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Energy Companies in Texas: What Types Of Energy Companies Operate in Texas?

Shopping for an energy company in Texas can feel like the first day of high school. You’re standing there in your squeaky-clean Keds and your full backpack, nervous because you are not sure which group you should talk to.

In high school, if you were lucky enough, someone would walk up to you, introduce themselves, and invite you over to a group. 

As an adult shopping for electricity, all you want is someone who can be that friend you. Fortunately, you are about to meet that friend. 

Hi! We’re Power Wizard!

We want to help you find the perfect electric company that will treat you well and gives you the best electric rates possible. With our Shopping Tool, you can find your perfect electric rate in minutes.  

 

We won’t take you to prom, though.

 

This guide will share what types of energy companies exist in Texas and how you can find the best one for your unique needs.

Energy vs. Electricity:

In Texas, energy and electricity are not the same things.

Energy is any form of energy. Energy in Texas includes wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal, electricity, and more.

Electricity, on the other hand, is actually a type of energy.

In this article, we’ll explain the energy market and the electricity market in Texas.

What Energy Company Should I Use For My Needs?

Here’s a step-by-step process that’ll help you find the best electricity company for your needs:

First, Here’s What Not To Do:

Do not do the following:

• Manually research all the electricity companies in your area spend hours comparing all the plans using a complicated spreadsheet
• Buy an electricity plan without complete confidence that it’s the best one for your needs; after you buy your electricity plan, you don’t monitor your plan or usage.

Why shouldn’t you do these things?

It’s pretty simple:

• It’s time-consuming and frustrating
• It likely will not result in the best plan for your needs. As a result, you’ll likely overspend
• If you don’t monitor your plan and usage, then you’ll miss out if another better plan comes onto the market.

Here’s How To Find The Best Electricity Company For Your Unique Needs:

Power Wizard’s unbiased algorithm can find you the best electricity plan for your needs in just a couple of minutes.

Here’s how to use it:

• Enter your zip code in the Shopping Tool below
• Answer some simple questions about your home’s size, when your home was built, and more
• Wait a couple of seconds for Power Wizard to compare your unique needs against the potentially thousands of available plans in your area.
• After Power Wizard shares the best plan for your needs, continue following the process to sign up for that plan and get electricity to your home ASAP.
• After you buy, Power Wizard’s unbiased algorithm will continue to work for you 24/7. If a better plan comes on the market, Power Wizard will help you switch.

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There are hundreds of energy companies in the United States.

Depending on how you define the word “energy” (like if you include solar companies or renewable energy startups), there are potentially thousands of energy companies.

How Many Energy Companies Are There in Texas?

Texas is one of the largest energy hubs in the United States because…

• Texas is the second-largest state in the United States by area. The only state larger than Texas is Alaska. With all this space, Texas has access to many natural resources.
• Texas is near the Gulf of Mexico, which is geologically developed to support large quantities of oil:
  • Lots of organic rock sources
  • The nearly perfect environment, in terms of the relationship between pressure, temperature, and timing, converts organic matter into natural gas.
  • Porous and permeable reservoirs of rocks.

How many energy companies are there exactly?

There are different types of energy companies in Texas.

For electricity:

There are over 150 Retail Electric Providers in the state of Texas. Residents in deregulated areas of Texas can choose any of these 150 electricity companies to work with.

Not only this but there are numerous electric utility companies that operate the power plants and service the power lines.

For natural gas:

There are many energy companies that drill for natural gas in Texas.

There are also many energy companies in Texas that run oil refinery plants.

For other types of energy like solar:

There are hundreds of other energy companies in the solar, wind, and renewable energy fields.

Some of these companies only operate in Texas. But, most of them operate nationwide and are available to the people who live in Texas.

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What Companies Are In The Energy Field in Texas?

There are thousands of companies that operate in the energy industry in Texas.

Why are there so many companies that operate in Texas?

• Many energy companies that are headquartered in other states still have the legal authority to operate in the state of Texas.
• The “energy industry” is incredibly diverse. There are electricity companies, natural gas companies, gas stations, solar companies, and much more.

Solar Energy Companies

Texas ranks 1st in the entire United States for solar potential.

But how many people actually use solar energy in Texas?

It’s estimated that over 210,000 homes are currently using solar in Texas. With so many homes currently using solar and the fact that many homes will opt for solar energy in the coming years, their many solar companies in Texas. Based on recent data, there are 532 solar companies currently operating in Texas.

Renewable Energy Companies

First, what is renewable energy?

This is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but what is it exactly? Renewable energy is any form of energy that gets naturally replenished in a reasonable time frame.

Why is the time frame necessary? Technically, natural gas gets replenished. But, it takes thousands of years for this to happen. On the other hand, energy from the sun, wind, or waves gets replenished much more often.

What are some forms of renewable energy?

• Wind
• Solar
• Geothermal
• And more

In the section above, we already shared that Texas is home to more than 500 solar companies.

But what about wind and geothermal?

Electricity produced from wind energy in Texas accounts for 15.94% of total electricity production. For the most part, there aren’t private companies that operate in the wind and geothermal space. These are usually government-owned or government-regulated utility companies that operate these facilities. They receive funding from the government.

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Green Energy Companies

Green energy is a form of renewable energy.

Can you power your home using green energy?

Yes and no. It’s not a straightforward answer.

When choosing an electricity plan, you might have the option to sign up for “green energy.”

What does this mean? Does the electricity company actually pump green energy to your home?

Here’s how the process works, according to the Dallas Observer: When you “sign up for green energy, the energy provider must purchase renewable energy credits — monetary offsets awarded to green energy producers because they produce renewable energy.”

Instead of actually using green energy, you’re paying the electricity company a “monetary offset” that will help green energy producers cover their costs.

Low-Rate Energy Companies

What’s a low-rate energy company?

In the electricity industry in Texas, it’s those companies that are competing to have the lowest price per kWh.

Why does the price per kWh matter?

As the electricity consumer, this is the price you pay (or you think you pay – we’ll get to this in a little bit).

So, when electricity consumers like you are searching for electricity plans online, the first thing you look at is the price per kWh.

Oftentimes, the company with the lowest price per kWh will out-compete the other REPs and win the electricity consumers’ business.

But, just because a company has the lowest rate does not mean that it’ll be the best plan for your needs:

Here’s a quick example that proves this.

The lowest price per kWh in Texas might be 7.2¢ per kWh from a low-rate energy company.

But, here’s the thing about this particular plan:

It might be designed for homes that use a lot of energy. This specific plan requires that the consumer use at least 2,000 kWh per month. If the consumer doesn’t use 2,000 kWh, then their rate will increase to 9.6¢ per kWh.

Let’s say that someone who lives in a small apartment, and therefore doesn’t use a lot of electricity, buys this plan because they think it’s the “cheapest” rate. Yet, they only use 1,121 kWh per month and end up paying much more.

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Clean Energy Companies

What does “clean energy” mean?

According to one of the sustainable energy associations, here’s what clean energy is:

“Energy derived from renewable, zero-emissions sources (“renewables”), as well as energy saved through energy efficiency (“EE”) measures.”

What are some sources of clean energy?

• Wind
• Solar
• Water
• Bioenergy
• And more

To learn more about wind, solar, and water, scroll up.

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Common Questions About Energy Companies in Texas:

The energy market in Texas can be quite confusing. There’s deregulated electricity in Texas, which has its own special rules. There’s the option to use solar. Does your home need natural gas?

You likely have the same questions as other people in Texas.

How to Switch Energy Companies?

There are two main ways that you can switch energy companies in Texas:

1. Spend Painful Hours Trying To Figure It Out On Your Own

Here’s how most people search for energy in Texas.

Hint hint… They’re doing it wrong.

• They go to each energy company’s website and manually look through all of the available plans.
• If they’re really ambitious, they’ll create a spreadsheet to try to organize all of the confusing information they’ll find.
• If they’re not as ambitious, they’ll have 37 tabs open on their computer and try to remember where that “one good-looking deal” was.
• After hours (or days) of confusing research that leads them in frustrating circles, they’ll reach their breaking point. Finally, they’ll just choose an energy company. They won’t know if it’s the best one for them or not.
• After they choose a plan, they’ll connect their credit card for automatic payment and forget about energy.

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2. Let Power Wizard Find You The Best Plan To Switch To

Power Wizard’s unbiased algorithm can find you the best electricity plan for your needs in just a couple of minutes.

Here’s how to use it:

• Enter your zip code in the Shopping Tool below
• Answer some simple questions about your home’s size, when your home was built, and more
• Wait a couple of seconds for Power Wizard to compare your unique needs against the potentially thousands of available plans in your area.
• After Power Wizard shares the best plan for your needs, continue following the process to sign up for that plan and get electricity to your home ASAP.
• After you buy, Power Wizard’s unbiased algorithm will continue to work for you 24/7. If a better plan comes on the market, Power Wizard will help you switch.

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Why Are Energy Companies Pushing Smart Meters?

First, what are smart meters?

According to a recent article, here’s what smart meters are:

“They are modern gas and electric meters that wirelessly send data to the utilities that own them, meaning utilities don’t have to send employees to your home to check on how much gas and electricity you used in a given time frame.”

The definition of smart meters explains why energy companies are encouraging residents in Texas to use smart meters.

If homes don’t use smart meters, then it requires more time, manpower, energy, and money for utility companies to figure out exactly how much electricity they use.

What Energy Company Am I With?

Many people aren’t sure which energy company they’re with.

Before we help you figure it out, we need to let you know how problematic it is that you don’t even know which company you’re with:

If you don’t know what electricity company you’re working with, then you also…

• Probably didn’t choose the best plan for your specific energy needs in the first place. Did you buy a plan out of thousands of available plans that specifically matched your unique energy needs based on your home’s size, when your home was built, and your historical electricity usage?
• Probably don’t monitor your electricity usage and plan. With thousands of plans in the market, there’s a good chance that the plan you’re using today won’t be the best plan for you in a year or two.

At Power Wizard, we help you find the best plan for your specific energy needs. After you become a member, we monitor your electricity plan and usage on your behalf. Our unbiased algorithm works 24/7 to try to find you a better plan. If we find you a better plan, we make switching easy. We even take into account cancellation fees.

To answer your question…

How can you figure out what energy company you’re with?

There’s a couple of ways you can do this:

1. Look through your mail to see if your energy company has sent you a bill or statement.
2. Go to your email. If you use a service like Gmail, then you can use the search bar at the top of the page. Type in something like “energy” or “electricity.” You can even add additional keywords like “energy” and “bill” or “statement”
3. If you still can’t figure it out, reach out to our team at Power Wizard, and we can help you figure it out.