TDU delivery charges in Texas are calculated with a simple formula: a flat monthly customer charge, plus a flat monthly metering charge, plus a per-kilowatt-hour volumetric rate multiplied by the electricity your home pulled from the grid that billing cycle. As of March 2026, the fixed pieces together run about $3.24 to $7.85 per month depending on your utility, and the volumetric rate runs from roughly 5.0 to 7.2 cents per kWh. The Public Utility Commission of Texas sets every one of these numbers, and they appear identically on your bill no matter which retail electric provider sells you power.
The Three Inputs to the Calculation
Every residential delivery charge is built from three line items. Two are fixed; one scales with usage.
The customer charge is a flat monthly fee that covers the administrative cost of maintaining your account and connection. It does not change with usage. Across the five Texas TDUs in 2026, it ranges from $1.13 to $2.11 per month.1Public Utility Commission of Texas. Transmission and Distribution Utility Rates
The metering charge is a separate flat fee covering your smart meter and the reading, maintenance, and data transmission behind it. It varies more between utilities than the customer charge does, from $1.97 to $6.72 per month.1Public Utility Commission of Texas. Transmission and Distribution Utility Rates
The volumetric charge is a per-kWh rate applied to your total consumption for the billing period. This is the only piece that moves with how much power you use. In a hot August with the AC running, this line dwarfs the fixed charges; in a mild April, it may not. Current rates run about 5.0 to 7.2 cents per kWh.1Public Utility Commission of Texas. Transmission and Distribution Utility Rates
Some retail providers combine the customer and metering charges into a single “TDU delivery charge” line, which is why the fixed dollar amount on your bill may not match either figure individually. Oncor, for instance, describes its residential fixed piece as a combined $4.23 per month plus about 5 cents per kWh.2Oncor Electric Delivery. Understanding the Oncor Part of Your Electric Bill
Current 2026 Rates by TDU
Your service address determines which of the five investor-owned TDUs delivers your power, and you cannot switch. As of March 1, 2026, the residential delivery rates approved by the PUCT are:1Public Utility Commission of Texas. Transmission and Distribution Utility Rates
- AEP Texas Central: $1.27 customer + $1.97 metering + 5.9000¢ per kWh
- AEP Texas North: $1.27 customer + $1.97 metering + 5.9000¢ per kWh
- CenterPoint Energy: $2.11 customer + $2.79 metering + 4.9993¢ per kWh
- Oncor Electric Delivery: $1.43 customer + $2.80 metering + 5.6183¢ per kWh
- Texas-New Mexico Power (TNMP): $1.13 customer + $6.72 metering + 7.2370¢ per kWh
The spread matters. At 1,000 kWh of monthly usage, a CenterPoint customer pays about $54.89 in delivery charges while a TNMP customer pays roughly $80.59. That difference has nothing to do with your electricity plan; it comes entirely from where you live.1Public Utility Commission of Texas. Transmission and Distribution Utility Rates
Running the Numbers on Your Bill
Once you know your TDU’s rates, the math is straightforward. Take an Oncor customer who used 1,200 kWh in a billing cycle:
- Fixed charges: $1.43 + $2.80 = $4.23
- Volumetric charges: 1,200 kWh × $0.056183 = $67.42
- Total delivery charge: $71.65
Now the same 1,200 kWh in CenterPoint territory:
- Fixed charges: $2.11 + $2.79 = $4.90
- Volumetric charges: 1,200 kWh × $0.049993 = $59.99
- Total delivery charge: $64.89
Same house-worth of usage, nearly $7 apart, purely because of the service territory. Two neighbors on the same street with different REPs but identical usage will see identical delivery charges to the penny.1Public Utility Commission of Texas. Transmission and Distribution Utility Rates
Your smart meter records the kWh figure that feeds the volumetric part of the equation. You can pull your own meter data from the Smart Meter Texas portal at smartmetertexas.com and check it against the usage number printed on your bill. If both match and your TDU’s published rates plug into the formula above, the delivery charge is correct.
What’s Bundled Into the Per-kWh Rate
The single volumetric number the PUCT publishes is not one charge. It bundles regulatory riders that each recover a specific cost.
The Transmission Cost Recovery Factor (TCRF) pays for building, maintaining, and upgrading the high-voltage transmission system that moves power across long distances. Texas rules require each TDU to update this factor twice a year, on March 1 and September 1, to reflect changes in the wholesale transmission costs billed to the utility.3Cornell Law Institute. 16 Texas Administrative Code 25.193 – Distribution Service Provider Transmission Cost Recovery Factor
The Energy Efficiency Cost Recovery Factor (EECRF) lets utilities recover the cost of energy efficiency programs they are required to offer. For residential customers, it is designed as a per-kWh energy charge rather than a demand charge.4Cornell Law Institute. 16 Texas Administrative Code 25.182 – Energy Efficiency Cost Recovery Factor
These riders are baked into the volumetric rate on your bill and usually not broken out separately. When the per-kWh figure changes between one billing cycle and the next, an adjusted rider is typically the reason, not a change to the base distribution rate.
Why Your Retail Provider Doesn’t Change the Number
Texas split the electricity industry into two pieces through Senate Bill 7 in 1999: a competitive retail side and a regulated delivery side. Your retail electric provider (REP) is the brand on your bill, but the TDU is the utility that physically moves power to your address. Under state law, the REP collects TDU delivery charges from you and passes them through to the utility with no markup.5State of Texas. Texas Utilities Code 39.107 – Metering and Billing Services
That is why shopping plans does not lower the delivery portion of your bill. Whichever REP you pick, the customer charge, metering charge, and volumetric rate stay identical for your address. Only the energy side of the bill responds to the plan you choose.
When the Rates Change
The PUCT has jurisdiction over TDU rates in the ERCOT region, and Texas law requires every utility rate to be “just and reasonable.”6State of Texas. Texas Utilities Code 36.003 – Just and Reasonable Rates7Public Utility Commission of Texas. Rate Case Process Large adjustments come from a formal rate case, where a TDU files a request with the PUCT and the proceeding runs through detailed financial review and public input. These do not follow a fixed calendar; a utility might go years between cases.
Smaller adjustments follow a schedule. The TCRF updates every March 1 and September 1 by rule, and those updates are pass-throughs of actual wholesale cost changes rather than increases to the utility’s profit margin.3Cornell Law Institute. 16 Texas Administrative Code 25.193 – Distribution Service Provider Transmission Cost Recovery Factor The PUCT keeps the current delivery rates for each TDU posted on its website, so if you want to verify the numbers your bill was calculated against, that page is the authoritative source.