What a TDSP does versus what a REP does
Your TDSP (Transmission and Distribution Service Provider) maintains poles, wires, and meter infrastructure. Your REP sells the electricity plan, sets retail contract terms, and handles billing choices tied to your supply price.
In deregulated areas, you can switch REPs while the TDSP remains the same. That means better shopping can lower costs without changing who restores service during outages.
- TDSP: delivery, grid maintenance, outage response.
- REP: pricing plans, contract terms, enrollment.
Why territory matters before comparing rates
Plan eligibility and charges can vary by utility territory. A plan that appears in one metro may not be available, or may price differently, in another territory because delivery components differ.
This is why robust comparison tools ask for address or ZIP first. Territory-aware shopping is not optional in Texas; it is the baseline for accurate comparisons.
Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP, and Sharyland at a glance
Oncor covers large portions of North and Central Texas. CenterPoint serves the greater Houston area. AEP Texas Central and AEP Texas North cover large parts of South, Coastal, Panhandle, and West Texas. Sharyland serves select areas in South and Mid-Texas.
Your bill and enrollment path depend on this map. If your territory is misidentified, your final pricing assumptions can be wrong even before plan-level comparisons begin.
Outages, service calls, and who to contact
If your lights go out, contact the TDSP outage line, not your REP sales line. Your REP can support account and plan questions, but physical restoration is managed by the utility network operator.
Saving these contacts before storms or extreme weather is a simple preparedness step that improves response time when outages happen.