Magic Valley Electric Cooperative rates per kWh and bills
Magic Valley Electric Cooperative's 129,596 residential customers in Texas paid an average of 10.51¢ per kWh in 2025, for an average bill of $140.46 a month on 1,336 kWh.1
EIA-861 2025 final, released October 7, 2026; the next annual release is due in August 2027. Averages are revenue divided by kWh, all charges included: not the rate printed in a tariff.
6 of 254 Texas counties served (EIA-861 2025)
No large US utility had a lower average residential price in 2025 than Magic Valley Electric Cooperative: its members in the Rio Grande Valley paid 10.51¢ per kWh, 31.8% below the Texas average. Their monthly bills were less exceptional, because a Magic Valley home used 1,336 kWh1 a month, well above the Texas average of 1,110 kWh3.
Lowest of 177: the 2025 average price
Magic Valley Electric Cooperative is a member-owned, non-profit electric cooperative in the far south of Texas, on the ERCOT grid. EIA lists it as Magic Valley Electric Coop Inc. It both sells and delivers electricity to 129,596 residential members and 149,8581 accounts of all kinds (2025).
Its residential members paid an average of 10.51¢ per kWh1 in 2025. That figure is average revenue per kWh: what the co-op billed residential members in the year, divided by the kWh they used. It folds in the fixed monthly charge, wholesale power-cost adjustments and every rate option, so it is not a line on the co-op's tariff, and an individual member's own cost per kWh depends on how much they use.
On that measure the co-op stands out nationally. Among the 177 US utilities with 100,000 or more residential customers that report a full-service price, Magic Valley's average was the lowest of 177. The median of the group was 15.07¢ per kWh, and the next lowest were Clark Public Utilities (Washington) at 10.63¢ per kWh and Lincoln Electric System (Nebraska) at 11.15¢ per kWh. The co-op was also 25.5% below the national average for electric cooperatives1.
The lowest average residential prices among large US utilities, 2025
Within Texas the ranking is tighter, because smaller utilities enter the comparison. The co-op was 3rd lowest of the 61 Texas utilities with 10,000 or more residential customers; the lowest of them was Kerrville Public Utility Board at 9.42¢ per kWh1.
These are 2025 figures, and they are the newest available for this utility. EIA's monthly survey, Form EIA-861M, covers a sample of utilities and Magic Valley is not in it, so there is no 12-month or latest-month average for the co-op. The statewide Texas residential average of 15.98¢ per kWh2 over the 12 months September 2025 to August 2026 (2026 months preliminary) describes all Texas providers, not Magic Valley.
Bills: a low price applied to high use
A Magic Valley home used 1,336 kWh1 a month on average in 2025, against 1,110 kWh for the average Texas home, and Texas itself ranks 5th highest3 among the states on use per home. The low price still left the co-op's members with a smaller bill than the state average, but by a narrower margin than the price gap:
Use per home was higher than at the other Texas co-ops with 100,000 or more residential customers, except Tri-County Electric Cooperative (1,512 kWh): Bluebonnet homes used 1,244 kWh, Pedernales 1,202 kWh and CoServ 1,192 kWh1. EIA reports use per account, not the house sizes, appliances or air-conditioning hours behind it. Statewide, air conditioning took 28%5 of household electricity in EIA's 2020 household survey, and Texas averaged 2,931 cooling degree days a year over 2016 to 2025, 2nd highest6 among the 48 contiguous states and DC.
The average price members paid rose 3.0%, from 10.20¢ per kWh in 2024 to 10.51¢ per kWh in 2025, close to the change for all Texas providers (+3.1%4). Use per home rose as well, from 1,295 kWh to 1,336 kWh a month, so the average bill went from $132.087 to $140.46 (+6.3%1).
EIA's revenue and sales figures cannot separate a change in base rates from a change in wholesale power costs passed through to members, or from a hotter or milder year. The co-op publishes its current rate schedules on its own website.
A service area shared with a competitive-market delivery utility
EIA's 2025 service-territory records place Magic Valley in 6 counties: Brooks County, Cameron County, Hidalgo County, Kenedy County, Starr County and Willacy County. In every one of them at least one other utility also reports customers. Among those is AEP Texas Central, which owns poles and wires across 448 counties, including Brooks and Cameron. A city or ZIP code therefore does not settle which utility serves a property in the Valley; Magic Valley's service-area map does, by address.
Counties where Magic Valley Electric Cooperative reports customers in Texas
Magic Valley Electric Cooperative onlyMagic Valley Electric Cooperative and other utilitiesOther utilities
AEP Texas Central, Medina Electric Cooperative, Nueces Electric Cooperative
Cameron County
AEP Texas Central, Brownsville Public Utilities Board
Hidalgo County
Oncor, AEP Texas Central
Kenedy County
AEP Texas Central, Nueces Electric Cooperative
Starr County
AEP Texas Central, Medina Electric Cooperative
Willacy County
AEP Texas Central
The two sides of that boundary work differently. On Magic Valley's lines, one bill from the co-op covers both the electricity and its delivery. On AEP Texas Central's lines, homes buy electricity from a retail electric provider, and AEP Texas Central is paid for delivery only. EIA reports each part separately, for different customers, so the figures below sit side by side and are not added together or compared as like for like:
2025 average, residential
What it covers
Average per kWh
Magic Valley Electric Cooperative
electricity and delivery, co-op members
10.51¢ per kWh
AEP Texas Central
delivery only, all homes on its wires
5.91¢ per kWh
Retail electric providers, all of Texas
what provider customers paid, statewide, all plans
The retail-provider figure is a statewide past average across every plan, not an offer and not specific to the Valley. Across Texas, 55.5%1 of residential customers bought from a provider in 2025; the Texas retail choice guide explains where shopping applies.
Rooftop solar and meters
Magic Valley members reported 1,961 net-metered residential solar installations in 2025, with 16.4 megawatts of capacity: 15.1 per 1,000 residential customers. That is more than the Texas figure of 10.8 per 1,000 and well under the national 38.110. How exported power is credited is set in the co-op's own tariff; the net metering guide covers the general mechanics.
Advanced meters, which record use by the hour or less, were installed at 100.0%10 of residential accounts. EIA's 2025 data do not show a time-of-use enrollment for the co-op.
Commercial and industrial accounts
The co-op's 19,346 commercial accounts paid an average of 11.29¢ per kWh in 2025, more per kWh than its residential members, and their average monthly bill of $147.80 was close to a household's. Its 916 industrial accounts paid 8.74¢ per kWh, with an average monthly bill of $5,015.85. Across all customers the average was 10.22¢ per kWh1.
Help with bills
Texas received $202.3 million in federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds for fiscal year 2026. That works out to $17.43 per occupied home, 6th lowest11 among the states. The help paying your electric bill guide explains how the program and other assistance work. For prices and bills across the state, see electricity in Texas.
Magic Valley Electric: what members ask
What is Magic Valley Electric Cooperative's rate per kWh?
Residential members paid an average of 10.51¢ per kWh1 in 2025, the latest year EIA has published for the co-op. That is total residential revenue divided by kWh sold, so it includes the monthly charge, power-cost adjustments and every rate option; the co-op's own rate schedules list the individual charges, which are not the same thing as this average.
What is the average Magic Valley electric bill?
$140.46 a month in 2025 for 1,336 kWh1 of use, against $170.953 for the average Texas home across all providers. A home using less than the co-op average pays less in dollars but usually more per kWh, because fixed charges are spread over fewer kWh.
Did Magic Valley Electric raise rates in 2026?
EIA has no 2026 figure for the co-op yet: it is not in EIA's monthly sample, and its 2026 annual data arrive in August 2027. The last published change is 2024 to 2025, when the average price members paid rose 3.0% and the average bill +6.3%1.
Can Magic Valley members choose a retail electric provider?
EIA's 2025 data count all 129,5961 of the co-op's residential customers as full-service members buying electricity from Magic Valley itself, with none buying from a retail electric provider. Homes in the same counties that are on AEP Texas Central's lines do buy from providers; the address decides which applies.
EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final; table Sales_Ult_Cust_2025; 2025, final; released October 7, 2026. www.eia.gov
EIA, Electric Power Monthly / EIA-861M sales and revenue by state; table sales_revenue.xlsx (EPM Table 5.6.A); January 2001 to 2026-08; months since January 2026 preliminary; released October 23, 2026. www.eia.gov
EIA-861 2025, average monthly bill by state; table Average_Bill_2025; 2025, final; released October 7, 2026. www.eia.gov
EIA, Historical state data, annual sales, revenue and customers; table HS861 2010-.xlsx; 2010-2025, final; released October 7, 2026. www.eia.gov
EIA, Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2020, state data; table CE4.1.EL.ST, CE5 state tables, state highlights; released June 28, 2023. www.eia.gov
NOAA, Climate Prediction Center population-weighted degree days by state; table daily state files, base 65°F; 2016-2025 annual sums; 1981-2010 CPC normals; released November 13, 2026. ftp.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov
EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2024 final; table Sales_Ult_Cust_2024; 2024, final (file updated December 3, 2025); released December 3, 2025. www.eia.gov
EIA-861 2025, service territory; table Service_Territory_2025; 2025, final; released October 7, 2026. www.eia.gov
Census Bureau, Cartographic boundary file, counties; table cb_2025_us_county_5m; cb_2021_us_county_5m; 2025 (2021 for Connecticut). www.census.gov
EIA-861 2025, advanced meters, dynamic pricing and net metering; table Advanced_Meters, Dynamic_Pricing, Net_Metering 2025; 2025, final; released October 7, 2026. www.eia.gov
HHS, LIHEAP funding releases to states; table FY2027 first release; FY2026 final; FY2027 first release (October 9, 2026); FY2026 total; released October 9, 2026. acf.gov