or longer,” chosen retroactively as your highest-usage days, Sunday through Saturday. Short first cycle? The EFL prorates down: “1-3 billing days = 0 Free Flex days.” You can’t aim at a free day — you find out which ones were free when the bill arrives.
Verdict 1/4 Real, capped, retroactive, and impossible to aim at.
What the ad says
An advertised average around 19¢ per kWh — free days included.
What the fine print says
The EFL’s components: “Energy Charge: 21.5456¢ per kWh” plus “Oncor Electric Delivery Delivery Charges: 6.0295¢ per kWh.” That’s about 27.6¢ all-in on every paid day. The ~19¢ average only exists because the EFL assumes 32% of your usage lands on free days.
Verdict 2/4 The free days aren’t a bonus on the price. They are the price.
What the ad says
“$200 in bonus bill credits for extra savings.”
What the fine print says
Per the plan page’s credit terms: issued as one $100 credit and two $50 credits, one per billing cycle, each redeemed through your account — not cash, no cash value, and unused credits don’t survive the plan.
Verdict 3/4 A coupon book, not a check.
What the ad says
A flat, honest-looking EFL: 19.6¢ / 19.2¢ / 19.0¢ at 500 / 1,000 / 2,000 kWh.
What the fine print says
The flatness is the tell — no bill-credit cliff, just altitude. And the EFL warns that the average is modeled: “your average price for electricity service will vary according to your usage.” Use your power more evenly than the 32%-on-peak-days model assumes, and your real average lands above the advertised one.
Verdict 4/4 The advertised number is the best case.
The math
What two free days cost
The EFL hands us every number, so let's rebuild a bill. At 1,000 kWh in a month, the EFL's model says 32% of your usage — 320 kWh — lands on your free days. The other 680 kWh pays 21.5456¢ energy + 6.0295¢ delivery ≈ 27.6¢ per kWh, plus a $4.06 fixed delivery charge:
680 kWh × 27.6¢ + $4.06 ≈ $192 a month — which is exactly the EFL's advertised 19.2¢ average. The disclosure is honest. The price is just high.
That's the whole trick, visible in one arithmetic line: the "free" 320 kWh didn't disappear from your bill. It moved into a paid-days rate set roughly twice as high as what plain fixed-rate plans charge — then came back to you as a gift.
So what does choosing Flextra cost against just buying a plain plan? Here's the annual damage at 1,000 kWh a month — after handing Flextra its entire $200 in credits, best case:
| If a plain fixed plan costs | Flextra costs you this much more per year — after all $200 in credits |
|---|---|
| 10.0¢/kWh | +$904 |
| 12.0¢/kWh | +$664 |
| 14.0¢/kWh | +$424 |
| 16.0¢/kWh | +$184 |
Arithmetic: (19.2¢ − plain rate) × 1,000 kWh × 12 months, minus $200. Uses the EFL's own blended average, which already includes the free days at their modeled 32% share. A flatter usage pattern than the model makes Flextra's side worse, not better.
Could it ever make sense?
The steelman: if your two weekly peak days carry dramatically more than 32% of your usage — say, a weekend-only lake house — the free days capture more value than the EFL models, and the effective average drops below the advertised 19.2¢. It would have to drop by a third or more to reach what plain fixed plans charge — and by more than half to touch the cheapest plans in the table above. That's not a usage pattern; that's a building that's empty five days a week. For a lived-in home, the EFL's own average is the realistic best case — and it loses to the plain plans below.
Live rates · updated August 7, 2026
What Dallas–Fort Worth homes can get instead, today.
The cheapest of the 117 live Oncor-area plans we list, priced at 1,000 kWh with TDU delivery and base fees included. Where a price leans on a bill credit, we say so on the card.
APGE SimpleSaver 11
APGE SimpleSaver 12
Discount Power Bill Credit Bundle 12
Cirro Energy Bill Bonus 24
Cirro Energy Bill Bonus 12
Rates as of August 7, 2026 — always verify on the EFL before you enroll. See every Dallas plan we list →
The playbook
If this plan is on your screen right now
- Skip the headline, open the EFL. It's linked right on the plan page — this provider does publish it. The two numbers that matter: the energy charge (21.5456¢) and the average at your usage level.
- Compare averages to averages. Flextra's advertised ~19¢ already includes the free days. So line it up against any plain plan's average at the same usage — no mental math about free days required. 19.2 versus the table above.
- Price the $200 honestly. Spread over a 12-month term it's about $17 a month, delivered as redeem-them-yourself credits. Against the $60–$120/month premium at 1,000 kWh implied by the plans in the table above, all $200 covers a month or two of the gap.
- Know your shape. If your home genuinely lives on two peak days a week — a weekend property — this engine can work. If someone's home most days, it can't. Your last few bills settle it.
Quick answers
Reliant Flextra Credits — your questions, answered
Is Reliant Flextra Credits a good deal?
Judge it by its own EFL: the average price at 1,000 kWh is 19.2¢ (Oncor area, EFL dated 08/01/2026) — with the free days already counted in. Plain fixed-rate plans on the market run well below that. Even crediting the full $200 bonus, a home using 1,000 kWh a month comes out hundreds of dollars behind over the 12-month term versus an ordinary plan. The math is on this page — re-run it with your own usage.
How do the 2 free days a week work?
They’re your 2 highest-usage days each week (Sunday–Saturday), selected retroactively, capped at 8 free days per billing period of 28+ days. On free days the energy charge and per-kWh delivery charges are zeroed; the fixed monthly charges still apply. Short billing cycles get fewer free days — a 1–3 day cycle gets zero, per the EFL’s proration table.
How do I get the $200 in Flextra bill credits?
Per Reliant’s plan-page terms, the $200 arrives as one $100 credit and two $50 credits — one per billing cycle, redeemed through your account. They have no cash value, and credits you haven’t used don’t survive leaving the plan.
What is Reliant Flextra Credits’ cancellation fee?
The 12-month version carries a $150 early termination fee. Per the EFL, it does not apply if you move and provide a forwarding address with evidence of the move.
What rate does Flextra Credits charge on the days that aren’t free?
The EFL lists a 21.5456¢/kWh energy charge plus 6.0295¢/kWh in Oncor delivery charges — about 27.6¢ per kWh all-in on paid days, plus a $4.06 fixed monthly delivery charge. That’s the rate doing the work while the free days do the marketing.
Who might Flextra Credits genuinely fit?
The more extreme your two weekly peak days are, the more usage lands free — a home whose peaks carry well over the EFL’s modeled 32% captures more value. But the EFL average already assumes strong peaking, and even that best-case average is around 19¢. If your usage is flat — steady AC, work-from-home — the plan performs below its own advertising.
How this case was built
Everything above comes from two places: Reliant's own plan listings at reliant.com and the plan's own Electricity Facts Label — "Reliant Flextra Credits 12 plan," Oncor Electric Delivery service area, dated 08/01/2026 (EFL ID R1F00146366527L) — both checked August 6, 2026. EFL lines are quoted verbatim; the bill reconstruction uses only the EFL's published components and its own 32% free-usage assumption. Reliant and Flextra are trademarks of their owner; quotes are reproduced for consumer education and commentary. ChooseMyPower is independent and doesn't sell Reliant plans — providers we do list pay the same flat fee, so no plan can buy a kinder read. Reliant also markets a 24-month Flextra Credits; pull that term's own EFL before comparing.
Enri Zhulati
Consumer AdvocateEnri knows the regulations, the fine print, and the tricks some retail electricity providers use. He's spent nearly a decade learning how to spot hidden fees, misleading teaser rates, and contracts that sound good but cost more. He writes the guides that show you what they're hiding — his goal is to help Texans avoid the traps and find plans that actually save money.
Sources
- Reliant Flextra Credits 12 plan — Electricity Facts Label, Oncor Electric Delivery service area, dated 08/01/2026 (EFL ID R1F00146366527L)
- reliant.com residential electricity plan listings and Flextra Credits plan page, checked August 6, 2026
- ChooseMyPower — live Texas provider rate data (Oncor area)
Sources are cited for informational purposes. Data may have been updated since publication.
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Compare plans without the theater.
No free days to model, no credits to redeem — every plan we list shows its real cost at your usage, TDU charges included, bill credits flagged.
See today's rates at my usageBack to Gimmick Watch — more case files as the ads roll in.