Lantern Power | Elisa Kaplan

03/19/2026

PSA. If you enrolled with Budget Power prior to Feb 1, they just sold your account to Direct Energy, a division of NRG. (FYI, Reliant , Green Mountain, Discount Power, Cirro Energy, and others are also owned by NRG.) Direct Energy will be honoring the contract you enrolled in, so nothing about that will change: most importantly, your rate and contract term remain unchanged.

HOWEVER, IF you chose to enroll in autopay, you will need to re-enroll once you receive your first bill from Direct Energy. You will receive your first bill in April.

When you receive communications from Direct Energy it is not spam! Please be mindful of this so they don't disconnect you!

For those of you that enrolled with Budget Power post Feb 1, your service provider will remain unchanged.

01/22/2026

Please take the impending freeze seriously! If your home's electricity contract has expired and you are on a monthly variable rate, please enroll in a new fixed rate immediately! We could see a repeat of the huge price spikes that made national news in Feb of 2021. Major players in the electricity industry are suspending enrollments but this company is currently offering same day service, for now.

BKV Energy offers simple, transparent electricity plans in Texas with no gimmicks, no hidden fees, and loyalty rewards like Reduce Your Rate and ElectroShare.

10/21/2025

Just heard from one of my longtime customers. His contract doesn't end until July but his current provider reached out to him about renewing his contract now because they are concerned about rates going up and where they'll be in the summer. I agree that rates are going up but the offer they made him was just awful! His new energy charge would be 10.8 cents/kWh (not including CenterPoint's charges). Today's best rate offers are 8.2. This is a $300 difference between now and July. And here's the kicker. Not only would their new rate cost him hundreds more, but they would also charge him a $250 early termination fee!

PLEASE let Lantern help you minimize your electricity costs! If you are tempted by an offer, get the Electricity Facts Label and send it me!

07/07/2025

Please don't assume your current electricity provider's renewal rates are better than other companies' offers! Please check with me before renewing!

Also, if your current contract is expiring in October and you are receiving renewal offers now, DON"T DO IT! Electricity rates will drop after summer heat fades, so hang tight.

06/03/2025

Texas electricity rates have increased significantly over the last few years, in large part due to increased demand from "load growth" without similar growth in power generation resources. Load growth in Texas is due to the huge amount of people moving here from out of state (Texas has added more residents than any other state over the last several years), the growing popularity of electric vehicles (over 300,000 and counting, ranking us 3rd in the nation), and strong business growth (Texas added over 125,000 new business entities in 2024).

Growth in these areas continue and is accelerating. Until more generation is built and commissioned, we can expect prices to continue increasing in all markets for consumers not only in power prices from Retail Electric Providers, but also the regulated charges from the transmission and distribution service providers, CenterPoint, Oncor, AEP, TNMP, etc. This will lead to an overall more costly energy bill.

Now is a good time to lock in long term rates.

I'm here to help!

06/03/2025

Texas electricity rates have increased significantly over the last few years, in large part due to increased demand from "load growth" without similar growth in power generation resources. Load growth in Texas is due to the huge amount of people moving here from out of state (Texas has added more residents than any other state over the last several years), the growing popularity of electric vehicles (over 300,000 and counting, ranking us 3rd in the nation), and strong business growth (Texas added over 125,000 new business entities in 2024). Growth in these areas continue and is accelerating. Until more generation is built and commissioned, we can expect prices to continue increasing in all markets for consumers not only in power prices from Retail Electric Providers, but also the regulated charges from the transmission and distribution service providers, CenterPoint, Oncor, AEP, TNMP, etc. This will lead to an overall more costly energy bill. Now is a good time to lock in long term rates.

I'm here to help!

04/16/2025

Recently, Pulse Power sold its accounts to Discount Power. The letter Pulse provided to their customers says the rate and contract will be honored by Discount Power. Among other things, that includes Pulse Power's early termination fee, which is charged if you switch away from them too soon. It is supposed to be $20 for each month between your new service start date and the contract expiration date. If you are charged more than that, the higher fee can be contested and reduced.

If your contract is expiring between June and mid-Sept and you are with a company that has a monthly early termination fee, chances are today's best rates will save you more than the early termination fee and get you away from highest-of-the-year summertime renewal rates.

I'm here to help!

03/17/2025

Just got an offer in the mail from one of the big-name electric companies, offering a $600 bonus if I enroll with them for 3 years. At 13, 400 kWh's per year, it'll cost me over $700 more in the first year of using them than it would on today's best new rate. Another way to look at it is it will cost me $2,100 to get a $600 credit. Just saying.

03/03/2025

What's on my mind? Electricity rates as always! It looks like rates just dropped, but did they? Don't be fooled by the average reported cost when exactly 500, 1000, or 2,000 is used. These average costs are easily manipulated and can make a bad rate look good! There are many ways to do this, but this is what happened this week:

CenterPoint just dropped their rate from 5.35 cents/kWh to 4.338. (every year they drop on March 1st, then increase by about the same amount on Sept 1st). CenterPoint's charges are the same no matter which Retail Electric Provider (REP) you enroll with and are not negotiable. The average rate that REPs are required to show you must include the REP's and CenterPoint's rates.

While CenterPoint's charges have dropped, there are plenty of REPs that have increased their energy charges because the average will be lower than last week's offers. You need to pay attention to REP's Energy Charges to see if rates have increased or dropped.

Reach out to me if you don't have the time or patience to wade through all the guff. I'll help you find the best rate for your home or business!

Send a message to learn more

01/27/2025

Lately, Lantern has been hearing customers wanting to wait to enroll in a new electricity rate as they've heard that the new administration will be causing energy prices to drop. However, more drilling doesn't mean electricity rates in Texas will go down. That's because, in Texas, the majority of power plants use natural gas to create electricity, and the price of natural gas has already been lower over the past few years than it's been in decades.

So what is driving high electricity rates here? Texas has been struggling to provide enough power to meet the current, let alone growing, demand. More drilling won't change that. More power generation will. There are plans for new generation, but that takes time to construct.

Furthermore, a new Executive Order entitled "Unleashing American Energy", while creating more profits for the industry, is expected to increase the domestic price of natural gas. Why? Section 8 of the order specifically directs the Secretary of Energy to "restart reviews of applications for approvals of liquified natural gas export projects as expeditiously as possible, consistent with applicable law." That means more demand for the product, and when there is higher demand, prices increase.

In the meantime, Texas has been identified as one of the top markets for crypto and data centers. ERCOT expects an extra 40,000 MW of load growth in the next five years. That’s huge. Right now, Texas can't handle the demand from it's current facilities, let alone the data centers coming our way.

Unless the new administration can magically create new generation feeding the ERCOT grid now, keep natural gas levels at current levels or lower, and/or convince Texas users to conserve energy, electricity rates are expected to increase, not drop. Weather will still influence rates seasonally, but the overall trend for electricity prices in Texas is up, not down.

09/06/2024

Every Sept 1, CenterPoint increases their charges/kWh significantly, then reduces them significantly March 1. In between, they bump around less noticeably than the almost 2 cent per kWh (!) twice yearly adjustments. CenterPoint's charges and quality of service are the same no matter which Retail Electric Provider you enroll with, are still regulated by the Public Utility Commission, and are not negotiable.

Retail Electric Providers' (REPs) rates are separate from CenterPoint's, but are presented to you together on one bill. When CenterPoint's rates change, the AVERAGE price per kWh changes, but your FIXED rate from your REP does not for the duration of your contract.

Have questions? Let me know and I'll do my best to answer them!

09/05/2024

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