Is Power to Choose legit? How to use the official Texas plan site

By the BillAnswers team · Updated October 19, 2026 · How we check facts

Yes. Power to Choose (powertochoose.org) is the official electric choice website of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT); providers list their offers on it for free, and it does not recommend any provider or plan. Search it by ZIP code, open each plan's Electricity Facts Label, and price the plan at your own usage before you sign up with the provider. BillAnswers is a separate information site, not Power to Choose or the PUCT.

What Power to Choose is

Power to Choose is the PUCT's own shopping tool. Its home page calls it "the official and unbiased electric choice website of the Public Utility Commission of Texas," and the PUCT says it created the site "as a tool to assist Texans in shopping for electricity." Any electric provider can list its offers there for free, and you search by ZIP code without creating an account.

What it is not:

Not a provider. It does not sell electricity. You sign up with the provider you pick, on its website or by phone.
Not a recommendation. Its FAQ says "we do not recommend any particular provider or plan."
Only listed offers. It shows the offers that providers have listed for your ZIP code.

Check the address. The official site is powertochoose.org (the address printed in the bill rule, powertochoose.com, redirected there when we checked on October 19, 2026). Its footer reads "Copyright 2026 | Public Utility Commission of Texas." BillAnswers is a separate, independent information site and is not affiliated with the PUCT or Power to Choose.

How to use it, step by step

The site's own user guide suggests having past bills and a calculator at hand. In short:

Enter your ZIP code. If your ZIP code has more than one wires company, the site asks you to pick one. If it says "No plans found," your ZIP code may not be in an area open to competition.
Enter your usage. Use your bills to estimate your average monthly kWh. The guide reminds you that usage is higher in months like August and February.
Narrow the list. You can set a price range, a contract length, and filter out plans with minimum usage fees or credits and tiered rates.
Pick plan types. Filters cover fixed rate, prepaid, time-of-use pricing, renewable share, a specific provider, and a customer satisfaction rating based on the share of complaints to the PUCT.
Refresh results, then open the FACT SHEET link for each plan you like. The guide calls reading it "critical." That fact sheet is the Electricity Facts Label (EFL).
Price it at your usage. Copy the EFL charges into the true-cost calculator. The EFL only shows average prices at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh a month (16 TAC 25.475(g)(2)(C)).
Sign up with the provider. You then receive the terms of service. For a switch, you have three federal business days after receiving them to cancel without a fee (16 TAC 25.474(j)).

Why the listed price may not be your price

The price shown for a plan comes from its EFL averages. A plan with a bill credit that starts at 1,000 kWh can look cheap at that one level and cost much more at 999 kWh. Power to Choose's FAQ also warns about minimum usage fees, with typical cut-off points of less than 500 or 1,000 kWh. Sort by price only after you have entered your own usage, and confirm every finalist in the calculator.

Where its FAQ is out of date

On October 19, 2026 we compared the Power to Choose pages with the current PUCT rules. Where they differ, the rule controls.

Topic	Power to Choose page says	Current PUCT rule says
Contract expiration notice	Notice "at least 30 days or one billing cycle, and no more than 60 days" before the end (FAQ)	At least three written notices in the last third of the contract; for contracts of 12 months or longer the first may come up to three months early; the final notice at least 30 days before expiration (contracts over 4 months) or 15 days (4 months or less). 16 TAC 25.475(e)(1)(A), for residential contracts entered into on or after September 1, 2021
Right to cancel a switch	"three business days" (FAQ)	Three federal business days after you receive the terms of service. 16 TAC 25.474(j)
Switch timing	"within seven business days" (FAQ)	The approximate date agreed with you, as the utility's tariff allows; you can ask for a specific date. 16 TAC 25.474(k)
Indexed (market rate) plans	Described as a plan type (Plan Options page)	Indexed products may not be offered to residential customers on or after February 1, 2022. 16 TAC 25.475(c)(3)(F)(i)

The rule on notices also gives you a no-fee switch in the 14 days before a fixed contract's expiration date. See how to switch providers without a fee.

What it gets right

No interruption. Switching "will not interrupt your electricity service," and the wires company for your area stays the same.
No switching fee, unless you request a special meter reading outside your regular schedule.
Default plans cost more. If a contract expires with no new plan, the month-to-month default price "will likely be much higher."

Other useful parts of the site

Is there choice where I live? Call Power to Choose at 1-866-797-4839 (1-866-PWR-4-TEX).
Complaints and rights. The PUCT customer hotline is 1-888-782-8477 (1-888-PUC-TIPS).
Footer links include an industry scorecard, a list of wires company (TDU) contacts, and an option to export offers.

Common questions

Is Power to Choose legit?

Yes. It is the PUCT's own site: its home page calls it the official and unbiased electric choice website of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, and its footer reads Copyright 2026, Public Utility Commission of Texas.

Does Power to Choose recommend a provider?

No. Its FAQ says it does not recommend any particular provider or plan. Any provider can list its offers there for free.

Is the cheapest plan on the list the cheapest for me?

Not necessarily. Listed prices come from the Electricity Facts Label, which shows averages at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh a month. Bill credits and minimum usage fees can make a plan much more or less expensive at your actual usage.

Is there a Spanish version?

Yes. The Spanish site, called Poder de Escoger, is at powertochoose.org/es-es.

Is BillAnswers part of Power to Choose?

No. BillAnswers is an independent information site. We are not the PUCT, Power to Choose, a utility or an electricity provider.

Sources

Last updated: October 19, 2026