How to Read a Texas Electricity Facts Label (EFL) Line by Line
Last updated: July 27, 2026
Every Texas electricity plan comes with a PUCT-mandated Electricity Facts Label (EFL) that shows pricing at 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh, itemized fees, contract length, and any bill credits or minimum-usage charges. Most people skim it once at signup and never look again — but the EFL is the only place that shows your plan's actual thresholds. This post walks through each section and flags the lines that matter most for your bill.
The document everyone skims once
If you’ve shopped for electricity in the Texas deregulated market — the one run by ERCOT, covering most of the state outside a few municipal and co-op areas — you’ve seen an Electricity Facts Label. It’s the one-page PDF every provider hands you before you sign a contract. Most people scroll past it, check the headline rate, and move on.
That’s a mistake, because the EFL is the only document that spells out the specific numbers that determine your bill: the fees, the contract length, and — on plans that have them — the usage threshold for a bill credit or a minimum-usage charge. Those numbers vary by plan and by provider. There’s no state-standard threshold. The only way to know yours is to read your own EFL.
Here’s what’s actually on it, section by section.
The three pricing tiers: 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh
Near the top of every EFL, Texas providers are required to show the average price per kWh at three usage levels: 500 kWh, 1,000 kWh, and 2,000 kWh. This trips people up constantly, so it’s worth being precise about what it means.
These are not tiered rates, and they don’t mean you pay one price for your first 500 kWh and a different price after that. Each number is a hypothetical: “if your total usage for the month were exactly this many kWh, your average price per kWh — including delivery charges and any base fees — would be this.” Since flat delivery and base charges get spread across however many kWh you use, your average price per kWh looks lower at 2,000 kWh than at 500 kWh, even on a plan with a flat per-kWh energy rate.
The useful move here is to find the tier closest to your own typical monthly usage and use that price, not whichever number the provider put in the biggest font in their marketing.
Fees, credits, and the fine print that actually moves your bill
Below the pricing table, the EFL lists itemized charges: energy charges, delivery charges (billed by your Texas TDU — Oncor, CenterPoint Energy, AEP Texas, or TNMP, depending on where you live), base monthly fees, and any additional charges specific to the plan.
This is where bill credits and minimum-usage fees show up, and it’s the section worth reading twice:
Bill credits. Some plans pay you back a fixed credit — commonly in the tens of dollars — once your usage for the cycle crosses a threshold. Miss the threshold by any amount, and most plans don’t prorate the credit; you simply don’t get it.
Minimum-usage fees. Other plans work the opposite way: a flat fee, often in the single digits to low teens of dollars, gets added if your usage falls below a separate, lower threshold for the cycle.
Neither, or both. Not every plan has either mechanic, and some technically could have both a credit and a fee at different thresholds. There’s no substitute for reading your specific plan’s EFL — a friend’s plan or a number you saw in an ad doesn’t tell you your own numbers.
The rest of the EFL covers contract term (typically ranging from a few months to a few years), early termination fees, and the percentage of the plan’s electricity sourced from renewables. These matter for comparison shopping but don’t fluctuate month to month the way usage-based fees and credits do.
What to actually do with this
Pull up your own EFL — it’s usually available through your provider’s online account or included in your original enrollment email — and locate three things: your contract’s usage-based fee or credit threshold (if any), the exact dollar amount tied to it, and your base monthly charge. Write those three numbers down somewhere you’ll actually see them again, because the EFL itself tends to get filed away and forgotten.
If your plan has a credit or fee threshold, the number that matters day to day isn’t what’s on the EFL — it’s how your actual usage is tracking against that number as your billing cycle progresses. The EFL tells you the target; it doesn’t tell you where you currently stand.
That’s the gap WattKicker is built to close — it pulls your Smart Meter Texas data and shows you in real time whether you’re on pace to clear your plan’s threshold, instead of finding out when the bill lands. You can see how it works at wattkicker.com.
Every EFL is different by design — that’s the whole point of a competitive market. Ten minutes with your own plan’s document, once, tells you more about your actual bill than any generic guide ever will.
FAQ
What is a Texas Electricity Facts Label (EFL)?
It's a standardized disclosure document the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) requires every retail electric provider to give customers before they sign up. It shows pricing, fees, contract terms, and renewable content in the same format across every provider, so plans can be compared side by side.
Why does my EFL show three different prices?
PUCT rules require providers to list the average price per kWh at 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh of monthly usage. These aren't tiered rates — they're just reference points showing how your average price changes at different usage levels, since fixed charges get spread over more kWh as usage rises.
Where on the EFL do I find my bill credit or minimum-usage fee?
Look in the fees and charges section, sometimes labeled 'Other Key Terms' or 'Minimum Usage Fee.' Not every EFL uses the same wording, and not every plan has a credit or fee at all — so check carefully rather than assuming your plan works like a previous one.
Do I need to re-read my EFL after I sign up?
Yes, especially if your usage is close to a threshold. The EFL doesn't change mid-contract, so the numbers on it are fixed for your term. Most providers won't proactively remind you what those numbers are once you're past signup, which is why it's worth pulling up your own EFL and checking.