Gimmick Watch · Case file № 4 · Seasonal discount + card bonus
Ultimate Season Pass 12 Reviewed TXU "Ultimate Season Pass": 50% off an energy charge set high enough to discount.
Half-price power in the brutal months — that's the pitch. The plan's own Electricity Facts Label says which months, which charges, and what's left when the discount calendar runs out. We read it line by line.
The pitch
Half price, says the shop page
On TXU's online shop, Ultimate Season Pass 12 leads with the season: "Get 50% off peak winter & summer, plus even more months of automatic savings. Great for homes with electric heat." A "$200 Visa® Prepaid Card Bonus" rides along, and the advertised price reads "17.9¢ per kWh at 2000 kWh."
Credit where due: unlike the mail-only plan in our first TXU case file, this one is sold in the open. The Electricity Facts Label is public and current — Oncor area, dated August 06, 2026 — so nothing on this page needs estimating. We can just read the label to you.
The EFL prices the plan at 20.0¢ / 18.6¢ / 17.9¢ per kWh at 500 / 1,000 / 2,000 kWh — with every seasonal discount already blended into the average. The 50% off isn't waiting on top of those numbers. It's already inside them. Hold that thought.
The receipts
The shop page on the left. The EFL on the right.
Marketing quoted verbatim from shopping.txu.com (ZIP 75205, checked August 6, 2026); fine print quoted verbatim from the plan's own Electricity Facts Label (Oncor Electric Delivery area, dated August 06, 2026, version ONXULSSNPS12AI).
What the ad says
“Get 50% off peak winter & summer, plus even more months of automatic savings. Great for homes with electric heat.”
What the fine print says
The EFL scopes the gift precisely: “You will receive a 50% discount off the Energy Charge” — the energy charge only, January 1 through February 28 and July 1 through August 31. Four more months (March, June, September, December) get 25%. April, May, October, and November get nothing. And the Oncor delivery charges — roughly a third of a typical bill — are never discounted, in any month.
Verdict 1/4 Half off one line item, four months a year. Not half off your bill.
What the ad says
An advertised “17.9¢ per kWh at 2000 kWh” — with the shop’s footnote: “Rates are the average price per kWh based on monthly usage of 2000 kWh.”
What the fine print says
The same shop page publishes TXU’s own usage stat: “Average Monthly Usage: 848 kWh (gas heat) or 1,132 kWh (electric heat).” At usage a real home has, the EFL prices the plan at 18.6¢ (1,000 kWh) and 20.0¢ (500 kWh). The 17.9¢ headline belongs to a usage level TXU’s own page says the average home doesn’t reach.
Verdict 2/4 Priced at 2,000 kWh, sold to homes that use half that.
What the ad says
A “$200 Visa® Prepaid Card Bonus” on top of the savings.
What the fine print says
Spread $200 across a 12-month term at 1,000 kWh a month and it’s worth about 1.7¢ per kWh — against a plan whose EFL average runs 18.6¢ while plain fixed-rate plans in the same Oncor area price lower — see the live table below. The card narrows the gap. It doesn’t close it.
Verdict 3/4 A rebate on the markup, not a bonus on a bargain.
What the ad says
The discounts are “automatic savings” — locked in by the calendar.
What the fine print says
The EFL’s energy charge is “15.8000¢” per kWh — the number the discounts are taken from. Even in a 50%-off month, the all-in effective price at 1,000 kWh works out to about 15.3¢ once undiscounted delivery and fixed charges are added back. The EFL’s own blended average across the year: 18.6¢ — computed from TXU’s own finding that 41.90% of this plan’s usage lands in the 50% months and 32.80% in the 25% months.
Verdict 4/4 The discount is real. The number it discounts was set first.
The math
One plan, three prices — by calendar
The EFL hands us the components: a 15.8¢ energy charge and a $9.95 monthly base charge. It prints "**" for Oncor's delivery charges — they pass through as billed — but its own three averages let us solve for them: about 6.0¢ per kWh plus about $4.05 a month is what makes 20.0 / 18.6 / 17.9 reconcile exactly. So let's rebuild April. No discount, 1,000 kWh:
15.8¢ energy + 6.0¢ delivery + $14.00 in fixed charges ≈ 23.2¢ per kWh — about $232 for the month. That's the plan with its costume off.
Now run all twelve months at the same 1,000 kWh:
| Months | Discount (per the EFL) | Effective price at 1,000 kWh | That month's bill |
|---|---|---|---|
| January · February · July · August | 50% off the energy charge | 15.3¢/kWh | $153 |
| March · June · September · December | 25% off the energy charge | 19.3¢/kWh | $193 |
| April · May · October · November | No discount | 23.2¢/kWh | $232 |
Arithmetic from the EFL's own components: discounted energy charge + implied Oncor delivery (≈6.0¢/kWh) + $14.00/month in base and fixed delivery charges, at 1,000 kWh. The delivery figures are back-solved from the EFL's printed 500/1,000/2,000 averages — re-run it yourself; it reconciles to the tenth of a cent.
Three things fall out of that table. First: even the best months — the 50%-off ones — land around 15.3¢ all-in, which is still above what the cheapest plain Oncor-area plans charge every single month (live table below). Second: the four no-discount months, at about 23.2¢, are priced like the most expensive plans in Texas. Third: the blend only averages down to the EFL's 18.6¢ because — per the EFL itself — customers on this plan historically put 41.90% of their usage in the 50% months and 32.80% in the 25% months. To even hit the advertised average, your usage already has to be steeply seasonal.
Could it ever make sense?
The steelman: an all-electric home whose usage genuinely spikes hard in exactly January, February, July, and August — resistance heat in a cold snap, big AC load in the summer peaks — captures the 50% months at their maximum. But note what the EFL already assumes: 41.9% of usage in those four months, and the blend still comes out at 18.6¢. To beat that number you'd have to out-peak TXU's own historical customer base — and even then you're discounting your way down toward what a plain fixed rate hands you in month one, with no calendar to manage.
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
- Read the average, not the discount. The EFL's 18.6¢ at 1,000 kWh already contains every percent of the seasonal savings. Compare that one number to any plain plan's average at the same usage — that's the whole comparison, no calendar required.
- Check which usage level the ad is quoting. The shop's 17.9¢ headline is the 2,000-kWh figure — its own footnote says so — while the same page pegs average usage at 848–1,132 kWh. Your number is the 500 or 1,000 column: 20.0¢ or 18.6¢.
- Price the card honestly. $200 over 12 months at 1,000 kWh is about 1.7¢/kWh. Subtract it from 18.6¢ and this plan still trails the plain plans in the table above.
- Count the four quiet months. April, May, October, November: full 15.8¢ energy charge, full delivery, full base — about 23.2¢ effective. If a plan's worst months are priced like the market's worst plans, the good months are doing the advertising, not the saving.
Quick answers
TXU Ultimate Season Pass — your questions, answered
Is TXU Ultimate Season Pass 12 a good deal?
Judge it by its own EFL (Oncor area, dated August 06, 2026): the average price at 1,000 kWh is 18.6¢ — with every seasonal discount already blended in. Plain fixed-rate plans on the Oncor shelf run several cents below that, every month, with no discount calendar to track. Even handing the plan its full $200 prepaid-card bonus (worth about 1.7¢/kWh over the term at 1,000 kWh), the blend stays well above ordinary plans. The month-by-month math is on this page — re-run it with your own usage.
How does the TXU Season Pass discount work?
Per the EFL: 50% off the energy charge from January 1 through February 28 and July 1 through August 31; 25% off in March, June, September, and December; no discount at all in April, May, October, and November. The discount applies only to the 15.8¢ energy charge — never to Oncor delivery charges or the $9.95 monthly base charge, which continue in full every month.
What rate does TXU Ultimate Season Pass 12 charge?
The EFL (Oncor area, dated August 06, 2026) lists average prices of 20.0¢ at 500 kWh, 18.6¢ at 1,000 kWh, and 17.9¢ at 2,000 kWh, built from a 15.8¢/kWh energy charge and a $9.95 monthly base charge, plus Oncor delivery charges passed through as billed. In a no-discount month, the effective all-in price at 1,000 kWh works out to about 23.2¢ per kWh.
Which months have no Season Pass discount?
April, May, October, and November — four of the twelve. Per the EFL, those months carry the full 15.8¢ energy charge plus full delivery and base charges: about 23.2¢ per kWh effective at 1,000 kWh, roughly $232 for the month. Those are Texas’s mildest months, when your usage — and the discount’s value — is lowest anyway.
Does the 50% off apply to delivery charges?
No. The EFL is explicit that the discount comes “off the Energy Charge” only. Oncor delivery charges — a per-kWh charge plus a monthly charge, passed through as billed — apply in full in every month of the year, as does TXU’s $9.95 monthly base charge.
Does TXU Ultimate Season Pass have a cancellation fee?
Yes — the EFL lists an Early Cancellation Fee of $150.00 on the 12-month term. The product is listed as a fixed-rate plan; the price can change during the term only to reflect changes in TDU charges, ERCOT/Texas Regional Entity administrative fees, or new laws and regulatory costs.
How this case was built
Everything above comes from two places: TXU's own online shop at shopping.txu.com (ZIP 75205, checked August 6, 2026) and the plan's own Electricity Facts Label — "TXU Energy Ultimate Season Pass 12," Oncor Electric Delivery service area, dated August 06, 2026 (version ONXULSSNPS12AI). Both are quoted verbatim. The EFL passes Oncor delivery charges through as billed rather than printing them; the ≈6.0¢/kWh and ≈$4.05/month figures used in the bill reconstruction are back-solved from the EFL's own published averages and reconcile them exactly. TXU Energy and Ultimate Season Pass are trademarks of their owner; quotes are reproduced for consumer education and commentary. ChooseMyPower is independent and doesn't sell TXU plans — providers we do list pay the same flat fee, so no plan can buy a kinder read.
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
- TXU Energy Ultimate Season Pass 12 — Electricity Facts Label, Oncor Electric Delivery service area, dated August 06, 2026 (version ONXULSSNPS12AI)
- shopping.txu.com plan listings for ZIP 75205, checked August 6, 2026
- powertochoose.org (PUCT) plan database, Oncor area, 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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