Waco Electricity Rates 2026

Who delivers your power in Waco

Waco is in Oncor Electric Delivery's service area. Oncor owns the poles, wires and meters and restores power after outages, but it doesn't sell electricity to homes. You buy that from a retail electricity provider (REP) you choose, and the REP bills you for both its own energy charge and Oncor's delivery charges.

The rest of McLennan County is more mixed. Our ZIP records place Hewitt, Woodway, Robinson, Lorena and China Spring in Oncor's area. Around McGregor, Crawford and Valley Mills, some or all addresses are served by Texas-New Mexico Power (TNMP), a different delivery utility that is also open to retail choice; its delivery charges differ from Oncor's, so plans and prices there differ from Waco's. Parts of rural McLennan County are served by Heart of Texas Electric Cooperative, which has not opted into retail competition, so its members buy power from the co-op and can't switch. If you live outside the city, check the utility named on your bill before comparing plans.

What Oncor's delivery charges are made of

Oncor's delivery charges are approved by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), and they're the same whichever provider you choose. A residential bill carries two kinds. Fixed monthly charges, a customer charge and a metering charge, are billed even in a month when you use very little. Per-kWh charges, a distribution charge plus adjustment factors for costs such as transmission and energy-efficiency programs, rise with every kilowatt-hour you use.

Some of those per-kWh factors are reset more than once a year, so we don't print delivery amounts here that could go out of date. Every plan's Electricity Facts Label (EFL) shows the plan's average price including delivery at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh.

Because part of the delivery cost is a fixed monthly amount, your all-in price per kWh is higher in a low-use month than in a high-use one, even on a fixed-rate plan. That's one reason a Waco bill in April and a Waco bill in August can look so different.

Waco's climate and what it does to your usage

Waco summers are long and hot. NOAA's 1991–2020 climate normals for Waco Regional Airport put the average daily high at about 97°F in July and August, and above 90°F from June through September. Winters are mild but real: the normal low in January is about 36°F.

Over a typical year Waco needs more cooling than heating: the same NOAA normals show about 2,870 cooling degree days against about 2,080 heating degree days. For most homes, air conditioning drives the biggest swings in usage, and homes with electric heat or a heat pump see a second, smaller peak in winter.

Statewide data show the same shape. EIA's 2025 figures work out to about 1,105 kWh a month for the average Texas home, but that average covers a wide range: about 1,520 kWh in August, about 830 kWh in April, and a smaller winter bump to about 1,190 kWh in January. EIA doesn't publish usage for Waco alone, so treat these as a Texas-wide guide, not a local measurement.

Choosing a plan for Waco's seasons

Many Texas plans are advertised at their 1,000 kWh price. If your home swings from well under that in spring to well over it in summer, check the EFL's prices at 500 and 2,000 kWh too, not just the 1,000 kWh headline.

Be careful with bill credits and usage tiers. A plan that takes a credit off when you use at least 1,000 kWh can look cheap on an August bill and expensive on an April one, when many homes fall below the threshold. A simple fixed rate with no credit is easier to predict across Waco's seasons.

Watch your contract's end date. When a fixed-rate term ends and you haven't chosen a new plan, you are usually moved to a month-to-month rate. A term that ends in spring or fall gives you time to shop before your highest-use months, rather than renewing in the middle of a July heat wave.

Waco's Economy & Energy Demand

Baylor's campus, factories, hospitals, stores and hotels all draw power from the same Oncor network as Waco homes. Like homes across Texas, their demand climbs on the hottest summer afternoons.

Energy Market in Waco

Inside Waco, every home and business can choose a retail electricity provider, and Oncor delivers the power whichever one you pick. Outside the city, check your bill first: parts of McLennan County are served by TNMP or by Heart of Texas Electric Cooperative instead.

Oncor Delivery Charges

Oncor's delivery charges apply across its whole service area, so a Waco home pays the same delivery rates as a home in Dallas or Fort Worth. They are made up of a fixed monthly amount plus a per-kWh amount, and they appear on your bill whichever provider you choose.

Seasonal Energy Costs in Waco

In NOAA's 1991–2020 climate normals for Waco, average daily highs are above 90°F from June through September, so summer is when bills peak. April and November are the lowest-use months for most Texas homes, which makes them sensible months for a contract to end: you can compare plans without a summer bill hanging over the decision.

Neighborhood Energy Differences

In Waco, how much electricity a home uses depends more on the house than on the neighborhood. Older homes often have less insulation and older air conditioners than newer construction, so they can use noticeably more electricity in summer for the same floor area. If you're moving, ask the landlord or seller for the last 12 months of usage, or look up your own history at Smart Meter Texas once you're the account holder.

Market fact

According to ERCOT, only two Texas utilities that aren't investor-owned — Nueces Electric Cooperative and the City of Lubbock — have opted into retail choice. Waco has choice because it is in Oncor's investor-owned service area.

Local saving tip

Compare plans at your own usage, not just the 1,000 kWh headline price. A home that uses around 800 kWh in April and 1,500 kWh in August — close to the Texas averages for those months — can find that the cheapest plan in one season is not the cheapest in the other.

McLennan County's economy leans toward making things. In 2024, manufacturing was the county's largest private-sector employer, with about 15,900 jobs and roughly 1.6 times the national share of employment, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. Health care, retail, and restaurants and hotels are the next-largest sectors. Construction and wholesale trade are also more concentrated than nationally, and private education, the category that includes Baylor University, employs about twice the national share.

Waco businesses choose their electricity provider the same way homes do, but Oncor bills larger sites differently. Sites with demand above 10 kW are billed under Oncor's Secondary Service Greater Than 10 kW schedule. There, part of the delivery charge is based on the site's peak demand in kW, its highest 15-minute interval in the month, not only on the kWh it uses.

The largest sites, those that have reached 700 kW of demand, pay transmission charges based on 4CP demand: their average load during ERCOT's monthly system peak in June, July, August and September of the previous year. Cutting load during those summer peak intervals lowers the next year's transmission charges.

Because peak demand, load shape and contract timing all affect what a business pays, a useful commercial quote starts from your usage history, not an advertised rate. FindEnergyRates quotes business electricity for Texas sites, including Waco, and compares offers for your location.