How to find your electricity usage and real price per kWh.
Two numbers drive the calculator: how much electricity you use, and what you actually pay for it. Both sit on your electric bill — but they're not always easy to find, and the rate you were sold is rarely the rate you pay.
How to find kWh usage on your Texas electric bill
Usage is the easier of the two numbers. Every Texas electric bill shows it. Here's where to look and how to interpret it.
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Pull up one recent bill
A paper bill or a PDF from your provider's account portal both work. Newer or older doesn't matter much — we'll smooth with a yearly number in a moment.
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Look for "kWh used" or "Usage (kWh)"
It's usually in the usage-and-charges section, not the summary. It may show as a single number (e.g. 1,184) or as two meter readings (current − previous) that you'd subtract yourself.
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Decide: monthly or yearly?
Texas summer usage is dramatically higher than winter. One hot-month bill is not your real annual average. If you have 12 months of bills, add them up for a yearly total. Otherwise, multiplying a single month by 12 is a rough proxy — the calculator accepts either.
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Sanity check
A typical Texas household uses roughly 12,000–15,000 kWh/year. If your number is far outside that range, double-check you're looking at kWh (not dollars) and that the bill period is one month.
How to calculate your effective kWh rate
This is where most homeowners get tripped up. The advertised rate is almost never what you actually pay.
The formula
To get your real all-in rate, divide total dollars by total kWh — the whole bill, every line item, by the kWh used that month.
Worked example: Austin summer bill
Say your June bill totals $204.88 and you used 1,465 kWh. Your real effective rate for that month is $204.88 ÷ 1,465 = $0.140/kWh, or 14¢ — not the 10.9¢ the plan may have advertised.
Using your numbers in the calculator
Once you have a solid kWh figure and a real effective rate, enter them as-is. The calculator converts between monthly and yearly usage automatically, and assumes the rate you enter is already all-in. Keep in mind our methodology holds that rate flat across the 10-year projection — real rates tend to rise, which generally makes fixed-cost options look relatively better, not worse.
Frequently asked
What if my usage is wildly different between summer and winter?
That's normal in Texas. Add all 12 months' kWh together for a yearly total, or average 3–4 bills across seasons for a monthly estimate. A single August bill × 12 will overstate your actual annual usage.
I only have a monthly bill amount — can I still estimate my rate?
Yes, if you also know the kWh used that month: divide dollars by kWh. If your bill only shows dollars and no kWh, contact your provider — every Texas bill is required to break it out.
Should I use my contracted rate or my effective rate?
Always use your effective rate. The contracted rate is the marketing number; the effective rate is what actually leaves your bank account, and it's what every option on this site gets compared against.
What about solar buyback — does that change the rate?
It can, for net-metered customers. For calculator simplicity, enter your current retail rate. The solar calculation then applies a 70% conservative offset against that rate — see how solar buyback affects the comparison for detail.
What if I rent — can this calculator still help me?
Yes, for the retail-power comparison. Install-based options (Generac, solar, a Base Power install fee) generally require ownership, so the calculator flags those as "may not apply" for renters. If you rent and mainly want to know what your current rate is costing you, the usage-and-rate steps still work as-is.