Reliant Energy is a subsidiary of NRG Energy and serves over 1.5 million residential and commercial customers, making Reliant one of the largest retail electric providers in Texas. Reliant Energy plans offer a variety of energy solutions for business and residential customers, including the choice to add solar options on a Reliant Energy plan. Reliant Energy rates, although competitive, differ between utility company service areas and change depending on length of electricity contract term. Reliant Energy offers many promotions to new and current customers, that range from an autographed Dallas Cowboys football to rodeo gift cards for Wrangler jeans or Ariat boots. Customers can also register with, and access, the Reliant Energy Login to manage accounts and bill payments or contact Reliant Energy customer service.
Reliant Energy : Texas
Reliant Energy in Texas offers 19 plans for residential customers, which include fixed rates, variable rates, and indexed rates. Reliant Energy offers moderately competitive rates and a long record of good customer service. In a very competitive retail energy market, current Reliant Energy customers should still shop around when their plan ends since several negative online reviews mention higher electricity rates upon renewing plans.
Reliant Energy : Reliant Energy plans in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and many other communities across Texas
Reliant Energy offers a variety of appealing plans for electricity supply in Texas. Reliant Energy plans provide more than power, though, by offering:
- promotions for sports fans
- free electronics
- ways to donate to charity
- support for locally-sourced renewable energy
The plans offered by Reliant Energy may slightly change in pricing depending on the utility company (TDU) service area, which could compound or offset comparable pricing from the utility company's own charges.
| TDU | TDU monthly base fee | TDU ¢/kWh energy rate |
|---|---|---|
| AEP North | $3.57/mo | 3.0078¢/kWh |
| Oncor Electric Delivery | $3.42/mo | 3.4928¢/kWh |
| CenterPoint | $4.39/mo | 3.2669¢/kWh |
| AEP Central | $4.27/mo | 3.7458¢/kWh |
| TNMP | $7.85/mo | 4.0403¢/kWh |
Reliant Energy plans in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and most communities across Texas
Within the retail service areas of all 5 utility companies in Texas, Reliant Energy in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Abilene, San Angelo, League City, Texas City, and across the rest of Texas, offers electricity plans:
- Reliant Secure Advantage® 6/12/18 month plans
- Reliant Get More, Save More 18 plan
- Reliant Digital Discount 18 plan
- Reliant Truly Free 7 Days 12 plan
- Reliant Truly Free Nights 12 plan
- Reliant Truly Free Weekends 12 plan
- Reliant Clear℠ Flex plan
- Reliant Electric Vehicle 12 plan
- Reliant Pay as you Go plan
- Reliant PowerTracker®
- Reliant Apartment 12 plan
- Reliant 100% Solar plan
- Reliant Local Solar 12/24/36/60 month plans
- Reliant Cowboys/Texans/Rockets plans
- Reliant Rodeo plan
- Reliant Home Advantage 24 plan
- Reliant Clearly Connected 12 plan
- Reliant BabyPower 12 plan
- Reliant Heart Power plan
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Reliant Secure Advantage® 6/12/18 month plans
Marketed by Reliant Energy as a "No frills/locked-in price" plan, the Reliant Secure Advantage® comes in 6, 12, and 18-month terms. The Secure Advantage® is not designed for low energy consuming homes in that there is a higher priced rate (¢/kWh) for households using less than 800kWh (monthly).
The Secure Advantage® is advantageous to med/high energy consumers who use more than 800kWh per month to get the lower, Reliant-fixed energy rate.
Reliant Get More, Save More 18 plan
The "Get More, Save More" plan is only offered in an 18-month contract term and prices electricity to be beneficial to high energy consuming homes. The ¢/kWh energy rate reduces by around 2¢/kWh for the amount of energy used over 1,000kWh, however, with a side-note that Reliant Energy reserves the right to discontinue the "price protection" feature without notice.
Reliant also provides a "weekly summary email" sign-up option with this plan to manage energy use through the month.
Reliant Digital Discount 18 plan
The only other plan that is solely offered in an 18-month term option (like the "Get More, Save More" plan, just above) is Reliant Energy's Digital Discount.
The plan's name really speaks for itself in that it offers a discount for enrolling in Reliant's digital services: AutoPay and Paperless Billing. The "Digital Discount" given is 0.2¢/kWh, which (on a 2,000kWh monthly use) would reduce a monthly bill by $4.00 - or $2.00 for 1,000kWh used.
Since this plan does not have a tiered pricing on energy use, low energy consuming households could benefit from the lower rate without having to think about usage-based energy rates.
Reliant Truly Free 7 Days 12 plan
How about getting the 7 highest electricity-usage days for free? This is exactly what the "Truly Free 7 Days" plan is all about. Reliant states that on the 7 highest-usage days in a monthly billing period, nothing will be added to the monthly electricity bill for those 7 days.
The "Truly Free 7 Days" plan also promotes the Google Nest Hub Max at no-cost when enrolled for the duration of the 12-month plan.
Electricity price for the other 21 days is higher than other plans, so it is definitely worth knowing if your household tends to use an increased amount of electricity on select days during the month. If your household has substantially high fluctuations in electricity use (one out of every four days, or less frequent), this may be an ideal plan for you!
Reliant Truly Free Nights 12 plan
Truly Free Nights meaning: No electricity costs, every night from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. This plan is perfect for households with minimal electricity use during the day and the nighttime reserved for most electricity-involved activities.
Like the "Truly Free 7 Days" plan, the "Free Nights" plan promotes the Google Nest Hub Max at no-cost when enrolled over the 12-month period of the plan.
Customers must be very cautious with daytime electricity use, as the electricity price is the highest out of the three Truly Free plans (to make up for the nighttime freedom). It is crucial to know if your household electricity use depends on the daytime/nighttime factor. If your household has high electricity use at night and minimal to no use during the day, this could be a great plan to sign-up for.
Reliant Truly Free Weekends 12 plan
This last Truly Free plan in the series focuses on households with high electricity use on weekends. The "Truly Free" meaning that there is no cost from Reliant Energy or the TDSP/TDU (utility company) and the "weekend" defined as from Friday at 8 p.m. to Monday at 12 a.m. (52 hours of free electricity use).
Like the other two "Truly Free" plans mentioned, the "Free Weekends" plan offers the Google Nest Hub Max at no-cost when signed-up for the 12 months.
Although it is still higher than typical plans offered, the weekday electricity price has the lowest rate on electricity out of the three Truly Free plans
Reliant Clear℠ Flex plan
The Reliant Energy Clear Flex plan is month-to-month (contract-free) and has no cancellation fees, so customers can get out of the plan when they want without penalty.
This plan comes with:
- a variable electricity rate from Reliant that may change in subsequent months at Reliant's discretion
- a minimum usage fee of $9.95 if less than 800kWh of energy is consumed per billing cycle
- an initial electricity rate that is very similar to (if not, exactly the same as) the Reliant Secure Advantage® 12 plan
The Clear℠ Flex plan is best for the mid/high electricity-usage consumers, especially those wanting the freedom to cancel their electricity plan at any time.
Reliant Electric Vehicle 12 plan
Reliant Energy gets aggressive with the future in their EV 12 plan! This Reliant plan offers:
- 100% renewable energy to power your home (and electric vehicle)
- a strategically discounted electricity rate price from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. - every night
- a $100 credit to use at any EVgo or Chargepoint electric vehicle charging station
Although the Reliant Electric Vehicle 12 plan offers a few incentives, it is well worth a glance at the Electricity Facts Label (EFL) to see the Reliant electricity rates. The daytime energy charge is higher than most plans offered, so the "discounted" nighttime energy rate is reduced to a (more or less) typical, every day electricity rate.
Reliant Pay as you Go plan
Similar to the Clear℠ Flex plan, Reliant Energy's "Pay as you Go" plan is a month-to-month contract term - so customers can cancel the plan at any time, and the first billing cycle's electricity rate may change in subsequent months (at Reliant Energy's discretion).
The difference with "Pay as you Go" is that it offers:
- a required pre-paid / pay-in-advance setup
- zero base fee charges from Reliant, no matter how much electricity is used
- inclusion of the TDSP/TDU (utility company) delivery & energy charges into an all-in-one, total Energy charge
- same electricity rate, no matter how much energy is consumed each month
Reliant PowerTracker® plan
Much like TXU Energy's AutoSaver 12 plan, the Reliant Energy PowerTracker® plan bases the provided energy rate on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) price of natural gas futures.
Both TXU Energy and Reliant Energy use the same formula to calculate their final electricity rate for customers. However, letting the numbers speak for themselves, here is how both plans compare in the Oncor Electric Delivery service area:
| Reliant Energy | TXU Energy | |
|---|---|---|
| PowerTracker® | AutoSaver 12 | |
| Plan term: | month-to-month | 12 months |
| Cancellation fee: | $0 | $150 |
| REP Base fee / month: | $5.00 | $9.95 |
| REP Base energy charge: | 5.0¢/kWh | 6.5¢/kWh |
| REP Natural Gas factor*: | 0.01399 | 0.01330 |
| Price surge protected?: | No | Yes |
*The Natural Gas factor is used by each electric provider to multiply by the monthly closing price (in ¢) of NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract. The result is then added to the REP's base rate to get the final electricity rate and apply it to calculating the monthly energy charge.
Best customer for the PowerTracker® planTexan's betting against the future of natural gas! This plan's energy pricing method could be quite beneficial to customers as renewable energy investment increases (to the detriment of natural gas and its NYMEX price).
Reliant Apartment 12 plan
Reliant Energy appeals to apartment-renting customers by offering the "Apartment 12" plan. The 12-month contract offers a reduced energy charge for monthly usage below 1,000 kWh, no minimum usage fees, and an early cancellation fee that reduces based on the number of months remaining on the plan contract.
Reliant 100% Solar plan
There is no need to have or install solar panels to support solar energy with the "100% Solar" plan. Reliant Energy purchases solar energy credits from solar farms equivalent to the electricity consumption by customers on the plan.
Reliant Local Solar 12/24/36/60 month plans
Reliant Energy's Local Solar plan is the only plan that offers four different contract periods (12, 24, 36, and 60 months) and the two longest terms of any plan available (36 and 60 months).
The Local Solar plan:
- supports solar farms in Texas
- a Reliant-fixed electricity rate (the rate may change only if the utility company changes their delivery rates)
- has no cancellation fee if customers decide to leave the plan early
- requires a $12.00/month membership fee
The only difference between the changing contact periods is the reduction in the energy rate as the contract term increases. The energy rate on the 12-month 100% Solar plan is the highest (the 60-month is the lowest). As the contact time frame increases by 12 months, the electricity rate reduces by 0.3¢/kWh (3.47% reduction).
The only exception to the price reduction-per-term is the move from 36 month to the 60-month plan which only has a 0.2¢/kWh reduction in electricity rate (a 2.48% rate reduction).
Reliant sports fans plans : Reliant Cowboys, Reliant Texans, and Reliant Rockets plans
Since Reliant Energy provides electric service across all of Texas, they have their eye on three big sports teams so as to appeal to new and existing customers. The electricity plans for sports fans include:
- autographed merchandise
- invitations to signing events
- $100 gift cards to the teams' gift shops
- even donations to team foundations made by Reliant Energy
These Reliant Energy electricity plans for sports fans have a $9.95 charge for monthly usage less than 800kWh, a Reliant-fixed energy rate across all usage levels.
Reliant Energy Cowboys plan: Dallas, Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, Laredo, Abilene, San Angelo, and more cities
Oncor & AEP Texas current residents, Cowboys fans: receive an autographed football by Dallas Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smith and an invite to a Cowboys autograph session (held during a weeknight during the regular season).
Oncor & AEP Texas new residents Cowboys fans: get a Cowboys $100 gift card and an invite to a Cowboys autograph session (held during a weeknight during the regular season).
Reliant Energy Texans plan : Houston, League City, Texas City, and more cities
CenterPoint & TNMP new residents and renewing customers, Houston Texans fans with the plan receive:
- an autographed Deshaun Watson jersey (navy blue, size XL)
- a $100 Visa® prepaid card (used anywhere)
- an invite to a Houston Texans autograph session
- a $25 donation made by Reliant Energy to the Houston Texans Foundation
The Reliant Energy Texans plan is the only sports fan plan that is offered in a 24-month term (there are no 12-month contract terms currently available). The plan also comes with a Reliant-fixed energy price.
Reliant Energy Rockets plan : Houston and surrounding communities only
CenterPoint residents: Houston Rockets fans - receive a $100 Houston Rockets team shop gift card (used anywhere) and an invite to a Houston Rockets autograph session. This 12-month plan comes with a Reliant-fixed energy price.
Best customer for the Reliant Energy Sports fans plansSports team loyalists, of course! The plan's energy pricing is designed to really benefit the mid to high energy-consuming households that use more than 800kWh each billing cycle.
Reliant Rodeo plan : Wrangler® jeans, Carhartt® jacket, and Ariat® boots fans
Houston: get a $100 Cavender's gift card. Reliant-fixed energy price on this 12-month plan.
Best customer for the Reliant Energy Rodeo planCowboys! ... and not just the Dallas ones! Exactly like the Reliant Energy Sports fans plans, the Rodeo plan's energy pricing is designed to benefit the mid to high energy-consuming households that use more than 800kWh each billing cycle.
Reliant Home Advantage 24 plan
The "Home Advantage" plan is a 24-month term contract and uses a Reliant-fixed electricity rate (the rate may change only if the utility company changes their delivery rates).
Reliant Energy offers a few free tech devices to choose from, when selecting this plan, that include:
- Nest Learning Thermostat ($249 value)
- Google Nest Hub Max ($229 value)
- Google Nest Hello Doorbell ($229 value)
The Reliant Energy Home Advantage plan comes with a monthly base charge fee. As with all plans that have base charge fees, this plan is most beneficial to high electricity consuming households. The plan also comes with a Reliant-fixed energy price.
Reliant Clearly Connected 12 plan
Similar to the tech gadget offering in Reliant's "Home Advantage" plan, with the Clearly Connected 12 comes the free Google Nest Cam Indoor product that has a value of $199. The prices on this plan are exactly the same as the "Home Advantage" plans.
Again, like the "Home Advantage" plans, this 12-month plan has a Reliant-added base charge fee and a Reliant-fixed energy rate. With plans that have additional base fee, households that have a higher electricity use would benefit from this pricing strategy.
Reliant BabyPower 12 plan
Charitable customers would be interested in the "BabyPower" 12-month plan. After signing up, Reliant Energy will donate $100 to fund the March of Dimes in their research to help mothers have full-term births.
The BabyPower 12 plan targets med/high energy-consuming households due to the plans $9.95 monthly (Reliant imposed) base charge fee for monthly usage below 800kWh.
Reliant Heart Power plan
Another option for customers wanting to donate is the "Heart Power" plan that is offered by Reliant Energy in 12-month and 18-month contract terms. When customers sign up for the Reliant Heart Power plan, a donation of $100 is made to the American Heart Association by Reliant Energy.
Like the "BabyPower" plan, the Reliant Heart Power plan targets med/high energy-consuming households due to the plans $9.95 monthly (Reliant imposed) base charge fee for monthly usage below 800kWh.
Surprisingly, there is a substantial difference in the Reliant Energy electricity rate between the 12-month and 18-month contract terms. If choosing the Reliant Heart Power plan, the 18-month term is cheaper since the energy charge for electricity is 2.4¢/kWh (43.7%) less than the 12-month option.
Did you Know?Reliant Energy is a sister brand ofGreen Mountain Energy. Both retail electric providers were acquired by NRG Energy in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
Reliant Energy contact : Reliant Energy phone number
A few ways to contact Reliant Energy customer service departments:
- call 1-866-222-7100 or 1-713-207-7777 to speak with a Reliant Energy customer service representative 24/7, or
- use the "Chat Now" feature for online help (English & español), located on the Reliant Energy contact page
- send Reliant an email thorugh the online email form, which Reliant guarantees a response within 24 hours
Need financial assistance with paying utility bills?See what national and Texan Energy Assistance programs are available to help pay your electricity bill, the eligibility requirements, and how to apply!
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