Why Did My Electricity Bill Go Up?

Your bill went up. You didn't change anything. Probably.

Nine times out of ten, the answer to "why did my Texas electricity bill go up?" is one of six specific things. The hard part isn't fixing it — the hard part is figuring out which of the six it is, because the fix is different for each.

Here are the six, ranked by how often they're the actual cause.

#1: Your contract ended and you didn't notice

This is the most common cause of a sudden bill jump in Texas, by a wide margin.

A Texas fixed-rate contract typically runs 12 or 24 months. When it ends, the REP doesn't disconnect you — they roll you onto a month-to-month variable rate. That variable rate is almost always 40-100% higher than the fixed rate you were paying. Sometimes 200%.

It's legal. The EFL discloses it. The REP is required to notify you 14-60 days before contract expiration. Most people don't read the notice or don't remember the contract date a year later.

How to check: pull your contract documents (or the EFL from when you signed up). Find the contract expiration date. If you're past it, that's the cause.

Fix: Shop a new plan right now. Same effort it would have taken at the right moment, just a month or two of overpayment first.

To prevent this next time: when you sign a new contract, put the expiration date on your calendar with a reminder 30 days before. Treat re-shopping as a recurring task, not a one-time event.

#2: It's summer

July, August, and (sometimes) September will roughly double your bill compared to mild months. That's normal. The cause isn't a plan change or a rate increase — it's that you used dramatically more electricity.

A typical Texas home goes from 900 kWh in March to 2,200 kWh in August. The bill scales with usage. Even on a 10¢/kWh plan, going from 900 kWh to 2,200 kWh adds $130 to the bill. On a 12¢ plan, $156. That's not a "spike," it's the AC running 18 hours a day instead of 4.

How to check: look at the kWh column on the bill. If you're using significantly more, that's the answer.

Fix: Not much, mechanically. The bill is what it is. Set the thermostat smarter (78°F summer, setback during work hours), seal duct leaks if you own the home, run pool pumps fewer hours.

The bigger fix is psychological: a doubled summer bill is normal. A tripled summer bill is a different problem (see below).

#3: You missed a bill-credit threshold

This is the silent killer of "cheap" plans. Many Texas plans are built around a bill credit — typically $35-$100 off if your monthly usage falls in a band like 1,000-1,999 kWh.

If your usage drops below the threshold (say, a mild month where you hit 950 kWh), the credit disappears. Your effective rate jumps from the advertised number to the underlying per-kWh rate, which can be 30-50% higher. The bill swings hundreds of dollars on a 50 kWh difference.

How to check: open your plan's EFL. Look at the three-column rate table. If the average price at 500 kWh is dramatically higher than at 1,000 kWh, you're on a bill-credit plan. Then check this month's usage. If it's just below the threshold, that's the cause.

Fix: If your usage is reliably above the threshold most months, you're fine — this was a one-off. If your usage frequently dips below it, switch to a flat-rate plan where 950 kWh and 1,050 kWh are priced the same.

#4: TDU delivery charges went up

Roughly one-third of your bill is TDU pass-through charges (the wires utility's delivery fee). These are set by the PUCT in rate-case proceedings. When the PUCT approves a rate increase for your TDU, every REP that serves you raises the charge by the same amount, on the same date. It shows up on everyone's bill at once.

Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP Texas, and TNMP all file rate cases every few years. When approved, the delivery charge can rise by 0.5-1.5¢/kWh. On a 1,200 kWh bill, that's $6-$18 extra per month.

How to check: compare last month's TDU charge to this month's. If the per-kWh delivery rate or the monthly delivery base charge changed, that's the cause. The change is usually footnoted on your bill or in a recent PUCT notice.

Fix: Nothing direct. The TDU charge is the same across all REPs serving you. Switching providers won't lower it.

What you can do: re-shop the energy-charge half of your bill (the REP's portion). If TDU goes up 0.5¢, find a plan that costs 0.5¢ less in energy charge. Net zero impact.

#5: Your usage genuinely changed

Something at your house is using more electricity than before. New pool, new EV, new occupant, recent appliance failure that's making the HVAC work harder, a freezer in the garage no one mentioned.

How to check: same as #2 — look at the kWh column compared to last year's same month. If you're using meaningfully more in a month that should be similar to last year, the usage is the issue, not the rate.

Common hidden loads in Texas:

• Pool pumps. 250-400 kWh/month if running 12 hours/day. Cut to 6 hours and you save half of that.
• EV charging. A daily-commuter EV adds 250-400 kWh/month.
• Failing HVAC compressor. When a compressor goes, it can draw 50-100% more power for the same cooling output before it dies completely.
• Failing refrigerator gasket. Old fridges that don't seal properly cycle continuously. Easy to miss.
• Freezer in the garage. A 30-year-old chest freezer can use 100+ kWh/month.

Fix: Hunt down the source. Smart meters report 15-minute interval data via Smart Meter Texas — you can see exactly when usage jumped. Compare to when a new device entered the house.

#6: Your REP raised its variable rate

If you're on a variable-rate plan (any plan without a fixed-term contract), the REP can change your rate month to month with notice. They're required to disclose this; the EFL explicitly says it.

In the weeks leading up to summer, variable-rate REPs often hike their rates by 1-3¢/kWh. The customer notification is buried in a mailed notice or a small line in the bill. Most customers don't read it.

How to check: look at your per-kWh rate compared to last month. If the energy charge per kWh increased, and you're on a variable plan, you got hiked.

Fix: Switch to fixed-rate. Variable-rate plans are not for residential customers in Texas. The only time they make sense is as a short-term bridge between fixed contracts.

How to tell which one is your problem

The diagnostic sequence:

1. Look at your kWh usage. If it's dramatically higher than last year's same month, the answer is #2 (summer), #5 (changed load), or both.
2. Look at your rate (¢/kWh, the energy charge line). If the rate jumped, it's #1 (contract ended), #4 (TDU rate case), or #6 (variable hike).
3. Pull your contract paperwork. Check the expiration date. If you're past it, that's #1, and no amount of usage analysis will help — you need to shop.
4. Check the EFL of your current plan. If there's a bill credit and you missed the threshold, that's #3.

Most bill increases are one of these six. A few — solar panels suddenly underperforming, a metering error, a billing system glitch — are not, but they're rare. If you've worked through this list and nothing fits, call your REP and ask them to walk you through the bill line by line.

When to switch and when to stay

If the cause is #1 (contract ended) or #6 (variable hike) — switch immediately. You're not going back to your old rate by complaining; you're paying the new rate every month until you do something about it. Shopping a new fixed-rate plan saves you the difference, this month.

If the cause is #2 (summer) or #5 (changed load) — don't switch. The plan isn't broken, you're just using more electricity. Switching mid-contract triggers an ETF that probably exceeds any savings. Address the usage instead.

If the cause is #3 (bill-credit miss) — depends on the pattern. One mild month is forgivable. If your usage routinely dips below the threshold, the plan structure is wrong for you, and you should switch to flat-rate.

If the cause is #4 (TDU rate case) — re-shop, but not in a panic. The TDU change is permanent, so you might as well take it as a prompt to make sure your REP's portion is still competitive.

The honest close

Your bill went up for a specific reason. Figuring out which one is mostly about reading the numbers on the bill carefully — kWh column, rate column, plan name — and matching them against the six causes above.

Most bill spikes that feel mysterious aren't mysterious. They're an auto-renewal nobody flagged, a summer that came in hotter than memory, a bill credit you used to hit and didn't this time. Pick the right cause, take the right action.

Don't switch in a panic. Diagnose first.

» MORE: Surviving the summer bill spike · How to lower your bill