"The Oncor phone number" is the wrong question. Oncor has at least four.
Most listings give one number, slap "Oncor customer service" on it, and call it a day. Then a reader in a 2 a.m. ice-storm outage finds the line tied up because half of north Texas is calling the same general queue.
Oncor actually splits its contact channels by what you need. The 24/7 outage hotline goes straight into the dispatch system. Customer service is weekday hours only. New construction has its own line. Solar interconnection has another. And the fastest path during a storm is not a phone call at all; it is a five-character text to a shortcode.
This page lists every official Oncor channel and tells you, plainly, which one to use for each situation. Save the right one to your phone contacts before you need it.
The four Oncor contact channels, ranked by use case.
Each channel is built for a different job. Mixing them up is the single biggest reason customers wait on hold for service they could not get from Oncor in the first place.
24/7 outage line
1-888-313-4747
Power out, downed line (after 911), streetlight out, hazard with wires. Routes directly into the dispatch queue and tags your meter. Available every hour of every day.
Text shortcodes
OUT → 66267
Text OUT to 66267 to log an outage in seconds, or REG to 66267 once to enroll in My Oncor Alerts. Hands-free, no hold time, same dispatch system as the phone line.
Customer service
1-888-313-6862
Non-emergency Oncor questions: meter checks, solar interconnection, Critical Care designation, general inquiries. Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time (extended to 7 p.m. for the solar desk).
Storm center
stormcenter.oncor.com
Real-time outage map covering DFW, east Texas and west Texas. Refreshes every 10 minutes. Plots active outages by county, shows estimated restoration time per incident.
A fifth channel exists but is rarely the right answer for residential customers: the corporate switchboard at 1-214-486-2000. Use it only for formal complaints, claims or to escalate after the customer service line could not resolve your issue.
Issue → channel → hours, with an alternative.
Pick the row that matches your situation. The "alternative" column is what to fall back on if the primary channel is unavailable or slow.
| Issue | Best channel | Hours | Alternative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power outage at my home | 1-888-313-4747 | 24/7 | Text OUT to 66267 |
| Downed or sparking power line | 911 first | 24/7 | Then 1-888-313-4747 |
| Streetlight out | 1-888-313-4747 | 24/7 | oncorstreetlight.com |
| Bill, payment or plan question | Your REP | Varies by REP | Texas REP directory |
| Start, stop, transfer service | Your REP | Varies by REP | Power to Choose |
| Smart meter question / tamper | 1-888-313-6862 | Mon-Fri 8a-6p CT | oncor.com contact form |
| Solar / distributed generation | 1-888-313-6862 | Mon-Fri 7a-7p CT | Email solar desk via oncor.com |
| New construction (residential or commercial) | 1-888-222-8045 | Mon-Fri 8a-6p CT | New Construction Portal |
| Critical Care customer (C.C.) designation | 1-888-313-6862 | Mon-Fri 8a-6p CT | Physician fax to 1-800-666-3406 |
| Business energy efficiency | 1-866-728-3674 | Mon-Fri 8a-6p CT | Take a Load Off Texas |
| Storm prep, outage alerts | Text REG to 66267 | 24/7 | stormcenter.oncor.com |
| Formal complaint or claim | 1-214-486-2000 | Mon-Fri 8a-5p CT | PUCT Customer Protection |
Rule of thumb: anything about wires, meter, outage or interconnection is Oncor. Anything about plan, price, billing or payment is your REP. The two never share a phone number.
A text takes seconds. The phone queue can take ten minutes.
During a normal weekday, the outage line at 1-888-313-4747 is fast: an IVR takes your address, logs the outage and reads back an estimated restoration time inside a couple of minutes.
During a major storm, the same line is the bottleneck. Tens of thousands of customers call within an hour and the IVR overflows. The text shortcode (OUT to 66267) sidesteps that queue entirely, your meter is already enrolled in My Oncor Alerts if you texted REG in advance, so a single five-character text is acknowledged in under a minute.
What this means: enroll in My Oncor Alerts before the next storm, not during it. The one-time text to register costs nothing and removes the largest single source of delay in the outage workflow.
to acknowledge an outage via text, even during a storm
How an Oncor call actually gets routed.
When you dial 1-888-313-4747, you do not get a human first. You get an IVR that triages your call before anyone picks up. Knowing the path helps you skip the wrong branch.
IVR greeting and language
The system answers in English with a Spanish prompt option. It identifies the caller by ANI (caller-ID phone number) and tries to match it to a known service address on the Oncor grid.
Outage vs customer service split
A first menu asks whether you are reporting an outage, a downed line, a streetlight, or have a customer service question. Outage and downed-line selections go to the dispatch queue 24/7. Customer service selections route to the weekday call center.
Address and meter confirmation
If ANI did not match, the IVR asks for the service address or the meter ESI ID. The address ties the report to a specific transformer and feeder, which is what dispatch actually works with.
Dispatch or call-center handoff
Outage reports are logged into the outage management system and you get an estimated restoration time read back. Customer service calls are queued for a representative, with hold time depending on call volume. If a major event is in progress, a "callback in queue" option appears.
Net result: if your only goal is "log my outage", the text shortcode does steps 1-4 with one message because your number is already linked to your meter via the My Oncor Alerts enrollment. That is why texting is faster, not because it skips the queue, but because it pre-fills it.
5 mistakes Oncor customers make when contacting.
Patterns we see again and again. Each one wastes a call or sends you to the wrong company entirely.
Billing, payment, plan? Your REP, not Oncor.
Texas law splits the electricity transaction. Oncor delivers the power; your REP sells it to you and bills you. Calling Oncor about a bill just earns you a redirect, and during the customer service line's closed hours (evenings and weekends) you get no answer at all.
Your REP customer service number is printed at the top of every monthly invoice. If you misplaced the bill, find the REP name in your email inbox or look it up on the PUCT certified REP directory. Our Texas REP directory also lists every active provider with their contact details.
What to do, in order.
Save the outage line
Add 1-888-313-4747 to your phone contacts as "Oncor outage". You will not remember it when the lights go out.
Text REG to 66267
One-time enrollment in My Oncor Alerts. Takes one minute on a sunny day. You will get an SMS the moment power drops at your meter.
Bookmark the storm center
Pin stormcenter.oncor.com in your browser. 10-minute refresh on outage status by county.
Note customer service hours
Non-emergency Oncor questions only Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time on 1-888-313-6862. Do not call after-hours for meter or solar questions.
Keep your REP number too
Save your REP customer service number from the top of your bill. That is who you call for billing, payment, plan changes and move-in/move-out.
Escalate to PUCT only after Oncor
Try the customer service line first, then the corporate switchboard at 1-214-486-2000, and only then file a formal complaint with the PUCT Customer Protection Division.
Where to write Oncor (mail only, not for emergencies).
Dallas, Texas 75202
United States
Monday-Friday business hours. Use only for formal complaints, claims or media. Outages still go to 1-888-313-4747.
Common questions about contacting Oncor.
The Oncor outage line is 1-888-313-4747, staffed 24/7. You can also text OUT to 66267 once you have enrolled in My Oncor Alerts (text REG to 66267 to enroll). For a downed or sparking power line, call 911 first, then Oncor.
The outage line at 1-888-313-4747 is 24/7 and routes directly to the dispatch queue for power outages, downed lines and streetlights. The customer service line at 1-888-313-6862 is Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time and handles meter questions, solar interconnection, Critical Care designation and general non-emergency inquiries.
Texas deregulated retail electricity in 2002. Oncor is the regulated TDU, which means it owns the wires and delivers power; it cannot sell electricity or bill you for it. That is your REP. The two companies share a single invoice (your REP collects the Oncor delivery charges and remits them) but they have separate customer service organisations.
Yes, and it is usually the fastest way during a storm. Text OUT to 66267. You need to enroll first by texting REG to 66267 once; the enrollment ties your mobile number to your service address so the system knows which meter to log. After enrollment, a single text logs an outage and you receive SMS updates as the restoration progresses.
The storm center map at stormcenter.oncor.com refreshes approximately every 10 minutes. It plots active outages by county, shows the number of customers affected and an estimated restoration time per incident. During a major event, restoration estimates can shift as crews assess damage.
Call 911 first so police or fire can secure the scene, then call the Oncor outage line at 1-888-313-4747 to report the line. Stay at least 35 feet from any downed wire, keep pedestrians and pets away, and never assume a line is dead because it is not arcing. A line on the ground can still be energised.
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Same playbook, different utility. Pick another deregulated state to compare utilities, suppliers and switching rules.
