Texas TDU profile

Oncor Electric Delivery: the Texas TDU behind your bill

By JP Reilly, Growth · Published · Updated

In short

Oncor Electric Delivery is the largest transmission-and-distribution utility (TDU) in Texas. It delivers electricity to roughly 13 million Texans across more than 400 communities and 120-plus counties¹². Oncor does not sell you electricity — that is your retail electric provider's (REP's) job. Oncor owns the wires, the poles, and the meter; it restores the power when the lights go out. In 2026 the PUCT approved an $560M annual revenue increase that lands as roughly +$7/mo on a typical 1,000-kWh residential bill³⁴.

What Oncor does, and what it does not

Texas split the residential power business into three pieces in 2002. Generators make electricity. Retail electric providers (REPs) sell plans, send bills, and handle customer service. TDUs operate the wires that connect the two. Oncor is the TDU for most of North, Central, and West Texas².

That split is why your monthly bill has two kinds of charges. The energy line — cents per kWh, plus any monthly base — is what the REP keeps. The Oncor line is the regulated tariff that pays for the wires; your REP collects it and passes it through. Customers cannot choose a different TDU; the address is the answer.

Question Oncor (TDU) Your REP
Who do I call when the power is out? Yes — 1-888-313-4747⁹ No (cannot dispatch crews)
Who reads the meter? Yes (advanced meter, automated) Receives the read
Who sets my plan rate? No Yes — see the EFL
Who bills me? No (charges flow through REP) Yes
Who handles a billing dispute? No Yes (escalate to PUCT if needed)

Where Oncor delivers

Oncor's wires reach from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex south to Waco and Killeen, west to Midland and Odessa, and north to Wichita Falls — more than 144,000 circuit miles in total¹². The Steering Committee of Cities Served by Oncor counts 140-plus member cities, which is a useful proxy for the territory's footprint without pretending to enumerate every served address².

Round Rock is the southern edge of Oncor's reach in our pilot coverage; about 96% of Round Rock addresses sit on Oncor wires (the remainder is Pedernales Electric Cooperative or City of Georgetown Utilities, both regulated munis that you cannot competitively switch). The address widget on any of our city pages is the source of truth — it queries Oncor's premise list rather than guessing from the ZIP.

Reliability

Oncor's 2024 PUCT-filed SAIDI is about 110 minutes per residential customer per year, calculated under IEEE 1366 and excluding major-event days⁶. Translation: a typical Oncor customer loses power for under two hours total in a normal year. CenterPoint's Houston-area territory ran roughly twice that in 2024¹³, largely a function of more tropical-storm exposure.

The major-event days are where the headline outages live. Four territory-wide events shape the recent reliability story:

The pattern: Oncor's normal-day reliability is solid for an urban utility, but Texas's storm exposure is non-trivial. That gap is the structural argument for residential battery — wire-side restoration is fast on average and slow on the tail.

Distribution charges (the part Oncor controls)

Oncor's 2025 residential delivery schedule is a fixed monthly customer charge plus a per-kWh delivery rate, plus rider adjustments that move with regulatory true-ups. These are the amounts your REP passes through — they are not the REP's energy rate.

Component Currently effective Notes
Monthly customer charge $4.23/mo Fixed regardless of usage⁷
Energy delivery charge 5.6183¢/kWh Variable with usage⁷
Rider adjustments ~varies DCRF / TCRF / EECRF — small, regulator-set

Schedule is the 2025 tariff with currently-effective rider adjustments⁷. The 2026 rate case (next section) replaces this once Oncor files the conforming tariff.

The 2026 rate case

On April 17, 2026, the PUCT approved Oncor's comprehensive base-rate review (Docket 56545), authorizing an annual revenue increase of approximately $560 million — roughly 8.7% over the prior revenue requirement, for a total of about $6.97 billion³. For a household using 1,000 kWh/mo, that lands on the bill as roughly +$7/mo, or about a 4.7% increase to the all-in monthly cost⁴.

Where the money goes, by the public summary⁴: ~45% storm recovery (Uri 2021, the 2023 ice storm, the 2024 derecho), ~20% inflation adjustments to the cost base, and ~25% infrastructure for new premise growth (Oncor added 77,000 premises in 2024 and 65,000+ in 2025¹). New rates take effect about 45 days after the order and typically show up on June or July 2026 statements⁴. A retrospective surcharge recovers the gap between January 1, 2026 and the new-rate effective date.

What this changes for Base Power customers: the Oncor-line increase is universal across REPs in Oncor territory; nothing on the energy side of the bill is affected. A REP's job during a delivery-rate increase is not to absorb Oncor's tariff (no REP does) but to make sure the energy side still pencils — that the plan structure is still honest at the customer's actual usage.

If your power is out

  1. Call 1-888-313-4747 — 24/7, the fastest channel⁹.
  2. Report online at oncor.com/outages — same backend, works when phone lines are saturated⁹.
  3. Text OUT to 66267 — only after registering with MyOncor Alerts (text REG to the same number first)⁹.
  4. View the live map at stormcenter.oncor.com — confirms whether your outage is on Oncor's radar; estimated restoration times update as crews assess⁹.

Reporting your outage even when the map shows your block already out helps Oncor sequence crew assignments — the customer count is an input to triage. Your REP cannot escalate this for you.

Oncor cities on this site

Plano, Killeen, Waco, Tyler, Wichita Falls, Midland, and Odessa are also Oncor territory; deep city pages for those land as Phase 4 programmatic-scale ships.

Base rates in Oncor territory

Type your address. We'll check whether Base Power serves your specific home and, if so, route you to checkout.

Frequently asked questions

  1. Who do I call when the power goes out in Oncor territory?

    Oncor at 1-888-313-4747, or report online at oncor.com/outages. Customers registered for MyOncor Alerts can text OUT to 66267⁹. Your retail electric provider (REP) does not dispatch line crews and cannot tell Oncor about your specific outage faster than you can.

  2. Why does my bill have a separate Oncor delivery charge?

    Texas split power generation, retail sales, and grid delivery into three businesses in 2002. Oncor is the wires-and-poles business — the part of your bill that pays for the physical infrastructure that moves electrons from generators to your meter. Your REP collects Oncor's charges and remits them; the dollars are not theirs to keep.

  3. Why is my Oncor charge going up in 2026?

    On April 17, 2026, the PUCT approved Oncor’s base-rate case, authorizing a $560M annual revenue increase³. For a household using 1,000 kWh/mo that lands as roughly +$7/mo on the all-in bill⁴. Storm recovery accounts for about 45% of the increase; inflation and infrastructure growth split most of the rest⁴. New rates take effect about 45 days after the order — typically showing up on June or July 2026 statements⁴.

  4. Can I choose a different TDU than Oncor?

    No. Texas TDUs are regulated monopolies in their service territory. You can shop your retail provider (REP) freely, but the wires that reach your home come from whichever TDU operates them — Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP, or one of the smaller utilities. The address is what determines this, not your choice.

  5. How does Oncor’s reliability compare to other Texas TDUs?

    Oncor’s 2024 PUCT-filed SAIDI is about 110 minutes per residential customer per year (IEEE 1366, excluding major-event days)⁶. CenterPoint’s Houston-area territory runs higher (∼220 min in 2024)¹³, partly a function of more tropical-storm exposure. Oncor sits in the median band for large U.S. urban TDUs.

  6. Did Sempra buying Oncor change anything for customers?

    Operationally, no. Sempra closed its 80.25% acquisition of Oncor in March 2018⁵. PUCT conditions require Sempra to hold at least 51% for five-plus years and require a board with an independent majority — Oncor’s rates and reliability are still set in PUCT proceedings, not by Sempra’s San Diego HQ.

  7. What’s the difference between a smart-meter outage and a real one?

    If your meter has lost communication but your house has power, that’s an Oncor metering issue, not an outage — they reconcile usage when the meter reconnects. A real outage means no power flowing to the home; report those at 1-888-313-4747 even if the MyOncor map already shows your block out (the count helps prioritize crews).

  8. Can I see Oncor’s outage map in real time?

    Yes — stormcenter.oncor.com publishes a live outage map by feeder circuit and county⁹. Estimated restoration times update as crews assess; major-event ETRs are typically conservative early and tighten as damage assessments come in.

Sources

  1. Oncor — corporate overview: 13M+ Texans served, 4M+ direct customers, 144,000+ circuit milesRetrieved
  2. Oncor Service Territory Communities — 400+ communities, 120+ counties across North/Central/West TexasRetrieved
  3. PUCT — Final order in Oncor base-rate case (Docket 56545), approved 2026-04-17; $6.97B revenue requirement, +$560M (8.7%)Retrieved
  4. Utilities For My Home — "What the New Oncor Rate Increase Means for Your Texas Home" (storm recovery 45% / inflation 20% / infrastructure 25%; +$7/mo at 1,000 kWh)Retrieved
  5. Sempra — Completed acquisition of 80.25% indirect ownership of Oncor (closed 2018-03-09)Retrieved
  6. Oncor 2024 PUCT System Reliability Report — IEEE 1366 SAIDI, excluding major-event daysRetrieved
  7. Oncor Tariff for Retail Delivery Service — current residential schedule ($4.23/mo customer charge + 5.6183¢/kWh delivery, 2025 schedule still effective until 2026 conforming tariff files)Retrieved
  8. NWS Austin/San Antonio — March 21, 2022 South Central Texas Tornado Event (Round Rock EF-2)Retrieved
  9. Oncor Outages & Weather — outage reporting channels (1-888-313-4747, oncor.com/outages, MyOncor Alerts text OUT to 66267 after REG)Retrieved
  10. KXAN — "1 year later, how Round Rock escaped February 2021 freeze sans water outage" (Winter Storm Uri)Retrieved
  11. NPR — "Ice storm leaves hundreds of thousands of Texans without power" (Feb 2023)Retrieved
  12. Community Impact Newspaper — "Storms cause more than 15,000 outages throughout Oncor service area" (May 2024 derecho)Retrieved
  13. CenterPoint Energy 2024 PUCT System Reliability Report (comparison data point)Retrieved
  14. PUCT Substantive Rule §25.52 — Reliability and Continuity of Service (IEEE 1366 reporting requirements)Retrieved