What is CenterPoint Energy, and why is it on my electric bill?

Because two companies serve every home in Houston's competitive market. Your retail electric provider sells you electricity and sends your bill. CenterPoint delivers it over its poles and wires, and its delivery charges reach you inside your provider's bill.

CenterPoint's tariff calls it a transmission and distribution utility and says retail customers must buy their electricity from a competitive retailer. You can't switch delivery utilities: the one you get depends on where you live, and the Public Utility Commission of Texas sets its rates. What you can switch is your provider and plan, which you can compare on Power to Choose.

Call CenterPoint, not your provider. Providers sell power but can't restore it; CenterPoint owns the lines.

If someone in your home relies on powered medical equipment, ask your provider about CenterPoint's critical care and chronic condition customer designations, and keep a backup plan anyway, since no utility can promise power during a major storm. Statewide grid emergencies are different from local outages; see ERCOT explained.

As of October 1, 2026, CenterPoint's residential delivery charges are $2.11 a month for the customer charge, $2.79 for the meter and 6.5333¢ per kWh, according to the Public Utility Commission of Texas. The same rates apply whichever provider you choose.

How it shows up on your bill: providers either list delivery as its own line, often labeled TDU, TDSP or CenterPoint charges, or fold it into the price per kWh. CenterPoint says providers aren't required to break it out. Your plan's Electricity Facts Label says which approach your plan uses. On a pass-through plan, your bill can change even on a "fixed" rate when CenterPoint's charges change. For what drives the rest of your bill, see Texas electricity rates explained.

Multiply your monthly kWh by 6.5333¢ and add $4.90. At 1,000 kWh that's $70.23. Match the slider to the usage on your bill.

The PUCT publishes the same math: $37.57 at 500 kWh, $70.23 at 1,000 kWh and $135.57 at 2,000 kWh. Houston summers push many homes past 2,000 kWh, which is why delivery can top $130 in August. See why Texas electric bills run high.

Two changes in one month. On September 1, 2026, the transmission charge nearly doubled, from about 1.62¢ to 3.08¢ per kWh. On September 30, an interim distribution charge took effect, rising from 0.4934¢ to 0.6137¢. Per the PUCT, delivery for 1,000 kWh went from $56.36 on July 1 to $70.23 on October 1.

Is a base rate increase coming? We found no new base rate case filed in 2026. CenterPoint's last one, PUCT Docket 56211, settled in January 2025. CenterPoint says the PUCT requires a rate case every four years, so for now the changes come through the separate charges above.

It sits in the middle. On the PUCT's September 1, 2026 comparison, CenterPoint delivery for 1,000 kWh cost more than Oncor's and AEP Texas's but less than TNMP's.

Beryl cut power to 2.2 million CenterPoint customers in July 2024. It led to a state investigation, new storm laws and a resiliency plan, and its repair costs are now a line on your bill.

1. July 8, 2024Hurricane Beryl makes landfall. By CenterPoint's count, it restored power to more than 2 million customers in 11 days.
2. November 2024A PUCT investigation finds CenterPoint's outage tracker failed and its mobile generator fleet wasn't sized for a Beryl-type storm. The commission logged more than 2,000 Beryl complaints.
3. January 2025CenterPoint's base rate case settles (PUCT Docket 56211).
4. 2025Texas passes HB 144, which requires utilities to keep plans for managing and inspecting distribution poles.
5. September 2025CenterPoint issues $401.5 million in storm restoration bonds.
6. November 19, 2025The PUCT approves CenterPoint's 2026–2028 system resiliency plan (Docket 57579).
7. February 2026About $1.193 billion in bonds finance Beryl, Hurricane Francine and Winter Storm Enzo costs, repaid through the SRC III charge.
8. September 2026Transmission and distribution charges rise, bringing delivery to $70.23 at 1,000 kWh by October 1.

What storms cost you now: the two storm restoration charges, SRC II and SRC III, total 0.3484¢ per kWh, about $3.48 a month at 1,000 kWh.

The leased generators: CenterPoint leased up to 505 MW of temporary emergency generators on leases running to 2029. After criticism, it released its 15 large units to the San Antonio area and says it won't charge customers for them going forward. In November 2025 it proposed removing the five medium units' lease costs from rates starting January 1, 2026. A small generator charge, TEEEF, remains on the rate sheet at 0.0742¢ per kWh.

Yes. In Houston, CenterPoint delivers natural gas too, and gas works differently from electricity: CenterPoint bills gas customers directly.

Outside Texas, CenterPoint now serves customers only in Indiana and Minnesota. It sold its Louisiana and Mississippi gas utilities on March 31, 2025, and completed the sale of its Ohio gas utility to National Fuel Gas on October 1, 2026.

Start with the company that controls the problem, then go to the state if it isn't fixed.

1. Billing, plan or priceContact your retail electric provider first. It controls your bill.
2. Outages, meters or linesContact CenterPoint at 713-207-2222.
3. Still not resolvedFile a complaint with the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which regulates both.

Every state's average price is on our electricity prices by state map, and all our Texas guides are on the Texas hub.