How to Read Your Oncor Bill (Texas)
Oncor doesn't sell you electricity or send you a bill at all — it's a regulated Transmission and Distribution Utility (TDU) that owns the poles and wires across much of Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Your actual bill comes from the Retail Electric Provider (REP) you signed up with, and it includes Oncor's delivery charge as a pass-through line item alongside the REP's own energy charge.
Why "Oncor" isn't who bills you
Oncor Electric Delivery is a wires-only company: it builds, maintains, and repairs the poles, substations, and lines that carry electricity to roughly 400 communities and about 14 million people in Texas, making it the largest electric delivery company in the state. Oncor doesn't generate or sell electricity, and in its competitive-choice territory it doesn't bill retail customers directly — that job belongs to whichever Retail Electric Provider (REP) you've signed up with.
How the delivery charge shows up on your bill
If you live in Oncor's service area and shop for electricity, your monthly statement comes from your REP (companies like the well-known Texas retail brands), not from Oncor. Buried in that bill, though, is a delivery charge — sometimes labeled a "TDU charge" or "TDSP charge" — which is Oncor's regulated fee for using its wires. This charge is set by regulators and is identical no matter which REP you're with, so it's not something you can shop for; only the energy charge portion varies by REP and plan.
Energy charges: the part you actually shop for
Because Texas's competitive retail market separates delivery from energy, the REP charge is where plan differences show up — fixed-rate, variable-rate, or time-of-use pricing, minimum usage fees, and any bill credits. This is the line item worth comparing across REPs and plans, since Oncor's delivery charge underneath it stays the same regardless of who you choose.
Not every Texan is served by Oncor, and not every area is deregulated
Oncor is one of several TDUs in Texas — others include CenterPoint Energy, AEP Texas, and TNMP — so your delivery charge and the exact terminology on your bill depend on which one serves your address. It's also worth knowing that Texas's competitive retail market, run through ERCOT, doesn't cover the entire state: some cities operate their own municipal utilities or electric cooperatives outside that system, where customers don't choose a REP at all.
Fixed fees and taxes
Beyond the energy and TDU delivery charges, expect a base monthly fee from your REP and applicable state and local taxes. Some REP plans also carry usage-based credits or minimum-usage fees that can swing your effective rate — worth checking against your actual kWh usage each month rather than just the headline rate advertised when you signed up.
Frequently asked questions
Does Oncor send me a bill?
No. In Oncor's competitive-choice area, your Retail Electric Provider (REP) sends the bill and handles customer service; Oncor's delivery charge is passed through as a line item on that REP's bill rather than billed separately.
What is the "TDU charge" on a Texas electric bill?
TDU stands for Transmission and Distribution Utility — the regulated company, like Oncor, that owns the physical wires. The TDU charge is Oncor's delivery fee, passed through on your REP's bill and set the same for every REP operating in Oncor's territory.
Is all of Texas served by Oncor, and is all of it deregulated?
No to both. Oncor is the largest transmission and distribution utility in Texas, covering roughly 400 communities including much of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but other regions are served by different TDUs, and some Texas cities run their own municipal or cooperative utilities outside the competitive retail market entirely.
See this on your own bill
Upload your Texas electric bill and Certo reads it for you — a free bill health score, a plain-English breakdown, and whether your REP's rate is competitive.
Want it tracked automatically every month?
Plus and Pro track bill history, flag rate hikes and unusual usage, and (on Pro) build a custom efficiency checklist and savings tracker — so you're not re-checking this by hand.