Places like Houston are able to choose which utility company to go with. Now I see where they have plans like "free electricity from 9pm to 9am". Sheesh, I'd love to drop the AC temp down at nights (even charging an EV) without worrying about the cost.

Looks like they charge $20/kWhr during the day however we don't use much in the daytimes and okay with letting the house warm up a little.

https://www.directenergy.com/texas/electricity-plans

Typically those plans are not the greatest deal, but if you were not tied into an overpriced electric plan how else would College Station raid the utility funds to pay for things they have not taxed appropriately for.

Because we belong to a co-op. Our electric, on average, is cheaper than chasing new plans constantly.

Marketing ploy.
Nothing in life is free except the grace of God.

When the Texas Electrical Grid deregulated, municipalities & cooperatives were allowed to remain exempt and keep their franchised service areas. This was to allow them to recoup their substantial investments on both generation facilities & transmission lines.

Only generation deregulated, transmission companies such as CenterPoint remained regulated.
That's where the monthly delivery charge goes to.

Municipalities & Coops have the option to become part of the deregulated market. My understanding is years ago when City Public Service San Antonio had such competitive rates, they were approached by large companies (HEB) to sell blocks of power outside their service area, but chose not to.

My total cost for electricity on both a rural CoOp and also now on BTU have been competitive.

Moved here a few years ago from an area without municipal electric, and so far I prefer having BTU. Can't speak to CS electric.

trouble said:

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Because we belong to a co-op. Our electric, on average, is cheaper than chasing new plans constantly.

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This is simply not true. College Station electric is overpriced and they transfer $$$ from utilities to general funds every year. It is a hidden and unavoidable tax unless you go solar.

It's true in Bryan

That's because long ago the wise folks of the CoCS admin and council (stop if you are nauseous) decided that leaving the Tx Municipal Power Agency was a smart thing to do. Since, CS buys their power on something of an open market much less efficiently than BTU - who has their own generative capacity.

mhnatt said:

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Looks like they charge $20/kWhr during the day however we don't use much in the daytimes and okay with letting the house warm up a little.

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Did you miss a decimal point?

Free nights and weekends pros and cons

Here is a quick read regarding Free Nights and Weekends plans. After moving here from out of state 10+ years ago, I am very happy with BTU prices and service.

b0ridi said:

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mhnatt said:

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Looks like they charge $20/kWhr during the day however we don't use much in the daytimes and okay with letting the house warm up a little.

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Did you miss a decimal point?

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That worked out pretty well for Samir, Michael, and Peter in "Office Space".

It worked out even better for Milton.

Well this is not a mundane detail, Michael!

The graph on power to choose doesn't even go to 20 cents per kwh-- geeez.


Power to Choose | Compare Texas Electricity Rates Tool (energysavings.com)

Looked up my energy use for last month. I've always wondered if deregulated market energy would be lower cost

1268 kWh. I'll assume a 50/50 split on day vs night (though, it's likely more 70/30 for us; wife stays home and during summer the vast bulk of our consumption is aircon)

So, I'll estimate 634 kWh on day rate, 634 on free night rate.

Were I in CoCS territory, here's the breakdown of what my bill would be, electricity only.
(Figures from https://opendoc.cstx.gov/DocArc/DocView.aspx?id=2037862&dbid=0&repo=DOCUMENT-SERVER page 44)

College Station Utilities
$7.00/mo service charge
$0.1187/kWh Energy Charge = $150.51
$0.0175/kWh Transmission Adjustment = $22.19
Total: $179.70

DirectEnergy 36 Month Steady Rate (checked for ZIP 77088, Served by CenterPoint)
$4.95/mo Service Charge + $4.39/mo CP Energy Delivery Charge
$0.106059/kWh Energy Charge = $134.48
$0.05377/kWh CP Transmission Charge = $68.18
Total: $212.00

DirectEnergy Free Nights (same zip)
$9.95/mo Base Charge + $4.39/mo CP Energy Delivery Charge
$0.2614/kWh Energy Charge (Day Time) = $165.73
$0.05377/kWh CP Transmission Charge = $34.09
Total: $214.16

Bryan Texas Utilities - Where I actually live
My Electric Charges section of my bill was $126.89; Bryan's rate schedule isn't as transparent about regulatory and recovery fees

It's all marketing, nights and weekends used to be the cheapest time to provide power. It's trending towards mid day being cheapest

KidDoc said:

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trouble said:

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Because we belong to a co-op. Our electric, on average, is cheaper than chasing new plans constantly.

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This is simply not true. College Station electric is overpriced and they transfer $$$ from utilities to general funds every year. It is a hidden and unavoidable tax unless you go solar.

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the winds of change

I don't mind not having a choise and some of my friends in the free-market elect areas got ripped big time on rates when we had the brown outs, but I think it should be illegal for the citty to use the utility receipts for anything other than current expenses or saving for future expansion and contingencies.

Forced utilitiy receipts should not be use for parks, athletic venues, streets or anything else without the citizens voting on it.

What about planting trees just ahead of an historic drought?

CS will perpetuate the monopoly until it is no longer beneficial for them to do so.

I think I pay about $.03/kWh more for csu than I do for my competitively shopped plan in Houston last time I checked… just as one data point.

Dr. Horrible said:

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I think I pay about $.03/kWh more for csu than I do for my competitively shopped plan in Houston last time I checked… just as one data point.

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Your provider in Houston wasn't allowed to charge a higher rate and then use that money for vanity pet projects and failed real estate deals.

You paying about $.03 more than 5 miles down the road

Dr. Horrible said:

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I think I pay about $.03/kWh more for csu than I do for my competitively shopped plan in Houston last time I checked… just as one data point.

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I'd be interested to know which one that was and how long ago. I haven't been in the deregulated market in a while, so my numbers are just based on public info and advertising (which we all know is 100% truthful!)

After Uri many of the very low cost resellers on the open market folded and many of the super low cost options are gone. Looking at PowerToChoose.org (the market selection site run by the PUC which lists the available market players and requires good clear contract info) the lowest price/kWh I can find (for 3 star and up companies) is $0.09/kWh through Gexa which is set for 3 months, after which point it becomes a variable price contract on a month-to-month periodicity.

Personally, I like municipal provided energy, even if I might hustle to find *slightly* cheaper power elsewhere. Rates can't go up without city council acting on it, though that also means that they can't quickly go down (rarely happens even in competitive markets) and if the council has a pet project, and the ability to raid the fridge, so to speak, rates pay for that as well. I think the transfer back to the city should be capped and minimal or non-existent.

I really don't want to have to call every 3-6 months to find a new place to bill me, to ensure I don't end up on a variable power price after the initial contract. Though I wonder if you could pair a home storage system with the free nights plans...

I'm south of CS just outside the city limits and have BTU. Love it. Reliable service and reasonable cost.

I have students in my energy mgmt class at A&M figure out the various line item charges of the rate structure for their parents house if buying from a govt. regulated monopoly and then we compare with the students whose parents can shop the market and buy from a retail provider. Not just energy rate but the whole package all in. BTU is competitive with many of the better retail energy providers in the market around the state. CSU.....not even close with their jacked up "adder" above their costs to subsidize the local taxpayers with lots of utility revenue from students in apartments on mommy and daddy's dime.

The BTU is a coop argument in interesting. The Coops in the state say "yea, we take their membership money to be a part of the association but if they were a "real coop" they would pay their members capital credits based on overcollections/residual money left over above costs each year. Dan Wilkerson was pretty good at waving his hands around to distract people when somoene asked him "why do you pay the coop membership fee when you really aren't one?" So you can see why people got confused about BTU over the years.

I have newly graduated former students who tell me they play the "free nights like this." Work all day and leave the AC off at the apartment/duplex/house. Go to the gym after work for and get the workout in. Shower and then meet friends/co-workers for dinner or bar. 30-45 minutes before planning to get home send Alexa/System of choice/Utility App a message and crank the AC down now that its after 9 pm and free on drive home. So a segment of the market has figured out how to play that game if they have the flexibility and desire to put effort into it.

Basic home automation makes it very easy to take advantage. Griddy (before it was banned) could be used 99% of the time to have super cheap power, but that 1% added up fast.