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Retail choice: how to shop for an electricity supplier without getting burned

By Kyle Tice · Updated October 2026

Key takeaways

  • Massachusetts residents paid $738.7 million more than the default rate over a decade by switching suppliers, per the state AG.
  • In Illinois, Direct Energy charged some customers over 230% of the utility rate; it paid $12 million to settle in 2025.
  • PECO's price-to-compare is 11.76 cents per kWh through November 30, 2026; PPL's is 13.08 cents as of October 5, 2026.
  • Texas early termination fees run $50 to $295; variable-rate plans have no fee but no price protection either.

In retail-choice states you can pick who supplies the energy portion of your bill. The record says most households who switch end up paying more. Shopping works only if you buy a fixed-rate plan priced below the utility’s default rate, with no monthly fee, and set a reminder for the day it ends.

Where you can shop

Residential choice exists in Texas (outside municipal and co-op areas), Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. Michigan caps choice at 10% of load, and Maryland’s 2024 law has left no suppliers offering residential contracts as of 2026. Everywhere else your utility supplies the power and there is nothing to shop.

Delivery versus supply

Your bill has a delivery section (poles, wires, the utility’s fixed charge) and a supply section (the power itself). Only supply is shoppable. Delivery is set in the rate cases this site tracks and does not change when you switch. Supply is typically 40% to 60% of the bill, so a supplier offering “20% savings” on supply is offering roughly 10% on the whole bill.

The number to beat: the price-to-compare

Every choice state publishes the utility’s default supply rate, called the price-to-compare (PA, IL, OH), standard offer service (MD), basic service (MA) or standard service (CT). It resets on a schedule, usually June 1 and December 1 or quarterly. Current examples:

A supplier offer only beats the default if its all-in rate, including any monthly fee, is lower than this number for the whole term. Write the default rate on your calendar next to the date it resets.

Why most switchers lose

The losses come from a few repeat traps.

The traps

  1. Teaser rates. A low fixed rate for 3 to 6 months that rolls into a variable rate. The teaser is real; the rollover is where the money is made.
  2. Variable rates. The price can change every month with no cap. Variable plans have no early termination fee because there is no contract, which also means no protection.
  3. Monthly fees. A $4.95 or $9.95 “service fee” adds 1 cent per kWh for a 500 kWh home and wipes out most advertised savings.
  4. Auto-renewal and holdover rates. When a fixed term ends and you do nothing, many suppliers move you to a month-to-month rate that can be well above the default. Texas requires notice before expiration; most other states require it too, but the notice is easy to miss.
  5. Early termination fees. Texas fixed plans list ETFs of $50 to $295; other states commonly $50 to $150, sometimes per month remaining.
  6. Door-to-door and phone enrollments. Nobody from “the utility” needs your account number at the door. The Illinois and New York cases above were largely marketing cases.

How to read the label

In Texas every plan comes with an Electricity Facts Label (EFL). Read these numbers, in order: average price at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh; the base charge; the energy charge; the TDU delivery charge; any usage credit and its threshold (a $30 credit at exactly 1,000 kWh is a trap if you use 900); the term; and the ETF. If the three average prices differ a lot, the plan is built around a usage credit or tier and will punish you in shoulder months.

Other states require a similar disclosure (a contract summary in PA and MD, a supplier disclosure label in CT). Look for the same items: rate, fixed or variable, term, fee, ETF, renewal terms.

When the default is the best deal

  • You use under about 600 kWh a month, because fixed supplier fees dominate.
  • You are on LIHEAP or a utility hardship rate. New York bars suppliers from enrolling these customers; several states prohibit it.
  • The default rate just reset lower and the posted offers are above it. This happens in winter when auction prices fall.
  • You will not track the end date. The default rate has no end date.

In New York, since the 2023 reset order, any supplier product must guarantee savings against the utility rate or be 100% renewable, which makes the default a reasonable floor. In Maryland the price cap has effectively made the default the only option.

The official shopping sites

Use the state site, not a supplier’s or an affiliate’s:

A five-minute checklist before you sign

  1. All-in rate (including monthly fee) below the price-to-compare for the full term.
  2. Fixed, 12 months or longer, with a stated end date.
  3. ETF you can live with.
  4. Renewal terms in writing; set a calendar reminder 45 days before the end.
  5. Enrolled through the state site or the supplier’s own site, never at the door.

The delivery half of the bill is where the big rate increases of 2025 and 2026 landed. Find your utility from the state list to see those cases; the supply half is the only part you can shop.

Why you should trust us

Every number on this site links to a primary source: EIA Form 861 for rates, state commission dockets for rate cases, and utility or state program pages for rebates. We don't sell electricity plans, solar or HVAC, and we don't take referral fees from anyone we mention. How we calculate this.