Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative: rates per kWh and bills

Bluebonnet's 2025 price per kWh, against the country

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative (Bluebonnet Electric Coop, Inc in EIA's records) is a non-profit cooperative owned by its members. It buys wholesale power on the ERCOT grid, owns the lines and bills each member for both. In 2025 it served 119,030 residential members and 140,420¹ accounts of every kind.

Its residential members paid an average of 11.59¢ per kWh¹ that year. That is average revenue per kWh: what the co-op billed homes over the year, divided by the kWh they used. Fixed monthly charges and power-cost adjustments are inside it, and a member who uses little pays more per kWh than the average, because the fixed part is spread over fewer kWh.

Among the 177 US utilities with 100,000 or more residential customers that report a full-service price, Bluebonnet was 8th lowest of 177; the median was 15.07¢ per kWh¹. Its neighbors on that list in 2025 were mostly other cooperatives:

Inside Texas, where smaller utilities join the comparison, it was 7th lowest of 61 utilities with 10,000 or more residential customers, and 17.8% below the national average for electric cooperatives. Texas cooperatives as a group averaged 13.17¢ per kWh¹.

These are annual figures, and no newer ones exist for the co-op. EIA's monthly survey, Form EIA-861M, covers a sample of utilities that does not include Bluebonnet. The statewide residential average of 15.98¢ per kWh² over the 12 months September 2025 to August 2026 (2026 months preliminary) covers every Texas provider, not Bluebonnet.

Price up a little, bill up more: 2024 to 2025

The average price members paid went from 11.42¢ per kWh³ in 2024 to 11.59¢ per kWh in 2025, up 1.5%. That was a smaller increase than the Texas average for all providers (+3.1%⁴) and than at Pedernales Electric Cooperative (+4.3%) or Austin Energy (+4.5%¹).

The bill moved more. Use per home climbed from 1,206 kWh to 1,244 kWh a month, so the average monthly bill went from $137.63³ to $144.15, a change of +4.7%¹. EIA's revenue and sales data cannot say whether the extra use came from weather, larger homes or new appliances, and they do not separate base-rate changes from wholesale power costs passed through to members.

The lowest price of four Central Texas utilities, not the lowest bill

A Bluebonnet home used 1,244 kWh a month in 2025, more than the average Texas home (1,110 kWh⁵), well above homes served by the region's two city-owned utilities and slightly above Pedernales members. The low price per kWh therefore did not turn into the lowest bill: a Bluebonnet home paid $144.15 a month, against $109.73 at Austin Energy (835 kWh of use), $133.34 at CPS Energy (1,075 kWh) and $153.24 at Pedernales (1,202 kWh¹).

Austin Energy (TX)$109.73

CPS Energy (TX)$133.34

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative (TX)$144.15

Pedernales Electric Cooperative (TX)$153.24

Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. EIA-861 2025 final. Average revenue per kWh is all charges divided by kWh; it is not a tariff rate.

Show the numbers

Utility	average monthly residential bill
Austin Energy (TX)	$109.73
CPS Energy (TX)	$133.34
Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative (TX)	$144.15
Pedernales Electric Cooperative (TX)	$153.24

Against Texas as a whole, Bluebonnet's members came out below average on both measures in 2025: $144.15 against $170.95⁵ a month, with a price 24.7% below the Texas average¹.

Industrial accounts buy the largest share of the co-op's power

The all-customer average of 8.15¢ per kWh¹ sits below both the residential and the commercial averages. That arithmetic only works because industrial accounts, billed far less per kWh, take a large share of the co-op's sales: in 2025 they bought more kWh than all residential members together.

The average industrial bill was more than double Pedernales's ($3,379.48¹). Each sector pays under its own rate schedules; the residential average above is the one that applies to homes.

Where Bluebonnet serves, and who else is there

EIA's 2025 service-territory records place the co-op in 14 counties east and south of Austin: Austin County, Bastrop County, Burleson County, Caldwell County, Colorado County, Fayette County, Gonzales County, Guadalupe County, Hays County, Lee County, Milam County, Travis County and 2 others. In all 14⁶ of them at least one other utility also reports customers. The table under the map lists them: Austin Energy and Pedernales in Travis and Williamson counties, CPS Energy in Guadalupe, several smaller cooperatives such as Fayette Electric Cooperative and Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative, and city utilities in towns such as Bastrop, Lockhart, La Grange and Giddings.

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative onlyBluebonnet Electric Cooperative and other utilitiesOther utilities

Source: EIA-861 2025, service territory; Census Bureau, Cartographic boundary file, counties. EIA-861 2025 service territory: 14 counties. Counts whole counties even where the utility serves only part of one; check the utility's own service-area map for an address.

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County	Other utilities reporting service
Austin County	CenterPoint Energy, San Bernard Electric Cooperative, Fayette Electric Cooperative, City of Bellville
Bastrop County	Oncor, Fayette Electric Cooperative, City of Bastrop, City of Smithville
Burleson County	Entergy Texas, City of Bryan, Bartlett Electric Cooperative, City of Caldwell
Caldwell County	AEP Texas Central, Pedernales Electric Cooperative, Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative, City of Lockhart, City of Luling
Colorado County	CenterPoint Energy, AEP Texas Central, San Bernard Electric Cooperative, Fayette Electric Cooperative, Wharton County Electric Cooperative, City of Weimar
Fayette County	Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative, San Bernard Electric Cooperative, Fayette Electric Cooperative, City of La Grange, City of Schulenburg, City of Flatonia
Gonzales County	AEP Texas Central, Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative, Fayette Electric Cooperative, City of Gonzales, City of Flatonia, City of Waelder
Guadalupe County	CPS Energy, AEP Texas Central, Pedernales Electric Cooperative, Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative, City of New Braunfels, City of Seguin
Hays County	Pedernales Electric Cooperative, City of San Marcos
Lee County	Fayette Electric Cooperative, Bartlett Electric Cooperative, City of Giddings, City of Lexington
Milam County	Oncor, Entergy Texas, Heart of Texas Electric Cooperative, Bartlett Electric Cooperative
Travis County	Oncor, Austin Energy, Pedernales Electric Cooperative
Washington County	Entergy Texas, Fayette Electric Cooperative, City of Brenham
Williamson County	Oncor, Austin Energy, Pedernales Electric Cooperative, City of Georgetown, Bartlett Electric Cooperative, City of Bartlett

Some of those neighbors work under a different market structure. In Bastrop, Milam, Travis and Williamson counties Oncor also owns lines, AEP Texas Central does in Caldwell, Colorado, Gonzales and Guadalupe, and CenterPoint Energy in Austin and Colorado counties. Homes on those wires buy electricity from a retail electric provider and pay the wires company for delivery only, so their bills are not comparable line by line with a Bluebonnet bill, which covers both. The Texas retail choice guide shows which delivery areas are open to shopping. A town or ZIP code does not settle which utility serves a property; Bluebonnet's service-area map does, by address.

Few smart meters and little rooftop solar on the co-op's lines

Bluebonnet's 2025 EIA-861 meter report stands apart from its neighbors. It counted advanced meters (AMI, which EIA records separately from older automated meter reading) at 7.5% of residential accounts, against 96.4% for Texas as a whole and 99.9%⁸ at Pedernales. The figures are as reported to EIA's annual survey; EIA's data do not show what kind of meter the other accounts have.

Rooftop solar is also scarce in the co-op's data. Members reported 206 net-metered residential installations with 1.7 megawatts of capacity in 2025: 1.7 per 1,000 residential customers, against 10.8 for Texas, 32.3 at Pedernales and 38.1⁸ nationally. How exported solar power is credited is set in the co-op's tariff; the net metering guide covers the general mechanics. EIA's data show no time-of-use enrollment for Bluebonnet.

Outage minutes about half the Texas average

Bluebonnet members averaged 114 minutes without power in 2025, including major events, fewer than the Texas average of 225 minutes. Excluding major event days the figure was 88 minutes, against 130 minutes statewide, and members saw 1.31 interruptions each on average, against 1.71 for Texas, all measured under IEEE 1366. The wires companies that share its counties reported more: 232 minutes for Oncor, 205 minutes for AEP Texas Central and 193 minutes⁹ for CenterPoint Energy (Oncor reports under a different standard, so its figure is not strictly comparable).

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative (TX)114

CenterPoint Energy (TX)193

AEP Texas Central (TX)205

Oncor (TX)232

Source: EIA-861 2025, reliability. EIA-861 2025 final. Average revenue per kWh is all charges divided by kWh; it is not a tariff rate.

Show the numbers

Utility	outage minutes per customer (all events)
Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative (TX)	114
CenterPoint Energy (TX)	193
AEP Texas Central (TX)	205
Oncor (TX)	232

Help paying a Bluebonnet bill

Federal energy assistance (LIHEAP) is open to Bluebonnet members as to any Texas household that qualifies. The federal allocation to Texas for fiscal year 2026 was $202.3 million; per occupied home that is $17.43, 6th lowest¹⁰ among the states. The help paying your electric bill guide covers eligibility and other options. For prices and bills across the state, see electricity in Texas.