Texas Free Nights Power Plans: Compare True Cost at 1,000 kWh

"Free nights" sounds like a cheat code for your electric bill. Use power after dark, pay nothing for that energy, sleep easy. In competitive Texas, the pitch is real enough to show up next to plain fixed-rate plans on the official shopping site—but the number that usually wins the sort order, the average price at 1,000 kWh, is not a promise about your house. It is a model built on assumptions about when you use electricity, not only how much.

This guide is for people shopping, switching, renewing, or starting service who want the true monthly cost of a free-nights plan at the 1,000 kWh benchmark Texas shoppers are told to use for apples-to-apples comparisons. The same habits help small businesses and readers in other choice states, even when the brand names differ.

Why the 1,000 kWh Average Is Easy to Misread

Texas shopping culture centers on one practical question: what will you pay per kilowatt-hour based on about 1,000 kWh of monthly usage? That round figure sits close to typical U.S. residential purchases. The ¹ reports that in 2022 the average annual electricity sold to a U.S. residential customer was 10,791 kWh—about 899 kWh per month. A 1,000 kWh comparison stick is not exotic; it is roughly a medium-usage home. Smaller apartments often live nearer the 500 kWh column on an Electricity Facts Label (EFL). Larger all-electric houses, pools, and EV chargers can live above 2,000.

Advertised rates frequently use that 1,000 or 2,000 kWh level as the headline, which is why shoppers who only glance at the teaser can overpay when their real usage or timing differs. ² puts it plainly: the rate you see in an ad is often the rate at one specific usage level, and bill credits or tiers can make that number look far better than what you pay if you miss the threshold.

For free-nights products, the trap is sharper. The ³ explains that average price calculations for time-of-use service on the EFL and on ⁴ rest on each retailer's estimate of how much energy falls in free or discounted hours versus premium hours. Those estimates and hours "vary from REP to REP and from product to product." If your nights do not match the model's nights, the 1,000 kWh average on the label drifts—and the regulator's own warning is that your bill may actually increase if you do not shift usage.

How Texas Retail Choice Splits Your Bill

In much of Texas open to competition, you do not buy one bundled product from a single utility. You choose a retail electric provider (REP) that sells the energy plan. A separate transmission and distribution utility (TDU)—the wires company—delivers power, maintains poles and lines, and reads the meter. ⁵, one of the four TDSPs in deregulated zones, spells out that REPs market and bill electricity while TDSPs deliver and meter it, and that customers can pull historic usage from Smart Meter Texas. The other major TDSPs Oncor lists are CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, Texas-New Mexico Power, and AEP Texas.

⁴ is the official, unbiased electric choice website of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, where certified providers may list offers. Enter your ZIP, confirm your TDU if prompted, and compare plans. If no plans appear, your ZIP may not be in a competitive area, a caveat ⁶ when explaining Texas retail shopping.

Most of the state sits inside the ⁷ region, which manages power flow to more than 27 million Texas customers—about 90 percent of the state's electric load—and administers retail switching for about 8 million premises in competitive choice areas. That wholesale and switching role is why changing REPs does not change who owns the poles outside your house.

Delivery charges do not vanish because a plan says "free." ⁸ notes that transmission and distribution charges appear on every bill regardless of which retailer you pick, and that in deregulated Texas those delivery rates are set by the local utility under PUCT oversight. Oncor's delivery materials make the same point: Oncor bills the REP for delivery, and the REP passes those regulated costs through on your bill. Free nights almost always means free energy charge during a defined window—not free poles, meters, or policy riders.

What "Free Nights" Means—and What It Does Not

Free nights plans are a flavor of time-of-use (TOU) service. The ³ describes time-of-use service as including incentives to use power during certain periods such as nights or weekends. Three details separate marketing from math:

1. Free applies only to defined hours. Exact free and premium windows vary by retailer and product. A 9 p.m.–6 a.m. window is not the same product as 8 p.m.–7 a.m., and holiday rules may not match your calendar.

1. Daytime power is priced higher to offset free hours. The retailer recovers cost through non-free or premium periods. That is why a plan can post a competitive average at 1,000 kWh while charging a steep weekday daytime energy rate.

1. The EFL average embeds a usage split you may not match. The PUCT states that average prices on the EFL and Power to Choose are based on the REP's estimation of free versus non-free shares, that your average will vary with your actual mix, that shifting usage to discounted times maximizes benefit, and that failing to shift can raise your bill. Contact the REP if your interval data suggests you diverge from the illustration.

Free nights is not a fixed-rate plan. On a fixed-rate plan, the ³ says your price per kWh will not change during the contract period except for changes in transmission and distribution fees, certain ERCOT or Texas Regional Entity administrative fees, or fees from new laws beyond the REP's control. Timing of your usage does not rewrite that energy price. Free nights is also different from a variable plan, which can move month to month at the company's discretion, or an indexed plan tied to a published formula.

Treat the "free" headline the way consumer regulators treat other bold claims: as an invitation to verify numbers. The ⁹ enforces federal rules against deceptive advertising; pair that skepticism with Texas-specific documents—the EFL, the Terms of Service, and the clock hours that actually count as free.

¹⁰ and its ¹¹ make the same core point: free periods package off-peak physics into a retail product, but you still pay for wires, riders, and the retailer's margin outside the energy giveaway.

How to Rebuild True Cost at 1,000 kWh

Do not stop at the published average. Rebuild a month with your own free-hour share. The method below mirrors the true-cost approach used for other Texas time-of-use products at the 1,000 kWh stick, including ⁶.

Step 1 — Pull your usage shape, not just the monthly total. Chart 12 months of kWh from past bills. ¹² notes that most Texas homes use between 1,000 and 2,000 kWh per month, with wide variation by home size, climate, and habits—and that summer usage can be two or three times winter usage in warmer climates. Where available, pull interval data from Smart Meter Texas so you can see how many kilowatt-hours already fall inside a candidate free window.

Step 2 — Open the Fact Sheet (EFL) for every finalist. Texas requires an EFL for each plan so customers can compare offers on a common scale. The label shows average price per kWh at 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh, plus fees, contract terms, and renewable content. ¹³ describes that average as a modeled bundle—energy charge, base fees, and TDU pass-through—not a single energy rate you multiply blindly.

Step 3 — Write down the paid-hour energy rate and the free window. Confirm start and end times, weekday versus weekend treatment, and whether delivery charges continue during free hours. Plans differ; the PUCT says free or discounted hours vary by REP and product.

Step 4 — Estimate free versus paid kWh for a 1,000 kWh month. Example splits used in the next section: 20% free / 80% paid; 35% free / 65% paid; 50% free / 50% paid. Smart-meter history beats vibes. If you lack intervals, audit weekday occupancy, HVAC runtime, laundry, dishwashing, and EV charging for two weeks rather than assuming "we do everything at night."

Step 5 — Apply the energy math, then add recurring fees.

Energy dollars ≈ (paid_kWh × paid_rate) + (free_kWh × 0 for the energy line, if that is how the EFL defines free)

Then add base charges and any minimum-usage fees the EFL discloses. Convert back:

True ¢/kWh ≈ ((Energy $ + monthly recurring $) / 1000) × 100

Step 6 — Compare three numbers. Your rebuilt true average; the plan's published 1,000 kWh EFL average; and a simple fixed-rate alternative's 1,000 kWh average in the same ZIP. If your rebuilt cost exceeds the fixed plan under a realistic free-hour share, the free nights are entertainment, not savings.

Translate a published average into dollars when you need a quick screen: estimated monthly cost ≈ (average ¢/kWh at 1,000 ÷ 100) × 1,000. Example: 14.0¢ at 1,000 kWh is about $140 in modeled supply-plus-delivery before taxes and one-off fees—only as good as the assumptions underneath.

Worked Examples: Three Patterns at 1,000 kWh

The numbers below are illustrative placeholders—not live market quotes. Retail offers rotate constantly. The point is the method. Suppose Plan F is a conventional fixed-rate product with an all-in EFL average of 14.0¢/kWh at 1,000 kWh after recurring fees. Suppose Plan N is a free-nights product whose Fact Sheet shows a daytime energy charge of 22.0¢/kWh, a $10 monthly base charge, and a published average of 13.5¢/kWh at 1,000 kWh that assumes a generous free-hour share from the retailer.

For Plan N, ignore the published 13.5¢ for a moment and rebuild:

Pattern A — Daytime-heavy home (20% free / 800 paid kWh). Energy = 800 × $0.22 = $176. Plus $10 base = $186. True average = 18.6¢/kWh. Versus Plan F at 14.0¢, you lose about $46 on the same 1,000 kWh. This is the household the PUCT warning is written for.

Pattern B — Balanced (35% free / 650 paid kWh). Energy = 650 × $0.22 = $143. Plus $10 = $153. True average = 15.3¢/kWh. Still behind the 14.0¢ fixed placeholder, but the gap shrinks.

Pattern C — Night-shifted (50% free / 500 paid kWh). Energy = 500 × $0.22 = $110. Plus $10 = $120. True average = 12.0¢/kWh. Now Plan N beats the 14.0¢ fixed placeholder by about $20 at 1,000 kWh—if you can hold that 50% free share through a Texas summer.

Notice how Plan N's published 13.5¢ average only "fits" someone near the retailer's assumed mix. Pattern A and Pattern C are not looking at the same product in economic terms, even though the plan name is identical. That is exactly what the ³ means when it says average price calculations rest on estimated free versus non-free percentages.

Summer stress-tests the model. ¹⁴ notes that electricity demand is usually highest in the afternoon and early evening, that wholesale prices reflect real-time supply conditions, and that retail prices are usually highest in summer when more expensive generation is needed. A 1,000 kWh August bill driven by weekday afternoon air conditioning is structurally hard on a plan that makes daytime power expensive—even if your annual average sits near 1,000.

Fees, Delivery Pass-Throughs, and Contract Landmines

Energy rates get the headlines. Fees decide whether the headlines survive contact with the bill.

Base charges and minimum-use traps. A flat monthly fee raises effective cents/kWh more at low usage than at 1,000 kWh. At 500 kWh, a $10 base is 2.0¢/kWh by itself; at 1,000 kWh it is 1.0¢/kWh. ¹⁵ flags base charges often in the $5–$15 range, early termination fees that can run from about $50 to $300 or more, and usage-threshold designs that punish households that miss the band the plan was engineered for. Free-nights shoppers who travel in shoulder months and land below a plan minimum should read the EFL carefully.

TDU delivery still ticks. Oncor's ⁵ explains that residential delivery includes fixed monthly pieces and variable per-kWh pieces under a PUCT-approved tariff, and that high bills often track high usage periods such as summer air conditioning. Prefer documents that state which bill components are zeroed in the free window. Prefer the EFL's all-in average methodology over a brochure that quotes only the energy charge.

Contract length and exit costs. The ¹⁶ notes that early termination fees, when applicable, are disclosed in the Terms of Service and EFL, and that REPs must notify residential customers at least 30 days before a contract expires. Free nights does not change that clock. Ask what happens at expiration—many plans can roll to a higher month-to-month price if you do nothing.

Advertising vs. disclosure. Use Power to Choose filters for time-or-day pricing, and consider screening out minimum-usage and tiered products until you understand them. Compare at least one fixed-rate finalist at the same 1,000 kWh benchmark before you enroll.

Who Free Nights Helps—and Who Should Pass

Good fit signals

• You can move flexible load—EV charging, dishwashers, laundry, pool pumps—into the plan's free window consistently, aligning with the PUCT's guidance to shift usage to discounted times.
• A meaningful share of your monthly kWh already occurs overnight, matching the REP's EFL assumptions.
• You will monitor usage after enrollment and switch if behavior does not match the product.

Poor fit signals

• Heavy daytime cooling, work-from-home daytime load, or equipment that must run on premium hours.
• You want predictable budgeting—the PUCT positions fixed-rate plans as helpful for household budgeting because the energy rate does not change during the term except for limited pass-throughs.
• You are comparing solely on the 1,000 kWh sort order without reading the TOU footnotes.

¹⁴ also reminds readers that retail electricity prices are usually highest for residential and commercial consumers because distribution at lower voltages costs more per kWh than serving industrial load. Free nights does not repeal that economics—it reshapes when you pay more for the energy portion.

Small businesses should add another layer. A café that truly idles overnight might capture value; a storefront that peaks at lunch should be skeptical. Peak demand charges, operating hours that miss the free window, and landlord-metered spaces can wipe out residential-style nights math. Use interval data when possible.

A Practical Shopping Workflow

1. Gather 12 months of bills; note months near 1,000 kWh and August spikes.
2. Start on ⁴; enter your ZIP and confirm your TDU.
3. Set estimated usage to 1,000 kWh; filter for time-of-use or time/day pricing if you want free nights; keep fixed-rate alternatives in the same shortlist.
4. Open every Fact Sheet. Record average ¢/kWh at 500 / 1,000 / 2,000, free-hour definitions, daytime energy rates, base charges, minimum-use rules, contract length, and early termination fees.
5. Rebuild true cost with your free-hour share before you click enroll.
6. Sanity-check outliers against broader price context. ¹⁷ lists a statewide average retail price of 9.79 cents/kWh across all sectors (an all-sector macro benchmark, not your REP quote). ¹⁸ shows Texas residential customers at 16.44¢/kWh in May 2026 and 15.53¢/kWh in May 2025—useful backdrop for spotting offers that deserve extra EFL scrutiny, not a substitute for your Fact Sheet.
7. Contact the REP if your interval data diverges from the illustration—the PUCT directs customers to contact the REP before deciding on time-of-use service.

If You Are Outside Competitive Texas

Not every U.S. address can choose among dozens of REPs. Some states keep bundled utility service; others open retail choice with different shopping sites and disclosure labels. ¹⁴ notes that some utilities offer time-of-day pricing to encourage conservation and cut peak demand, and that some states fully regulate prices while others mix competitive generation with regulated wires. Readers in Ohio, Maryland, and other choice markets will recognize the supply-versus-delivery split even when the labels differ.

The Texas 1,000 kWh habit still travels well: demand an all-in monthly cost at a stated usage, separate delivery from generation, and treat "free nights" as a time-of-use product whose savings depend on your interval pattern—not on the slogan.

Bottom Line

A free-nights plan is a bet that you can place enough of a 1,000 kWh month inside the free window to offset an expensive daytime remainder. Texas regulators already tell you the published averages are assumption-based, that failure to shift usage can raise your bill, and that serious shoppers compare all-in prices—including TDU and recurring fees—on the EFL and ⁴. Do that math once with your real meter habits. If the nights are not carrying enough kilowatt-hours, take the fixed-rate win and enjoy overnight laundry for a different reason: no bill spreadsheet required.

Editorial consolidation

Households closer to 2,000 kWh/month should still start here: compare the Electricity Facts Label average at both 1,000 and 2,000 kWh, because “free nights” plans often look cheaper at one usage band and more expensive at the other. The former 2,000 kWh variant of this page now redirects here so search engines keep a single URL.

Related: How time-of-use electricity plans work.