For residential electric customers trying to find a competitive electric rate it can be a little confusing because if you have visited some of the energy comparison sites out there it looks like every one is pricing real close to each other. I have seen Houston residential electric rates that were between 14 - 12 cents kWh which is a little rich for my blood. If you dig around you can find some cheaper Houston electric prices but it sometimes does take some digging. A residential electric rate with a Houston electric company should be between 10.9 - 12 cents kWh to be competitive. The energy price should be fixed and not a fluctuating variable rate. The problem with a variable rate is that it will likely be low the first month but will then change on you as you get further into the contract. Before you realize it your Houston home electric bill is much higher then you ever anticipated on paying. This is the main issue with variable electric rates. If you are going to get into a variable electric rate just make sure that the energy company is not requiring that you sign a monthly term contract. Since the Houston electric provider is able to change the energy price at will you should not be required to lock into a contract.
I hope the warning on variable electric rate contracts has set in and made an impression because many people have been stung by this type of product. A better solution to wait out high electric prices in Houston is to sign up with an electric company on a shorter term fixed rate contract. You can sign up with Affordable Energy on a 6 month fixed rate contract at a pretty affordable price and then after the 6 months is up go back out and see if rates have come down.
Many people try to pay attention to the supposed seasonality of electric rates. The issue with this is that seasonality is already built into the electric rate. There are even futures markets that incorporate the weather predictions for the coming year in their energy contract. These futures contracts then effect real time electric rates being offered by Texas electric providers. If the summer is hotter then expected you will see electric rates go up instead of down. If the winter is colder then expected you will see electric rates in Houston go up. Weather is very unpredictable and it is weather’s unpredictableness that causes electric rates to do the unexpected. The best thing to do is go ahead and make your own hunch about what electric rates might do during the year and pick a fixed rate contract, whether it be for 6 months or 12 months. The point here is to pick something, anything, other then a variable market rate.