If you’re shopping around for Texas electricity rates, it’s critical to dive into the details before making a decision. If you are looking for the cheapest electricity rates for you, you’re going to have to do some math (simple math, don’t worry).

Ambit Energy rates display average rates that include all charges and fees, including delivery charges from your local Texas delivery company. This is the case for just about any other electricity provider in Texas.

(Examples of delivery companies include Oncor, CenterPoint, TNMP and others.)

The first and most important thing to know is that average electricity rates in Texas are a calculation. To put it simply (we’ll look at the details below), it’s all charges and fees added up and then divided by the kWh used.

This can get confusing if you’re comparing rates online and you don’t know what you’re looking at. Just going off the number you see on a website isn’t enough! You have to look into the details if you want to compare Ambit Energy rates the right way.

For example, if Company A displays a rate of 7 cents per kWh and Company B displays 11 cents per kWh, you can almost guarantee that you cannot do an apples-to-apples comparison just by looking at those numbers.

Many Texas electricity companies, including Ambit Energy, offer different options and customized plans based on different types of usage and preferences.

Let’s look at a popular plan as an example. The plan below is based on rates in early 2019 in the Oncor delivery territory in North Texas.

Ambit Energy Lone Star Plus 12

This plan is customized for people who use around 1,300-2,000 kWh per month.

Here’s how and why…

The Ambit Energy Lone Star Plus 12 plan includes a hefty discount for the kWh hours between 1,351 and 2,000. At the time of this post, that rate for usage in that range was 3.7 cents per kWh.

The charge for every kWh used from 1 to 1,350 kWh was 8.6 cents. For every kWh used over 2,000, the charge was 16.5 cents.

This plan also includes a $9.95 base charge from Ambit Energy.

At this point, you’re probably screaming, “CAN’T YOU JUST TELL ME THE RATE!?!?”

Well, that’s the whole point of this blog post… it’s just not THAT simple.

And that’s why SO many people in Texas get deceived by electricity rates they don’t understand, even if they think they do understand them.

As we mentioned earlier, the delivery fees from Oncor also have to be included. At the time, this included a $3.42 flat charge PLUS $0.036922 per kWh used.

OK, so now what do we do with all that info to figure the Ambit Energy rate for that plan? We do math.

Let’s say you used 1,900 kWh in a one-month billing cycle. Here’s what the math looks like:

1 to 1,350 kWh at 8.6 cents per kWh (1,350 x 0.086) = $116.10

+

1,351 to 1,900 at 3.7 center per kWh (550 x 0.037) = $20.35

+

$9.95 (Ambit Energy base charge)

+

$3.42 (Oncor flat charge)

+

1,900 kWh at $0.036922 (Oncor charge) = $70.15

=

$219.97

\

1,900 kWh

=

11.6 cents per kWh

Still with me? Cool.

So, as you can see, the average rate that includes ALL charges and fees from both Ambit Energy and the local delivery company MUST be calculated based on your actual usage. Otherwise, you simply cannot do a true and fair rate comparison.

Since there basically are two different types of charges, you have to break down the details of the plan. There are rates based on the kWh used and flat or base fees. So, to know the actual average rate, which is what is displayed for any Texas electricity provider, you have to do the math based on your actual usage.

Of course, your usage will change from month to month, but you probably have a good idea on your average monthly usage. You’re not going to go from 600 kWh in a month to 2,000 kWh.

Ambit Energy makes it easier on you with a simple toggle tool based on 500 kWh, 1,000 kWh or 2,000 kWh so you can see about what your average rate would calculate to be based on your usage.

If you want to see the details of any plan, just click the “View Plan Info” link. You also can read the detailed facts by downloading the Electric Facts Label for any plan.

The post Understanding Ambit Energy Rates in Texas appeared first on Join Ambitious Energy.