Electricity

Timberwood is in the deregulated part of the Texas electricity market, so the wires and the bill come from two different companies.

Two companies

CenterPoint Energy handles transmission and distribution. They own the poles and the wires and the meter, and they are who restores power after a storm. In their own words, "We deliver but do not sell electricity."¹ Outages here are reported to CenterPoint no matter who sends the bill. CenterPoint cannot be switched.

The retail electric provider sells you the electricity and you pick that company out of dozens of them. Switching involves no physical work and no interruption. The same CenterPoint wires carry the power either way.

How the pricing works

Every plan comes with an Electricity Facts Label, and state rules require it to quote the average price at three usage levels for a house: 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh a month.² The average price at one level does not apply at another.

Some plans carry a minimum usage fee. The commission's guidance says the levels where a plan "might incur a fee are less than 500 or 1,000 kWh", and companies name that fee differently, so it has to be read off the label.³

The state runs a comparison site, powertochoose.org, "the official and unbiased electric choice website of the Public Utility Commission of Texas".⁴ The site "is available to all electric providers to list their offers for free", so it is a listing rather than a ranking.⁴

To compare plans against a specific house, take twelve months of actual kWh off past bills and compare at those usage levels.

Contracts, and what happens when you move

• If a contract ends and nothing is done, it rolls over. The commission says to renew or pick a new provider before it ends "in order to prevent being automatically switched to a month-to-month, variable rate plan".³
• Fixed plans usually carry an early termination fee, and moving cancels it. State rules say there "must be no early termination fee assessed to the customer as a result of the customer's relocation", as long as the customer gives a forwarding address and, if asked, proof of the move.²
• A contract covers one address. On a move, "the customer is under no obligation to continue the contract at another location".²

Outages

Outages go to CenterPoint and not to the retailer. The number is 713-207-2222 and it is also the number for a downed line.¹ A gas leak has its own number at 888-876-5786.¹ CenterPoint runs an outage tracker whose data refreshes "every five minutes".⁵ See storms and outages.

Home battery backup

Base Power sells electricity in Timberwood and will also install a home battery on the house.⁶ The battery is a subscription and not a purchase: there is an install fee and a monthly membership, and the equipment comes out if you cancel.

A battery does not change who turns the lights back on here. CenterPoint still owns the wires and outages still go to 713-207-2222.¹ What it changes is the wait, because the house runs off its own battery until the grid comes back.

One house on the street paid $995 to put in two batteries and pays $29 a month for them on top of the electricity. That is about two days of backup with the house going easy on what it runs. The receipt is on the listing, which also carries a neighbor's referral link. Base quotes by address, so another house here can be given a different number.⁶

Leaving another retailer. Base credits back the early termination fee the old company charges for switching away, up to $250 for a member with a battery and up to $150 for electricity alone. It is claimed by emailing Base the final bill showing the fee along with the Base account number, within 90 days of the day Base service starts.⁷

The referral credit runs both ways. Anybody in Timberwood who signs up through a neighbor's link and then completes 60 days of service gets a free month of power, up to $250, if a battery goes in and the house has no solar panels, or up to $150 without a battery. The neighbor whose link it was gets up to $250. Either credit lands within two billing cycles after those 60 days.⁷

Still open

How billing disputes were handled, and whether anyone has had a deposit waived and what it took to get it, since no provider publishes that. One retailer has a receipt on the roster so far and the rest of the street's are missing.