Who owns Texas’s retail electricity brands?

Forty-four brands came from 37 sellers

The November 10 Power to Choose snapshot contained 1,882 listings, counting the language versions, under 44 provider names. Seven pairs shared a certificate. Cirro and Discount Power were both U.S. Retailers LLC. Express and Veteran shared one seller within Vistra, and Frontier and Companion shared one within NextEra. The other four pairs were Rhythm and Energy Texas, Southern Federal and Ranchero, AE Texas and Atlantex, and Revolution and Infuse.

That leaves 37 suppliers, including one cooperative division, and at most 26 owners after grouping documented affiliates. Ten groups advertised 28 of the 44 names. For the upper bound, sellers with unresolved parents count separately. Power to Choose · PUCT retail certification rule

The list describes the offers on one day. NRG also owns Stream and XOOM, and Vistra’s filings list Ambit and 4Change. A state certificate can cover industrial customers or specialized arrangements. Of the 143 certificates listed in the November directory, 53 could be traced to a terminal corporate group. The full directory also carried four certificates whose revocation or relinquishment the commission had already approved. A household looking for a competing offer can start with its Electricity Facts Label, which names the seller and shows its certificate number. NRG subsidiary exhibit · Vistra annual report · PUCT certification rule

The owner can change while the sign stays put. IGS closed its acquisition of Just Energy on July 1, 2025, putting Just, Tara and Amigo under one parent. Constellation closed its Calpine acquisition on January 7, 2026, bringing Champion and GoodCharlie into the group. Rhythm acquired the Energy Texas name through a different transaction from the transfer of the brand’s old customers. Today’s Energy Texas label names Rhythm Ops. IGS closing announcement · Constellation closing filing · PUCT Energy Texas filing

Two groups served most residential accounts

NRG supplied 2.69 million of the 7.09 million reported residential accounts in the 2025 calculation. Vistra supplied 2.17 million. IGS, NextEra and Calpine took the next three places. The five groups together had 87.22% of the accounts. Calpine counted on its own in 2025, before the Constellation deal. EIA-861, 2023–2025 files

The two leaders’ combined share fell by 1.60 percentage points over the period. Lubbock entered the competitive market in 2024, changing who could shop, and unresolved ownership prevents a firm conclusion about whether the whole market became less concentrated. The result applies to reported competitive retail in the Texas ERCOT area. EIA-861 · ERCOT Lubbock retail transition notice

The same seller charged $14 more at 1,000 kWh

The price comparison used 12-month fixed-rate offers for ZIP code 75201 in Oncor’s service territory. Cirro Smart Simple 12 and Discount Power Saver 12 used the same delivery charge, 22% renewable content and a $150 standard early-exit fee. Discount Power charged 1.4 cents more per kWh for energy. The annual difference is 12,000 kWh × $0.014, or $168. The two Express and Veteran plans in the sample matched on their core price formula. Cirro Electricity Facts Label · Discount Power Electricity Facts Label

A usage credit can matter more than ownership. One Express offer in the sample credited $125 for months above 999 kWh. Its modeled annual cost was $893 with twelve 1,000-kWh months. Using the same 12,000 kWh over a summer-heavy year raised the total to $1,893, because the household qualified for the credit only four times. On that usage profile, the sampled Express Speedy plan saved $440. Run the last twelve bills through each plan’s formula before signing.

How we got this

The offers are from November 10, 2026. The price model applies the published delivery and energy rates to each month, subtracts earned credits, and excludes taxes and optional services. Check the label shown at enrollment because the Discount Power listing and its enrollment link displayed different promotional codes. The market-share figures use EIA-861 Schedule 4 Part D for Texas records under balancing authority ERCO, averaging month-end residential accounts. Quantities are grouped under each year’s December 31 owners. EIA’s delivery-company file contains 274,011 more residential accounts than the retailer selection in 2025, and ownership remained unresolved for 6.71% of the selected accounts. EIA-861 detailed data and definitions · Power to Choose