The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) regulates the state’s electric, telecommunication, and water and sewer utilities, implements legislation related to those utilities, and offers customer assistance in resolving consumer complaints.
Electricity deregulation in Texas has been around since 2002. Since then the PUCT has played a key role in educating Texans about choosing a competitive Retail Electricity Provider (REP) and being a consumer advocate as it relates to electricity deregulation in Texas.
What is the PUCT Responsible for?
The mission of the PUCT is to protect customers, foster competition, and promote high quality infrastructure (i.e. the poles and wires that deliver electricity to your home or business).
The PUCT is responsible for:
- Licensing Retail Electricity Providers (REPs) and Aggregators,
- Monitoring competitive activity in the state to ensure a level playing field,
- Approving delivery rates for the regulated transmission and distribution service providers (TDSPs), also knows as the local poles and wires company,
- Regulating ERCOT (Independent System Operator – ISO) with oversight from the Texas legislature, and
- Monitoring and responding to consumer complaints.
The Texas Railroad Commission oversees the Public Utility Commission. The Texas Railroad Commission oversees natural gas pipelines and gas production.
The Public Utility Commission oversees ERCOT. ERCOT (Electricity Reliability Council of Texas) is responsible for maintaining the flow of power in Texas. They serve as the “traffic cop” making sure supply matches demand. Power outages in February 2021 are due to power generation assets going offline due to extreme cold. Generation assets are privately owned, not owned or managed by ERCOT.
To avoid winter outages as Texas experienced in February 2021, the Railroad Commission, ERCOT and Public Utility Commission of Texas will likely jointly discuss new requirements for winterization. Those costs would eventually be paid by consumers through tariffs, delivery fees or higher wholesale and retail electricity costs.
You can follow trends in ERCOT and the PUCT rulings by bookmarking this article on Texas electricity trends.
Want to get a reminder to shop for your fixed price electricity rate when your contract expires? Sign up for electricity plan expiration reminders.
Who Can Shop for Electricity in Texas?
Residential and commercial customers in most areas of Texas can shop. For example, if you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Waco, Killeen, Corpus Christi, Brownsville and Midland areas you can shop for electricity. Here’s a full list of deregulated cities in Texas.
If you are in El Paso, Conroe, Brenham, Austin, San Antonio, Beaumont and parts of The Woodlands, you are in a regulated utility area and cannot shop for an electricity provider. You may be wondering, if Texas is deregulated, why can’t I choose my electricity provider?
The good news is that approximately 85% of TX power consumers can shop for an electricity provider. If you live or have a business in any of these utility delivery areas, you can compare electricity rates, shop, and save:
- Centerpoint – Houston area
- Oncor – Dallas/Fort Worth, Waco, Killeen, Midland/Odessa
- AEP Central – South Texas, including Brownsville and Corpus Christi
- AEP North – Parts of Midland/Odessa, Abilene, San Angelo and west Texas
- TNMP – Galveston, League City, and northern Texas
Some people in South Texas may still believe that CPL is their energy company. The reality is, Corpus Power & Light is no more, and CPL Energy is not the utility (which is AEP Central), it’s just another retailer. Similarly, some people in West Texas may still think WTU is their energy company. West Texas Utilities is no longer the utility (it’s AEP North). And WTU Energy is just another retailer you can pick.
More About the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT)
The origins of PUCT predate deregulation by roughly two decades. In 1975, the state legislature introduced the Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURA), with PUCT created specifically to monitor rates and service quality for electric and telecommunication utilities.
In the ‘90s, PUCT’s role started to change. Electricity wasn’t Texas’s first deregulation endeavor: The state welcomed competition among telecommunication providers in 1996 before doing the same for electricity in 1999. PUCT, at this point, became a moderator for these more diversified markets, including establishing compliance measures and rules to allow for healthy, consumer-benefitting competition.
As Texas views itself as a free market example for other states, PUCT is increasingly involved in the broader push for electricity competition in neighboring states. As a result, the organization has a presence in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) and Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) areas.
Yet, even with these extended responsibilities, PUCT retains its original purpose: managing rates and services for Texas’s water and sewer utilities.
As an economic regulator and chief decision-maker for Texas’s electricity market, PUCT:
- Develops statewide rules
- Establishes and enforces compliance standards
- Monitors the Electric Reliability Council of Texas
- Approves transmission line routes
- Grants Certificates of Convenience & Necessity for utilities
- Upholds consumer protection measures
Looking up information about state utilities? PUCT Interchange offers a centralized location for retrieving projects, dockets, tariff applications and other documents officially filed through its Central Records division.
About the PowertoChoose
The PUCT maintains a state-run shopping site, the Power to Choose, to help consumers shop for electricity plans.
However, there’s an overwhelming number of plans to consider, with fine print, gimmicks and gotchas. That’s why we created ElectricityPlans.com.
Read more about the Power to Choose>>
Why ElectricityPlans is Better Than Power to Choose
ElectricityPlans.com was created to help customers compare and shop for the best electricity rates and plans in Texas. (The folks that run this website live in the Great State of Texas. So yee-haw, y’all!) We figured if we found it hard to shop for electricity plans in TX, other people might find it confusing too.
When you shop ElectricityPlans.com, you shop from a select list of quality providers. We only feature quality plans, and we help you understand the fine print.
We also have articles that help you learn how to shop for an electricity plan. Or learn everything in one place with The Definitive Guide to Shopping for Electricity in Texas.