Constellation Energy Priced 12.0¢ at 1,000 kWh and 15.9¢ at 500 — All Nine Oncor Plans, the Bill-Credit Cliff, and What the Calpine Deal Changed (Sept 2026)

What matters most: the company is financially solid and genuinely large, the Calpine acquisition that closed in January 2026 put Champion Energy and several other Texas retail brands under the same parent, and its cheapest advertised Texas rate is built on a usage cliff you should check against your own bill before signing.

What is Constellation Energy?

Constellation is a major retail supplier of electricity and natural gas serving deregulated residential and business markets nationwide. It supplies the energy and bills you, while your local utility delivers it and handles outages. Constellation Energy is a large independent, publicly traded company.

Where is Constellation Energy available?

Constellation serves many deregulated states for electricity and/or natural gas across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Texas. Coverage and plans vary by state, so enter your ZIP to see what Constellation offers at your address.

For residential electricity, Constellation Energy’s own service-area page lists Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Wyoming and Washington, D.C. Residential natural gas is a shorter list — Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania among them — because gas choice exists in fewer places than electric choice does.

Inside Texas the company sells across the two big competitive utility territories and the smaller ones around them: Houston and the Gulf Coast on CenterPoint, Dallas–Fort Worth, Arlington, Waco and the northern suburbs on Oncor, plus Corpus Christi, Katy and Lubbock. Municipal and co-op areas such as Austin Energy and San Antonio’s CPS territory are not open to retail choice, so no retailer can sell there no matter what a national rate table implies.

That distinction is the whole reason a ZIP-level check matters. Two homes twenty minutes apart can sit in different worlds — one with a dozen Constellation Energy plans to choose from, the other with a single municipal utility and no choice at all. Our Texas electricity rates guide maps which markets are open.

Constellation Energy rates at a real Texas address, September 2026

Most reviews describe these plans without ever quoting one. On September 24, 2026 we ran the company’s own sign-up flow for a single-family home in ZIP 75078 — Oncor territory, north of Dallas — and wrote down all nine plans exactly as the checkout showed them. The page itself is dated: “Showing rates available for September 24, 2026.”

Two numbers in that table do the most work. The cheapest headline rate is 12.0¢ per kWh, and the plan that produces it is also the most expensive plan on the board for a small household. That is not a typo, and it is the single most important thing to understand about Constellation Energy pricing in Texas.

Why the Constellation Energy bill credit swings your rate by 3.9¢

The company shows its full arithmetic if you open “See more details” on a plan card, and the 12-month Fixed Rate + Bill Credit breaks down like this at our address:

• Energy charge: 9.06¢ per kWh, the part Constellation Energy actually sets.
• Oncor base charge: $4.06 a month, identical on every plan and every provider in that territory.
• Oncor delivery charge: 6.0295¢ per kWh, also identical everywhere in Oncor.
• Residential usage credit: $35 a month, but only when the meter lands at 1,000 kWh or more and under 2,000.
• Additional usage credit: a further $15 a month once you cross 2,000 kWh, for $50 total.

Read that fourth line again. The credit is a cliff, not a slope. A month at 999 kWh earns nothing; a month at 1,000 kWh earns $35. That is why the average price on the same plan reads 15.9¢ at 500 kWh, 12.0¢ at 1,000 kWh and 12.8¢ at 2,000 kWh.

The practical consequence is easy to state. If your home reliably burns 1,000 to 1,500 kWh a month, the bill-credit plan is genuinely the best Constellation Energy offer at this address. If you live in an apartment, travel, or run 500-to-800 kWh through the shoulder months, the plain 12 Month (No Min Usage Fee) plan beats it by 1.9¢ per kWh — and it carries no minimum-usage fee either, so a light month costs what a light month should cost.

Pull twelve months of kWh off your current bill before you pick. A single number — your lowest month, not your average — is what decides whether a bill credit is a discount or a mirage.

What happens when you check a real address

Every quote above came from one ZIP code on one day, and that is the point. Prices are set per utility territory, and the same plan name carries a different energy charge in CenterPoint (Houston) than it does in Oncor (Dallas–Fort Worth). The Oncor pass-through alone — $4.06 a month plus 6.0295¢ per kWh — is roughly half of a typical bill before Constellation Energy has charged you a cent for power.

So when you enter your address rather than browsing a rate table, four things resolve at once. Your utility is identified, which fixes the delivery charges. The plan list narrows to what is actually sellable at your meter. The advertised rate turns into a real average price at your usage. And the Electricity Facts Label — the one-page disclosure Texas requires — becomes available for the exact product you would sign.

That is the same check our marketplace runs across electricity, internet and home security in one pass, so you see every provider that can serve the address instead of one brand’s shelf.

Constellation Energy plans and rates in 2026

Electricity rates change constantly and depend on your usage and utility territory, so we don’t quote a single price — instead, here are the plan types Constellation is known for. Always check the current rate and the Electricity Facts Label (EFL) for your address before enrolling.

Compare Constellation’s live rates against other providers on the Constellation site and through our comparison tools.

Constellation Energy now owns Champion, GoodCharlie and Hello Energy

On January 7, 2026 Constellation Energy closed its acquisition of Calpine Corporation, and the Texas retail shelf quietly changed shape. Calpine’s retail arm came with it, which means several brand names a Texas shopper treats as separate competitors now answer to the same parent.

The company’s own Calpine business-unit page lists the retail brands that moved across: Champion Energy Services, Calpine Energy Solutions, Calpine Community Energy, GoodCharlie Energy, Hello Energy and North American Power. Champion has been a Houston-based Calpine subsidiary since October 2015; it is now a sibling brand rather than a rival.

The deal also changed the company’s physical scale. The combined business holds roughly 55 gigawatts of capacity across nuclear, natural gas, geothermal, hydro, wind and solar — enough, by its own accounting, to power about 27 million homes — and serves approximately 2.5 million customer accounts nationwide. Calpine brought about 79 facilities and 27,000-plus megawatts in 22 states, including The Geysers in California, the largest geothermal complex in the country at roughly 725 megawatts. As part of the FERC and Department of Justice resolution, Constellation Energy agreed to sell a package of PJM generation assets to LS Power.

None of that changes your rate by itself. It does change how you shop. If you compare Constellation Energy against Champion and call it a two-horse race, you are comparing two shelves in the same store. Put a genuinely unrelated retailer in the mix — TXU, Reliant, Rhythm — and the spread you see is real competition rather than internal brand segmentation.

Is Constellation Energy legit and a good provider?

Constellation is a large, well-established and licensed retail energy provider (part of Constellation Energy Corporation, NYSE: CEG). It’s a legitimate option; as always, the value depends on the plan and your usage, so read the terms and compare rates before enrolling.

Constellation Energy pros and cons

Five things to check on the label before you sign

Texas requires every retailer to publish a one-page Electricity Facts Label for each product, and it answers in plain numbers what a marketing page leaves vague. Open the EFL from the plan card and read these five lines in order:

1. The average price at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh. Three numbers, not one. If they are far apart, the plan has a credit or a fee tied to a usage threshold, and the gap tells you how hard it bites.
2. The energy charge, stated separately. This is the only figure the retailer controls. Everything else on the label is your utility’s pass-through and will be identical no matter whom you sign with.
3. The base charge and the delivery rate. In Oncor these ran $4.06 a month and 6.0295¢ per kWh in September 2026. Seeing them broken out stops you from crediting a retailer for costs it never set.
4. Every credit and its threshold. A credit written as “$35 per month at 1,000 kWh or more” is a cliff. Compare it against your lowest-usage month of the last year, not your average.
5. The early termination fee and the term length. A $150 exit fee on a 24-month term is a different commitment from the same fee on 12 months, especially if you might move.

Two minutes with those five lines will tell you more than any review, including this one. The label is the contract; the advertisement is not.

How to switch to or cancel Constellation Energy

Switching electricity providers in a deregulated market is simple: compare current plans for your address, pick one, and the new provider handles the switch — there’s usually no interruption in service. If you’re on a fixed-term plan, check the Electricity Facts Label for any early termination fee before leaving. Start by comparing Constellation against other providers by ZIP.

Constellation for business: Constellation small-business electricity plans and states

Constellation is the largest commercial supplier on this site’s list and the one with the most published detail. As of September 28, 2026 it sells small-business electricity in Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington D.C., Massachusetts, Connecticut and Delaware (and natural gas in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, D.C., Georgia, Virginia, Kentucky, Michigan and Indiana), in three plan structures: fully bundled fixed-rate plans, which fold energy, capacity and transmission into one rate and can be viewed, priced and signed online by location; capacity-adjust plans, which fix the energy rate but move capacity costs with auction results; and custom plans structured to a business’s usage profile, by phone at 855-585-3935. Contract length changes how long the supply rate applies but never the utility’s delivery charge.

Source: the supplier’s own business pages (Champion: Electricity Facts Label, PUC #10098; NRG Business: Texas small-commercial terms of service, REP #10011), read September 28, 2026. Commercial electricity is priced per meter; treat these as the published starting points.

What a commercial contract adds over the residential plan on this page: a price built from your meter’s 12-month usage and load factor rather than a published rate card, term choices from 12 to 36 months or longer, a base charge and pass-through structure that differ from the residential EFL, and exit terms that scale with the months remaining. Compare every business quote as an all-in price at your real usage — the method is in our cheapest business electricity guide and the supplier field is compared in business electricity providers.

Business shopper? Compare business electricity providers, read how the cheapest business contracts are built, or talk to a commercial specialist.

Constellation Energy FAQ

Is Constellation Energy cheaper than TXU or Reliant?

Sometimes, and only at the right usage. At ZIP 75078 on September 24, 2026 the best rate was 12.0¢ per kWh at 1,000 kWh, which is competitive with the large incumbents at that exact usage level. Drop to 500 kWh and the same plan reads 15.9¢, which is not. Compare average price at your monthly kWh, never at the 1,000 kWh benchmark alone.

Does Constellation Energy charge a minimum usage fee?

Not on every plan. The 12 Month (No Min Usage Fee) product is named for exactly that reason and charged 14.0¢ per kWh at 500 kWh in our quote. The bill-credit plans do not levy a minimum-usage penalty either, but they withhold a $35 monthly credit below 1,000 kWh, which produces a similar effect on a light bill.

What is the Constellation Energy early termination fee?

Every residential plan in our September 2026 Texas quote carried a $150 early termination fee, on both 12-month and 24-month terms. Texas rules let you leave penalty-free in the final days of a contract term and when you move out of the service address with proof.

Does Constellation Energy offer a free-electricity plan?

In Texas it offers time-of-use plans rather than a weekend free-power product. The EV FreeCharge plans price off-peak energy at 0.00¢ per kWh between midnight and 4 a.m. and charge 9.09¢ on-peak, which suits overnight EV charging and little else. The FlexCharge plans split 6.13¢ off-peak against 7.26¢ on-peak on a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. window.

Who owns Champion Energy now?

Constellation Energy. Champion Energy Services was a Calpine subsidiary, and the Calpine purchase completed on January 7, 2026, bringing Champion, GoodCharlie, Hello Energy, North American Power and Calpine Energy Solutions under one owner.

Sources

Every rate, fee and credit threshold on this page comes from the Constellation Energy residential sign-up flow for ZIP 75078 (Oncor), run on September 24, 2026, including the per-plan “See more details” breakdowns that publish the energy charge, the Oncor base and delivery charges and the usage-credit tiers. Plan documents are linked from each card as an Electricity Facts Label, the disclosure the Public Utility Commission of Texas requires before you sign.

Corporate facts come from primary company statements: the January 7, 2026 announcement that the Calpine transaction closed, the Calpine business-unit page listing the retail brands now under the same roof, and the areas-we-serve page for the residential state list. In Texas the selling entity is Constellation NewEnergy, Inc., PUCT License #10014; you can confirm any Texas retailer’s licence and compare offers at the state’s official Power to Choose site.

Last updated September 24, 2026.

Keep going

• Compare plans in your deregulated state
• How to read an Electricity Facts Label
• Why is my energy bill so high?
• TXU Energy review
• Reliant Energy review
• Direct Energy review
• Gexa Energy review
• Champion Energy review: Constellation’s Texas retail brand, priced from the EFLs