What a Normal Texas Electricity Bill Actually Looks Like (EIA Data)
A typical Texas household uses about 1,095 kWh a month and pays an average rate of 15.94¢/kWh (EIA, 06/2026), which works out to roughly $175 for a normal month. That's below the 18.34¢/kWh US average rate, but Texans use more electricity, which narrows the gap. Real bills swing widely by usage, home size, and season.
Here's a number worth sitting with: the average Texas home uses about 1,095 kWh a month, according to EIA data for 2026, and the average Texas rate sits at 15.94¢/kWh (EIA average, 06/2026). Multiply those together and you land near $175 for a 'normal' month. Except almost nobody has a normal month in Texas, because August exists, and because your neighbor's usage in Katy has nothing to do with yours in Austin.
Texas Rates Are Lower Than the US Average, But Usage Erases the Advantage
You've probably heard Texas has cheap electricity, and by the per-kWh number, that's true. The EIA's 06/2026 average puts the Texas residential rate at 15.94¢/kWh, compared to 18.34¢/kWh nationally. That's a real gap, about two and a half cents on every kilowatt-hour. But here's the part that gets left out of that bragging point: Texans use more electricity than the national average, 1,095 kWh a month here versus 870 kWh nationally (EIA, 2026). Bigger homes, longer cooling seasons, more square footage per household. So the lower rate buys you less relief than the headline suggests, because you're running the meter harder to begin with.
What a Normal Bill Looks Like at 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh
Numbers land better when you can see them stacked up. Using the EIA's average Texas rate of 15.94¢/kWh as the anchor, here's what a bill would run at a few common usage levels, from a light-usage apartment to a house that's been running two AC units nonstop. This is a worked example, not a live plan price, but it gives you a real yardstick for where your own bill should fall.
Calculated using the EIA average Texas residential rate. Your actual plan's rate and fees will differ; this shows the shape of the curve, not a live price.
- Energy charge: the price per kWh you pay your retail electricity provider, the number quoted on your plan's Electricity Facts Label (EFL).
- TDU delivery charges: fees your local utility, like Oncor or CenterPoint, charges to move power to your house. Same charge no matter which provider you pick.
- Base or membership fees: a flat monthly charge some plans tack on regardless of how much you use.
- Taxes and small regulatory fees: usually a small slice of the total, but they're part of what you actually pay per kWh.
Why August Bills Are a Different Animal Entirely
The 1,095 kWh Texas average is a yearly figure, and it flattens out the swing that actually hits your bank account in the summer. Your city matters more than you'd think here. On Voltcheckr's city usage estimates, Katy homes average around 1,500 kWh a month, and Houston runs about 1,420. Sugar Land and Pearland sit near 1,420 to 1,450 too, all CenterPoint territory, all humid, all running AC hard for months at a time. Meanwhile Austin averages closer to 1,060 kWh and Round Rock around 1,100, drier air and generally smaller footprints pulling the number down. Same state, very different meters spinning. (Not even the same shopping options, either: Austin proper is served by its municipal utility, so it's the CenterPoint and Oncor cities here that shop the competitive market.)
Among the bills people have actually uploaded to Voltcheckr in the last 90 days (176 distinct bills), the median monthly bill was $315.00 and the average was $423.35, both higher than what the EIA's statewide averages alone would suggest. Of the subset that yielded a usable rate (68 bills), the median effective rate came out to 17.45¢/kWh, about a cent and a half above the 15.94¢/kWh Texas average. This is a self-selected group of people checking whether they're paying too much, not a statewide sample, but it's a real reminder that 'average' doesn't mean 'your bill.'
The trap here is comparing your bill to a single statewide average dollar figure and calling it a day. A studio apartment in Austin at 900 kWh and a four-bedroom house in Katy at 1,500 kWh are both 'Texas households,' but their normal bills look nothing alike. Compare your effective rate (total bill divided by total kWh) against the EIA benchmark, not your raw dollar total against someone else's.
Pull out your last bill, divide the total dollars by the total kWh used, and you've got your real effective rate. If that number is meaningfully north of 15.94¢/kWh, that's worth a second look, especially heading into or coming out of an August billing cycle when usage (and often your plan's tiered pricing) shifts the math.
The EIA averages are a solid yardstick, but they're last month's snapshot of the whole state, not a live quote for your address. See what plans are actually available at your usage level right now.
Compare live rates for your homeFrequently asked questions
Based on EIA data from 06/2026, the Texas average residential rate is 15.94¢/kWh and average usage is 1,095 kWh a month, which lands around $175 for a typical household. Your actual bill depends heavily on your plan, your home, and the month.
Summer air conditioning pushes usage well above the yearly average. Cities like Katy run around 1,500 kWh a month and Houston around 1,420, versus a cooler-weather city like Austin at 1,060, per Voltcheckr's city usage estimates. More kWh used just means more kWh multiplied by your rate.
The rate is, yes. Texas averages 15.94¢/kWh versus 18.34¢/kWh nationally (EIA, 06/2026). But Texans use more power on average, 1,095 kWh versus 870 kWh nationally, so the total bill gap shrinks even though the per-kWh price is lower.
Divide your total bill by your total kWh used to get your effective rate, then compare that to the EIA Texas average of 15.94¢/kWh. Comparing your effective rate matters more than comparing the raw dollar total, since usage varies so much by household and season.
Most bills bundle an energy charge from your retail provider, TDU delivery charges from your local utility like Oncor or CenterPoint, and sometimes a flat base or membership fee plus small taxes. All of that together is what makes up your true effective rate.