Electricity Providers in Arlington, Texas

Electricity rates in Arlington depend on a number of different factors, including the amount of electricity used, market rates and the consumer's location. Most of Texas' electric market is open to competition, including the Arlington area, providing you the opportunity to shop for the best rates for electricity.

If you've already looked over some of the competitive market offers for Arlington electricity, you may find yourself somewhat overwhelmed. With such a wide variety of suppliers, each claiming to offer the best rates for Arlington electricity yet proffering such a diverse range of plans, it can be quite difficult to do a comparison. The first thing you need to do is to decipher the different types of rates being offered.

Most Texas residents are familiar with variable rate plans, which change monthly depending on the rise and fall of the electricity market. The benefit to variable rates is that they are generally offered without requiring a long term contract.

An alternative to variable rates are fixed rate plans, which are becoming more popular in cities like Arlington. With a fixed plan, your electricity rate remains the same for a definitive length of time, which many customers prefer. However, should the electricity market go down, you will not be able to take advantage of the savings while you are under a fixed rate plan.

A third option you may see in Arlington are indexed rate plans. Indexed rates are tied to a specific rate formula delineated by the provider.

Deregulation in Arlington

In a regulated electricity market, one utility company is responsible to provide all aspects of the consumer's energy service requirements, passing energy prices directly to the consumer in addition to service costs. Consequently, energy bills tend to fluctuate with energy market fluctuations.

In a deregulated market, energy suppliers negotiate with multiple providers of natural gas and electricity. By purchasing large quantities of energy, they are able to offer fixed rates, price protection and green energy programs to the consumer. The actual energy is still delivered through the original utility, who manages the electric poles, wires, and maintenance functions. The major difference is that you have a choice, and by shopping around for your electricity supplier, you can get bonuses and perks offered by the various energy companies, along with the obvious benefits of stabilized energy costs, the option to select long-term fixed rate plans and the additional option to support green energy.

Green Energy Rates

Some energy suppliers provide the consumer with the option to support renewable energy sources by paying optional green energy rates. Your energy supply will still come from the same source, but the negative effects of your energy use will be offset through the use of renewable energy sources elsewhere in the grid.