How to switch electricity provider in the US: state rules, cancel windows, fees

If you live in Dallas, Pittsburgh, Columbus or Chicago, a salesperson or a letter has probably offered you a “better electricity rate” at some point. If you live in Atlanta, Phoenix or most of Florida, nobody has, because there is nothing to sell. Retail electricity choice in the US is a state decision, and only a handful of states have made it. Here is how switching works where it is allowed, and what to watch for.

Where you can switch, and where you cannot

Households can pick their electricity supplier in Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Washington DC, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine. Michigan also has a choice program, but it is capped and small. Each place has its own utility commission that licenses suppliers and handles complaints: the PUCT in Texas, the PA PUC, PUCO in Ohio, the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Delaware Public Service Commission (which has offered electric choice since 1999), and so on.

There is a middle way in some states, including Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, New York and New Jersey: community choice aggregation, where your town or county buys power for all its residents. In Illinois, the Citizens Utility Board explains, most residents are enrolled automatically unless they opt out. If your town has a deal, you can usually leave it and pick a supplier yourself.

Even inside those states, not everyone can switch. In Texas, Austin and San Antonio are served by city-owned utilities (Austin Energy and CPS Energy), and their residents cannot choose a provider; a proposal from Governor Abbott in August 2026 to open them up has not become law. Most rural electric co-ops in Texas also stay outside the competitive market.

In the rest of the country, including Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Washington and most of the South and West, your utility both delivers and sells the power at rates approved by the state commission. You cannot switch there. Your levers are your usage, the utility’s own rate options (such as time-of-use plans), help programs such as LIHEAP, and taking part in rate cases. Our guide to cutting your electric bill is written for everyone, choice state or not.

What actually changes when you switch

Your bill has two halves. Delivery (poles, wires, the meter, outage repairs) always stays with your local utility, such as Oncor, PECO, AEP Ohio or ComEd. Supply, meaning the energy itself and the cents per kWh you pay for it, is the part you can move. In most choice states the utility keeps sending the bill and simply prints the supplier’s charge on it. Texas is different: in the competitive areas you get your bill from the retail electric provider, and there is no utility default plan to fall back on, so every household has to pick one.

Nobody visits your house. The meter stays. If there is a storm outage, you still call the utility.

The official comparison sites

Several states run free official comparison sites, with no commissions attached:

• Texas: Power to Choose, run by the PUCT.
• Pennsylvania: PA Power Switch, run by the PA PUC.
• Ohio: Apples to Apples on Energy Choice Ohio, run by PUCO, covering electricity and natural gas.
• Illinois: Plug In Illinois, run by the ICC, which also publishes the utilities’ price to compare.
• New York: NY Power to Choose, from the Department of Public Service.
• Massachusetts: Energy Switch Massachusetts, run by the Department of Public Utilities.
• Connecticut: the EnergizeCT Rate Board.

In the other choice states, start with the state commission’s or consumer advocate’s website. Commercial comparison sites also exist, and ours links to partner services on our compare page. Those are partner links and we say so there. We do not rank suppliers.

Know your price to compare first

Outside Texas, the benchmark is your utility’s default supply rate, usually called the price to compare. In Illinois, ComEd’s price to compare was 10.399¢/kWh from June to September 2026 and falls to 10.103¢/kWh from October 2026 to May 2027, according to the Citizens Utility Board. Ameren Illinois moves from 11.326¢ to 10.441¢ for the first 800 kWh a month in the same period. A supplier offer is only worth taking if it beats that number for the whole contract, after any monthly fee.

Our bill explainer shows where the supply rate sits on a typical bill.

Step by step

1. Find your usage in kWh for the last 12 months and your utility account number. Both are on your bill.
2. Note your current supply rate or price to compare, and the end date of any contract you already have.
3. Compare offers on the state site or a comparison service. Filter for fixed-rate plans unless you have a reason not to.
4. Read the contract summary. In Texas that is the Electricity Facts Label (EFL), which by rule must show the price at different usage levels, fees, the term and the renewable share.
5. Sign up with the new supplier. It handles the switch with your utility.
6. Watch for the utility’s confirmation letter and check the first bill.

In Pennsylvania, accelerated switching rules mean the change usually takes effect within three business days of the utility being notified. In Texas, the provider submits a standard switch unless you ask for a specific date. Elsewhere the switch generally lines up with a meter read.

Cancel windows by state

You can back out of a new supply contract without penalty, but the clock differs:

• Texas: 3 federal business days after you receive the terms of service. This applies to a switch, not to a move-in, so read the terms before you start service at a new home.
• Pennsylvania: 3 business days after you receive the disclosure statement. You cannot waive this right.
• Ohio: 7 calendar days after the utility sends its confirmation notice.
• Illinois: 10 days after the utility processes the enrollment.

Fixed, variable and early termination fees

A fixed-rate plan keeps the same supply price for every billing period of the term. Texas rules define it that way, with narrow exceptions for changes in delivery charges or regulatory costs. A variable-rate plan can change monthly, and suppliers must tell you so and offer price history. Many Texans still remember February 2021, when some wholesale-indexed plans produced enormous bills during Winter Storm Uri. For most households a fixed plan is the calmer choice.

Fixed plans often carry an early termination fee. The rules soften it:

• In Texas, no fee may apply in the 14 days before the contract end date, and none when you move and give a forwarding address.
• In Pennsylvania, the PUC’s own wording is simple: early cancellation fees do not apply in the last 30 days of your contract. If you ignore the end-of-contract notices, you stay with the supplier month to month without a termination fee, most likely at a different rate.
• In Illinois, Plug In Illinois tells you to ask the supplier whether any early termination fee applies before you sign.
• In Texas, the provider must send at least three written notices in the final third of the contract, the last at least 30 days before it ends.

If your provider goes out of business

This worries Texans more than anyone, because Texas has no utility default plan. The state has a safety net called the provider of last resort. If a retail provider fails or leaves the market, ERCOT moves its customers to a designated provider, and service begins as soon as the transition is complete, so the lights stay on. You are free to pick another provider afterwards through Power to Choose or 1-866-PWR-4-TEX. Outside Texas the utility’s default service is always there: in Pennsylvania, for example, the PUC says you can go back to it by contacting the utility.

Traps to avoid

Door-to-door and phone sales are where most complaints start. Never hand over your account number to someone at the door. Ask for the offer in writing and compare it with the price to compare yourself.

Teaser rates are the second trap: a low price for two or three months, then a variable rate. Check what happens after the introductory period.

The third is doing nothing when a contract ends. Depending on the state, you roll onto a month-to-month rate or a renewal term that may cost more. A reminder helps, and our free contract alert sends one before your end date.

When switching pays

It pays when a fixed offer beats your price to compare, or your current Texas rate, over the full term and at your real usage. It pays when your contract is inside the fee-free window. It rarely pays to chase a saving of a fraction of a cent if the plan has a monthly fee or a short teaser. Run the numbers with 12 months of usage, and if nothing beats the utility default, staying put is a perfectly good answer.