As you’re shopping for electricity, you’ll come across plans that advertise phrases like “free nights and weekends” or “free nights and solar days” or even “free days electricity.” This may sound too good to be true, but they’re absolutely legitimate.
There are a lot of light companies with free nights and weekends plans. But, what you really want to know as an electricity consumer is, are free nights and weekends worth it? We explain how these plans work, their pros and cons and how to use them to save on your bill.
Table of Contents
- How Do Free Electricity Plans Work?
- Pro/Con of Free Nights & Weekends Electricity Plans
- Our Recommendations for Free Electricity Plans
- Is a Free Electricity Plan for You?
- How to Take Advantage of Free Electricity
- What’s the Catch with ‘Free Nights and Weekends’ Electricity Plans?
- Free Nights & Weekends Electricity Plan Reviews
How Do Free Electricity Plans Work?
Free nights and weekend electricity plans are time of use plans. They use the smart meter at your house to get a reading of your usage every 15 minutes. Your electricity company will bill you based on when you use power.
Electricity providers offer free power as an effort to shift some of the electricity load to lower usage, off-peak times like nights or weekends. Their cost of electricity during these off-peak hours is much less expensive than during peak hours.
These type of plans have higher energy rates during one period of time, in exchange for giving you free electricity at certain times. The big selling point is you get no-cost electricity during specific times.
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Pro/Con of Free Nights & Weekends Electricity Plans
Here is a table summarizing the pros and cons of free nights or free weekends electricity plans.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Free electricity during nights or weekends. | Significantly higher electricity rates during paid hours. |
| Lower bills if you shift electricity usage to free energy time period. | Harder than you think to shift power usage; 50% of your electricity bill is your air conditioning. |
| Encourages energy efficiency and conscious energy usage. | Can end up costing you money if you don't pay attention. |
| Can give you almost a $0 bill if you have solar and battery at home. | Takes time to manage and schedule usage. |
Before deciding if this type of plan is for you think about these pros and cons and take the time to do some analysis.
- Check your actual energy usage. Download information from Smart Meter Texas to check what percentage of your usage falls into the free time period.
- Review plan details. Compare your usage pattern to the assumptions in each Electricity Facts Label. For example, the EFL may assume you use 40% of your usage in the free period. If you use more of your power in the free period, your effective rate will be lower than the advertised rate.
- Determine if you can change your usage. If your usage doesn’t match the EFL, can you make changes? Take a look at the breakdown of how homes use power to decide if you can make adjustments.
- Consider if a fixed rate plan is a better option. If you aren’t able to shift your electricity usage to match or beat the assumptions in the free power EFL, you may prefer a basic fixed rate plan. With a fixed rate plan, you pay the same price per kilowatt-hour of electricity no matter when you use it.
Our Recommendations for Free Electricity Plans
There are a lot of different free electricity plans you can pick from. We recommend what we call fair and balanced free electricity plans.
Fair because the average price per kWh on these plans is similar to their fixed rate options. That gives you a fighting chance to beat the advertised rate if you can shift power usage. And balanced because the rate during the on-peak power usage isn’t extremely high.
- Atlantex Power Luminous Nights: Atlantex Power’s free nights plan gives you free power from 9pm to 9am every day. That’s 12 hours of free power… and over 10 cents less than the big provider’s rate.
- Chariot Energy Free Days: Chariot’s free days plan is a great deal if you work from home and have a smart thermostat. You can use free power to cool down your home before the evening hours. Here’s our Chariot Energy Free Days Review.
- Champion Energy Free Weekends: Champion Energy Free Weekends plan is the best deal on the market. It’s priced comparably to their regular fixed rate plans and less than other free electricity plans on the market. This is the best free weekends electricity plan in Texas. Here’s our Champion Energy Free Weekends review.
Check our additional resources to compare free nights and weekends plans. And you can review multiple plans with free nights and weekends by checking our electricity plan reviews. Or see a comparison chart for free nights and weekends plans. We highlight the free time period, percentage of free power, and total free hours per plan.
Current Offers: Free Nights & Weekends Electricity Plans (Oncor)
| Plan Name | Term | Rate/kWh |
|---|---|---|
| Chariot Energy Free Nights 36 | 36 | 14.9 ¢ |
| Chariot Energy Free Nights 12 | 12 | 15.2 ¢ |
| Champion Energy Services Free Weekends 24 | 24 | 15.3 ¢ |
| Chariot Energy Free Days 12 | 12 | 15.4 ¢ |
| Atlantex Power Luminous Nights 12 | 12 | 15.6 ¢ |
| Atlantex Power Luminous Nights 36 | 36 | 16.2 ¢ |
| Reliant Truly Free Weekends 100% Solar 12 | 12 | 19.2 ¢ |
| Reliant Truly Free Nights 100% Solar 12 | 12 | 19.2 ¢ |
| TXU Energy Free Nights and Solar Days 12 | 12 | 19.5 ¢ |
| Gexa Energy Free 3 Day Weekends Preferred 12 | 12 | 21.3 ¢ |
| Direct Energy Twelve Hour Power 12 | 12 | 23.6 ¢ |
Shop Electricity Plans with Free Nights & Weekends
Is a Free Electricity Plan for You?
Are free nights and weekend electricity plans worth it? Maybe. They could be a fit if you are able to shift your usage to off-peak times to take advantage of free power.
Free electricity plans could be right for you if:
- You travel for work and are only home during the weekend. (Free weekends)
- You work Monday through Friday away from home, and get home around 6pm. (Free nights)
- You work from home during the week (Free days)
- You’re able to shift your electricity usage — like vacuuming, dish washing, laundry — to the free electricity period.
- You have a programmable or wi-fi thermostat to easily manage your heating and cooling.
Free electricity plans are not the right fit if:
- You have someone home all day, such as a stay-at-home parent.
- You work from home.
Knowledge of your electricity usage is critical. For a time of use plan to work on your behalf, you’ll need to ensure that you are really taking advantage of that free electricity by adjusting your usage accordingly.
Otherwise, you could end up paying more for your electricity than ever before. Thankfully, most REPs send you weekly reports showing how much you are using and when.
TIP: If you don’t want to think about when you use power, or adjust your habits, your best best is a fixed rate electricity plan.
How to Take Advantage of Free Electricity
To make a free electricity plan worth it, you need to evaluate these three things.
- Know what time of day and day of week you use electricity. You can find this out by accessing your smart meter data on the Texas Smart Meter portal.
- Understand what drives your electricity usage. For most Texas consumers, heating and cooling your home accounts for 50% of your electricity usage. Other big users are your lighting and electronics, plus large appliances.
- Shift your electricity usage as needed to make the most of your free electricity plan. For example, you can move household laundry and dishes to the off-peak hours. Or adjust your thermostat a few degrees until it’s time for free power.
Providers offering time of use plans estimate a percentage of electricity usage during the free period when they calculate their energy rates. So you need to know that these plans are based on what “most consumers” use during a specific time period.
For example, if the Electricity Facts Label says that the average price assumes that you use 30% of your usage during the free time period? That’s what most consumers use. You mostly benefit from free electricity plans if you are able to shift your usage outside of average.
What’s the Catch with ‘Free Nights and Weekends’ Electricity Plans?
These plans aren’t meant to be misleading. But at the same time, there are details that you’ll want to be knowledgeable about before signing up.
Within our website, we clearly highlight the free energy time period, and the price you’ll pay at other times.
The catch with free? Is that you have to pay for it somehow. That’s why the cost of electricity when you’re not in the designated free period is really expensive.
If you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that enough of your electricity usage happens during the free period, then you may be able to save money. It definitely pays to compare free nights and weekend plans.
Free Nights & Weekends Electricity Plan Reviews
Need help deciding? Here are our reviews of the most popular free nights and weekends plans (and free days plans!) Use these reviews to compare free electricity plans and find one that fits your lifestyle.
- Champion Energy Free Weekends Review
- Chariot Energy Free Nights Electricity Review
- Chariot Energy Free Days Review
- Direct Energy Twelve Hour Power Review
- OhmConnect Half Price Nights Review
- Reliant Truly Free Nights Review
- Reliant Truly Free Weekends Review
- Reliant Energy Flextra Credits Review
- Rhythm Energy Two Months Free Review
- TXU Energy Live Your Free Review
- TXU Energy Free Nights and Solar Days
- TXU Energy Season Pass Review
- TXU Energy Free Pass Review
Shopping for a new provider? Read our step-by-step guide to shopping for Texas electricity.
