Rhythm Energy is a Houston-based retail electricity provider that markets a 100% renewable, app-first product to Texas households. It launched in 2020, serves roughly 130,000 customers as of Q1 2026 (PUCT quarterly REP filings), and positions itself as the rate-transparency option in a market most analysts agree is hostile to comparison shopping.
LightCompanies rates Rhythm above Reliant and Gexa on rate transparency, on par with TXU on billing reliability, below TXU on customer service responsiveness, and above all three on renewable mix. Below the methodology and the scores.
Methodology
Every provider profile on LightCompanies uses the same five-dimension lens. The scores below come from these inputs.
Rate transparency. How closely the headline rate on Power to Choose matches the all-in rate at 1,000 kWh once base fees, TDU pass-through charges, and tiered penalties are added. A perfectly transparent provider would show the same number both places.
Billing reliability. PUCT complaint count for billing-related issues per 1,000 customers over the trailing four quarters. The lower the better.
Customer service responsiveness. Average phone wait time during business hours, sampled across multiple weekdays in March-April 2026. Median of 10 calls. Source: LightCompanies internal sampling.
Plan flexibility. Number of distinct contract lengths offered, presence of month-to-month options, ETF amount, and explicit early-termination waiver triggers.
Renewable mix. EFL-disclosed percentage of supply from renewable sources, cross-referenced against PUCT-filed Renewable Energy Credit retirements.
Each dimension is scored 1 to 5 against a comparison set of the same three providers: TXU Energy, Reliant Energy, and Gexa Energy. These four together hold roughly 38% of the deregulated residential market in Texas.
Rate transparency: 4 / 5
Rhythm’s Power to Choose listings publish the headline kWh rate, the base fee, and the average price at 500/1,000/2,000 kWh. The headline rate at 1,000 kWh in the current 12-month fixed plan is 10.4¢. The all-in average at the same usage tier, including a $9.95 monthly base fee, is 11.5¢.
The 1.1¢ delta is one of the smaller gaps in the comparison set. Reliant’s same-tier comparison runs about 1.8¢, TXU’s about 2.1¢, and Gexa’s about 2.6¢. Rhythm’s relative transparency comes from a smaller base fee structure and the absence of usage-tier penalties that cause some Gexa and Reliant plans to bill at higher per-kWh rates outside narrow usage windows.
Rhythm loses a point on the disclosure of TDU pass-through behavior. The EFL discloses a TDU charge component but does not break out the specific Oncor or CenterPoint rate schedule the customer falls under. A reader who is on AEP Central or TNMP territory will pay a different delivery charge than the Oncor reference used in many Rhythm marketing examples.
Billing reliability: 3 / 5
Rhythm’s PUCT-reportable complaints over the trailing four quarters total 41 billing-category complaints per 100,000 customers. The comparison set:
- TXU Energy: 28 per 100,000
- Reliant Energy: 47 per 100,000
- Rhythm Energy: 41 per 100,000
- Gexa Energy: 63 per 100,000
Rhythm ranks between TXU and Reliant. The 41 figure has been stable across the past three quarterly snapshots, which suggests structural billing infrastructure rather than an isolated quarter of issues.
The dominant complaint categories for Rhythm are auto-pay edge cases (33% of billing complaints in Q4 2025) and prorated final bills on move-out (28%). The auto-pay issue cluster has been a known weakness in Rhythm’s customer base since 2024 and has not measurably improved.
Customer service responsiveness: 2 / 5
LightCompanies sampled Rhythm’s customer service line ten times in March-April 2026, distributed across weekdays and across morning, midday, and afternoon windows. Median hold time before reaching a live agent was 18 minutes. The longest wait sampled was 47 minutes. The shortest was 9 minutes.
The comparison set medians:
- TXU Energy: 6 minutes
- Reliant Energy: 14 minutes
- Rhythm Energy: 18 minutes
- Gexa Energy: 24 minutes
Rhythm ranks below TXU and Reliant. The pattern across the sample suggests Rhythm staffs its phone channel below the volume needed during peak hours, and routes heavily toward the in-app chat support instead. The in-app chat does perform better, median response 4 minutes in the same sample window, but only if the customer has the app installed and active.
For a customer with a routine billing question, Rhythm’s app channel is competitive. For a customer in a non-routine situation (cutoff threat, disputed charge, third-party authorization), the phone wait is a real friction point.
Plan flexibility: 4 / 5
Rhythm offers 12-month, 24-month, and 36-month fixed plans, plus a month-to-month variable. The 36-month plan is unusual in the Texas market and worth flagging for households that prefer maximum price certainty.
ETF amounts run $150 on the 12-month and $295 on the 24-month and 36-month plans. The 36-month ETF, while not the highest in the market, is significant if life circumstances change. Rhythm waives the ETF on a verified move outside its service footprint, consistent with PUCT requirements.
Rhythm does not offer prepaid plans, free-nights plans, or solar-buyback plans. For a customer who wants any of those products, Rhythm is not the right provider regardless of how it scores on the other dimensions.
Renewable mix: 5 / 5
Rhythm’s EFL discloses 100% of supply from renewable sources, matched by Renewable Energy Credit (REC) retirements filed quarterly with the PUCT and verified against ERCOT’s REC tracking database. The REC retirement filings show retirement of approximately 1.4 million MWh of Texas wind RECs and 0.3 million MWh of Texas solar RECs over the trailing four quarters, which matches Rhythm’s reported customer load within rounding.
The comparison set: TXU offers a 100% renewable product on a single plan, Reliant offers a 50% blend as default, and Gexa offers a 100% green product at a premium tier. Rhythm is the only provider in the set whose entire portfolio is 100% renewable by default. There is no greenwashing math required to interpret the figure.
Overall LightCompanies score: 18 / 25
LightCompanies rates Rhythm above Reliant (15/25) and Gexa (13/25), at parity with TXU (18/25) on overall score with a different shape: TXU wins on billing reliability and customer service responsiveness, Rhythm wins on rate transparency and renewable mix, and the two tie on plan flexibility.
Who Rhythm fits
A household that wants 100% renewable supply, uses the company’s app for routine support, and values rate transparency over service-channel responsiveness. Anyone shopping primarily on lowest 12-month fixed rate at 1,000 kWh should also check Gexa and TXU at the same usage tier; Rhythm is competitive but not always the leader.
Who should look elsewhere
A household that needs prepaid lights, solar buyback, or a free-nights product. Rhythm does not offer these. A household with a track record of needing phone support for non-routine billing issues should rate the 18-minute hold time honestly against TXU’s 6-minute median.
Data and methodology notes
PUCT complaint figures from the quarterly Aggregated REP Complaint reports, Q4 2025 release. Customer service phone times sampled by LightCompanies on consumer phone numbers, not the agent-only escalation line. EFL figures pulled from Power to Choose listings as of May 2026. REC retirement data from ERCOT’s REC database, accessed May 2026.
Scores reset quarterly. The next LightCompanies score update for Rhythm Energy will publish on or around August 1, 2026, reflecting Q2 2026 PUCT data.