Time-of-use electricity plans in Texas: do you save, or just shift the cost?

It is a plan where the price per kWh is not the same all day. The Commission describes it as service where the per kWh charge varies by the time of day or the day it is used. On the state list, plans run it as free or cheap hours, like nights, weekends or the middle of the day.

The Commission also says time-of-use service can sit under a fixed, variable or indexed plan. So "time-of-use" tells you how the hours are priced. It does not tell you the plan type. Check both on the label.

The table shows one plan per shape. Other companies list plans like them under other names. Plan names, hours and prices change, so open the label of any plan you are thinking about.

Next: why the price on the label may not be your price.

Only if your own share of use in the cheap hours is at least as big as the share the label assumed. The Commission says the average price on a time-of-use label and on Power to Choose rests on the company's estimate of how much of your power you use in the free or cheap hours versus the other hours. It also says that if you do not shift your use, your bill may increase.

All three are in the AEP Texas Central area. The share is each company's own number, so read it on your label. Here is the math the label leaves to you. Each kWh you move out of the paid hours into the free hours saves the paid-hours energy price. On the TXU label that is 20.2¢. If your share is 10 points under the label's 40.28%, your price is about 2¢ higher than the label shows.

This is an estimate for a month near 1,000 kWh. It uses the numbers you copy from the label, and it ignores seasonal credits, fees you have not typed in and taxes. Your plan's label has the price you will pay.

On Oct. 25, 2026, the TXU example above gave about 20.5¢ at a 30% night share, against a lowest plain 12-month price in that area of 11.0¢. The break-even share was about 77%. That is a high bar: three quarters of all your power in the nine overnight hours. A plan like this can fit a home that charges a car overnight, but the label for this one does not allow electric cars.

Next: what the state list showed on October 25, 2026.

On October 25, 2026, time-of-use plans held the lowest label price in 6 of the 6 areas we track. 52 English plans (5.4%%) were time-of-use plans, from 7 company names.

"Plain" means a fixed rate for 12 months with no bill credit or usage fee, not prepaid and not time-of-use. On October 25, 2026, the highest time-of-use label price in the Oncor area was 19.5¢, so the range on one list is wide.

How to read the table: a low label price on a short term, like 3 months, is a guess about your use that also ends fast. When the term ends, the price can change. Our guide to the cheapest plans shows the plain plans without the guess.

Next: who tends to come out ahead.

Homes that can move a big share of their power into the cheap hours save. Homes that use most of their power in the paid hours pay more. The cheap hours are set in the contract, so you cannot move them in a heat wave.

An electric car is the biggest mover. At 3.5 miles per kWh, 1,000 miles a month is about 286 kWh, and all of it can land in the cheap hours if you charge overnight. But read the label first. On Oct. 25, 2026, the TXU free nights label in the table above said homes with electric vehicles, batteries or solar panels are not eligible.

The grid also does not follow a plan's hours. ERCOT reported a new, unofficial demand record of 91,134 MW at the hour ending 6 p.m. on July 22, 2026. That evening hour sat outside the cheap hours of the plans in our table.

Look at your own readings. Smart Meter Texas is the free, official site where Texas homes with a smart meter can see their use. Our label check needs one number from it: the share of your kWh that falls in the plan's cheap hours.

1. Sign upCreate a Smart Meter Texas account for your address. Our Smart Meter Texas guide walks through the sign-up.
2. Pick a monthChoose a recent full month, ideally one that looks like the months you will pay for. Summer and winter can differ a lot.
3. Add the cheap hoursAdd up the kWh that fall inside the plan's cheap or free hours. For weekends, add every Saturday and Sunday.
4. DivideDivide that total by the month's total kWh and multiply by 100. That is your share.
5. Check itType it into the check above, next to the four numbers from the label.

No smart meter reading yet? Use the quick picks in the check to see the range. At 10% your use is mostly in the paid hours. At 80%, nearly all of it is in the cheap hours.

Read eight things on the Electricity Facts Label, because a time-of-use plan has more moving parts than a plain one. Our guide to reading a facts label covers every line.

The label also names the delivery company's charges. They apply to every kWh on every plan, which is why a "free" hour still carries a delivery charge.

A free nights plan is one kind of time-of-use plan, and demand response is a different thing. Time-of-use means the plan sets a price by the hour. Free nights is the shape with a free overnight window. Demand response is a program that pays you to use less power at peak times.

This page covers all the shapes, what the state list holds and the label check. For a time-of-use plan with a bill credit on top, see bill credit plans.