The average electric bill in Houston lands around $140 to $180 per month for a typical single-family home, but that range hides more than it reveals. The figure shifts depending on home square footage, the specific retail provider, whether the customer is on a fixed or variable rate, and which month of the year you pick. Comparing Houston to Austin, Dallas, or San Antonio without controlling for those variables produces noise, not insight.
This article breaks the averages down by city, explains the structural reasons the numbers differ, and gives readers a framework for deciding whether their own bill is in line with what comparable households pay.
Why City-Level Averages Are a Starting Point, Not a Verdict
A monthly average reported at the city level blends together apartments, 4,000-square-foot houses, retirees on fixed incomes running the AC at 78 degrees, and families of five who cool to 68. That average is useful as orientation, not diagnosis.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) publishes state-level residential averages broken down by utility service territory, but it does not publish city-level figures directly. The city-level numbers circulating online are typically derived from EIA data plus local utility load data, then weighted by housing stock. Treat them accordingly: directional, not precise.
With that caveat on the table, here is what the available data indicates for each major Texas metro.
Average Electric Bill in Houston
Houston sits inside the CenterPoint Energy distribution territory. Customers there shop for retail electricity on the competitive ERCOT grid, meaning the distribution charge (CenterPoint’s wires fee) is fixed by regulation, but the energy charge varies by provider and plan.
For a 1,000 kWh monthly usage level, which Texas Electricity Facts Labels use as a standard disclosure benchmark, Houston-area all-in bills (energy charge plus delivery charge plus taxes and fees) have typically fallen in the $130 to $160 range during moderate months and can push $180 to $220 during peak summer months when usage climbs. A household averaging 1,500 kWh per month, common in larger homes with older HVAC systems, routinely sees bills above $200 even on competitively priced fixed-rate plans.
The Houston heat load is the primary driver. CenterPoint’s territory includes some of the hottest and most humid zip codes in Texas. Cooling degree days in Houston consistently exceed those in Austin and Dallas on an annual basis, which means more hours of compressor runtime, which means higher kWh consumption at any given rate per kWh.
CenterPoint’s delivery charge is currently structured as a combination of a fixed customer charge (around $4 to $6 per month depending on rate class) plus a volumetric charge per kWh. That volumetric delivery component means the wires fee itself scales with usage, amplifying the total bill impact of high consumption months.
Average Electric Bill in Austin
Austin operates differently from Houston. Austin Energy is a municipally owned utility that serves as both the wires company and the retail provider. Customers inside Austin’s city limits do not shop on the competitive market. They receive Austin Energy’s published rate schedule, which is approved by Austin City Council.
As of the most recent Austin Energy rate schedule, residential customers pay a tiered volumetric energy rate that increases at higher usage bands, plus a flat monthly customer charge. The tiered structure is intentional: it penalizes high consumption more steeply than a flat-rate structure would. For a customer using 1,000 kWh per month, all-in bills typically land in the $100 to $130 range. A 1,500 kWh customer pays more per incremental kWh and will see bills closer to $160 to $190.
The comparison to Houston is instructive. Austin’s milder humidity profile reduces cooling loads somewhat relative to Houston, and Austin Energy’s tiered rate design produces lower bills for moderate-usage customers. High-usage customers in Austin face steeper marginal rates, which narrows the gap between the two cities at the top of the usage range.
Customers just outside Austin’s city limits, in areas served by Pedernales Electric Cooperative or Oncor-territory providers, experience a different rate structure entirely and should not assume Austin Energy benchmarks apply to their address.
Average Electric Bill in Dallas
Dallas falls inside Oncor’s distribution territory, the largest transmission and distribution utility in Texas by customer count. Like Houston, Dallas customers shop competitively for their retail electricity provider.
For a 1,000 kWh benchmark month, Dallas-area all-in bills have historically tracked slightly below Houston. The gap is modest, roughly $10 to $20 per month at comparable usage levels, and is primarily attributable to lower average cooling degree days in Dallas relative to coastal Houston. Dallas summers are hot, but they are drier. Drier air means slightly lower latent heat loads on HVAC systems, which translates to marginally lower kWh consumption per square foot of conditioned space.
Oncor’s delivery charge structure differs from CenterPoint’s in the specifics but is comparable in total cost impact at the 1,000 kWh level. The competitive energy charge, which is the component the customer controls through provider selection, can vary by $30 to $50 per month at 1,000 kWh depending on plan type and provider. That variance dwarfs the city-to-city delivery charge difference, which reinforces the point that provider and plan selection matters more to the final bill than geographic location within Texas.
Average Electric Bill in San Antonio
San Antonio, like Austin, operates outside the competitive ERCOT retail market in its core service territory. CPS Energy is a city-owned utility serving San Antonio and surrounding areas. Customers on CPS Energy’s standard residential rate receive a flat volumetric rate plus fixed customer charge year-round, plus a summer Peak Capacity Charge (June through September) on every kWh above 600, rather than the year-round tiered structure Austin Energy uses.
For a 1,000 kWh monthly usage level, CPS Energy bills have generally come in at the lower end of Texas city comparisons, in the $95 to $125 range during moderate months. CPS Energy has historically maintained lower residential rates than Austin Energy, though that gap has narrowed as both utilities have worked through infrastructure cost increases in recent years.
San Antonio’s inland location, combined with a relatively mild humidity profile compared to Houston, produces lower average cooling loads than the Gulf Coast metro. The combination of lower rates and lower average consumption results in the lowest typical bills among the four cities compared here.
Customers in Bexar County areas outside CPS Energy’s service boundary, where Bandera Electric Cooperative or other providers operate, will see different figures.
Putting the Four Cities Side by Side
The table below summarizes estimated all-in monthly bills at two common usage tiers for each city. These figures are derived from published utility rate schedules and EIA load data, calibrated to a standard single-family residential customer. They represent moderate-month averages, not peak summer months.
At 1,000 kWh per month:
- Houston (CenterPoint territory, competitive market): $130 to $160
- Dallas (Oncor territory, competitive market): $120 to $150
- Austin (Austin Energy, municipal): $100 to $130
- San Antonio (CPS Energy, municipal): $95 to $125
At 1,500 kWh per month:
- Houston: $195 to $230
- Dallas: $180 to $215
- Austin: $160 to $195
- San Antonio: $145 to $180
Two structural observations stand out. First, the competitive market cities (Houston and Dallas) show wider ranges at any given usage tier because the energy charge varies by provider. A Houston customer on a well-priced fixed-rate plan can close much of the gap with Austin Energy’s rate. A Houston customer who rolled onto a default variable rate after a contract expired can easily land at the high end of that range or above it. Second, the municipal utility cities show narrower ranges because there is no provider selection variable. The rate is the rate.
What Moves Your Bill More Than Your City
Once a customer understands the city-level baseline, the next question is what explains deviation from it. Four factors account for most of the variance:
Home size and insulation. Cooling load scales with conditioned square footage, ceiling height, window area, and attic insulation quality. A 2,500-square-foot home in Houston with a poorly insulated attic can consume 40 to 60 percent more kWh per month than a 1,500-square-foot home with modern insulation at the same thermostat setting.
HVAC age and efficiency. A 15-year-old unit rated at 10 SEER moves significantly less cooling per kWh than a current 16 to 18 SEER unit. On a 1,500 kWh baseline, the difference in equipment efficiency alone can represent 200 to 300 kWh per month in peak summer.
Rate type and contract status. In the competitive Houston and Dallas markets, a customer on a variable-rate plan during a summer price spike can see their effective energy rate increase by 3 to 5 cents per kWh relative to a locked fixed-rate plan. At 1,500 kWh, that is $45 to $75 of additional cost in a single month.
Usage tier and plan design. Some plans carry bill credits that activate at specific usage thresholds, typically 1,000 kWh or 2,000 kWh. LightCompanies has reviewed 11 plans in detail and flagged 10 of those 11 as high-gimmick structures where the headline rate understates actual cost outside the narrow qualifying usage band. (That figure reflects plans reviewed under LightCompanies’ active coverage program as of the August 2026 research cycle.) Customers comparing plans should calculate cost at their own actual usage, not the provider’s featured tier.
How to Benchmark Your Own Bill
The most reliable method is to pull 12 months of usage data from your utility’s online portal, calculate an average monthly kWh figure, and then apply that figure to the rate structure on your current plan’s Electricity Facts Label (EFL). The EFL is a standardized disclosure document required by PUCT for all competitive market plans; it shows the all-in price per kWh at 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh usage levels.
If the EFL math produces a number materially above the city-level range for your usage tier, the gap is worth investigating. It usually traces to one of three sources: a rate that has moved on a variable plan, a bill credit the customer no longer qualifies for, or a base charge that is unusually high relative to competitive alternatives.
For customers in the competitive Houston or Dallas markets, the practical implication is that shopping providers at contract renewal, using the EFL at your own usage level rather than the featured 1,000 kWh tier, can reduce the effective rate enough to move a bill from the high end of the city range to the low end. That difference is real money: at 1,500 kWh per month, the spread between a well-priced fixed plan and a poorly timed variable plan in the Houston market has historically exceeded $600 over a 12-month period.
City-level averages are a map. The EFL math at your actual usage is the territory.