AEP Texas · South & West Texas TDU

AEP Texas: service area, rates, and how it works

AEP Texas owns the poles, wires, and meter across the Coastal Bend, the Valley, and West Texas, and delivers your power. It doesn't sell electricity — you choose the retail provider. Here's what AEP Texas does, what it charges in each zone, and how to find your meter.

Enter your address to see your all-in rate in about two minutes.

Researched and written by the Base Power team · Last updated May 27, 2026

How we source this: delivery charges are taken from the utility's PUCT-approved tariff and the PUCT monthly rate reports, and verified against the published bill examples. Rates reset on a schedule — we link the sources so you can check the current numbers.

The short version

AEP Texas is the wires company for much of South and West Texas — the Corpus Christi/Coastal Bend, Rio Grande Valley, Victoria and Laredo areas (the Central zone) and the Abilene/San Angelo areas (the North zone), about 1.1 million meters in all. AEP Texas doesn't sell electricity and you can't choose it; it's set by your address. It charges a PUCT-regulated delivery rate that every retail provider passes through at cost (about 5.83¢/kWh + $3.24/month in the Central zone, slightly less in the North zone, as of 2026). You choose your retail provider — like Base — which sets the energy rate and sends your bill.

Wires vs. retail

How AEP Texas works

In the Corpus Christi/South Texas and Abilene/West Texas areas, electricity reaches your home in two parts handled by two different kinds of companies. AEP Texas is the TDU — it owns and maintains the poles, wires, transmission lines and the meter on your home, it reads your meter, and it restores power after a storm. AEP Texas does not set your energy price and does not sell you electricity.

Your retail electric provider (REP) — for example Base Power Company (Base Texas REP, LLC; PUCT #10338) — is who you sign up with, who bills you, and who sets your energy rate. On your bill the REP charges for the energy itself and passes through AEP Texas's regulated delivery charge: a flat ~$3.24/month plus a per-kWh rate (about 5.83¢ in the Central zone, about 5.67¢ in the North zone as of 2026). Those delivery rates are PUCT-approved and identical for every REP, so they're not something you shop. Which zone you're in determines your exact rate, and you can tell from your address and ESI ID.

Parent company

American Electric Power (AEP)

Headquarters

Corpus Christi, Texas

Delivers to

~1.1M meters

Service area

93 counties

History: AEP Texas traces to two long-standing utilities: Central Power & Light (CPL) in South Texas and West Texas Utilities (WTU) in West Texas, both folded into Central and South West Corporation, which American Electric Power acquired in 2000. Under Texas deregulation (competition began January 1, 2002), the generation and retail businesses were separated from the regulated wires business. The two TDUs continued as AEP Texas Central and AEP Texas North until they were consolidated into AEP Texas Inc. in 2016 — though the two legacy rate zones persist.

PUCT-regulated delivery

AEP Texas delivery charges

AEP Texas's delivery charge is a PUCT-approved pass-through that's identical no matter which retail provider you pick — it's not something you can shop. What you shop is the retail provider and its energy rate and plan terms. Confirm your exact current figure on the EFL, since the two zones differ and rates reset periodically.

Volumetric charge

5.8272¢

per kWh delivered

Fixed monthly

$3.24

$1.27 customer + $1.97 metering

At 1,000 kWh

$61.51

estimated monthly delivery, before your energy rate

This is the Central zone (Corpus Christi/South Texas), where Base-served AEP cities sit. The North zone (Abilene/West Texas) is slightly lower — about 5.67¢/kWh + $3.24/mo, roughly $59.92 at 1,000 kWh. The small Central-zone premium comes from transition and system-restoration riders tied to the former CPL area. AEP's 2026 update was an out-of-cycle tracker change rather than the usual March 1 reset.

Effective 2026 (PUCT Project 58511); verified against the PUCT rate report on May 27, 2026. TDU rates reset periodically — your plan's Electricity Facts Label shows the exact current figure.

Where it delivers

AEP Texas service area

AEP Texas covers two legacy zones: the Central zone (former Central Power & Light) along the Gulf Coast and South Texas — Corpus Christi, the Rio Grande Valley, Victoria and Laredo; and the North zone (former West Texas Utilities) in West Texas — the Abilene and San Angelo areas. The two zones carry slightly different delivery riders and rates.

Texas cities Base serves in AEP Texas territory

Larger cities in AEP Texas territory

  • Corpus Christi
  • McAllen
  • Brownsville
  • Harlingen
  • Edinburg
  • Mission
  • Pharr
  • Laredo
  • Victoria
  • Abilene
  • San Angelo
  • Del Rio
  • Eagle Pass
  • Kingsville
  • Rockport
  • Port Aransas

Service areas are set by your address, not your city name — neighboring streets can be on different utilities. Your ESI ID is the reliable test (see below).

Storms & restoration

Reliability and outages

As a regulated TDU, AEP Texas's reliability is overseen by the PUCT. Its South Texas/Coastal Bend area is exposed to Gulf hurricanes and severe coastal storms, which drive its largest outage events, while the West Texas North zone sees thunderstorms, high winds and ice. Because the footprint is very large and partly rural (about 97,000 square miles), weather-driven outages in remote areas can take longer to restore.

If your power is out

Report outages and check restoration status with AEP Texas, not your retail provider — AEP Texas owns the poles and wires and restores grid power regardless of who your provider is. Call 1-866-223-8508 or use the outage map at outagemap.aeptexas.com. A home battery, like the one Base installs, backs up your own home during an outage; it doesn't change who restores the grid.

AEP Texas outage map → Call 866-223-8508

Your meter ID

Finding your ESI ID in AEP Texas territory

Your ESI ID (Electric Service Identifier) is the unique number, beginning with '10', that identifies your meter/service location on the Texas grid. It tells a provider which TDU and rate zone you're in — important here because AEP Texas has two zones (Central vs North) with different delivery rates. You'll find it on your current electricity bill or via an address lookup when you sign up with a provider.

Look up your address

Enter your address and we'll match it to your meter and your local utility, then show your Base rate. (Exact pricing always lives on the Electricity Facts Label.)

AEP Texas FAQs

AEP Texas is the transmission & distribution utility (TDU) for much of South and West Texas — the Corpus Christi/Coastal Bend, Rio Grande Valley, Victoria and Laredo areas (the Central zone) and the Abilene and San Angelo areas (the North zone). It owns and maintains the poles, wires and meters, reads your meter, and restores power after outages. It's a regulated subsidiary of American Electric Power. AEP Texas does not sell electricity or set your rate — you buy your electricity from a competitive retail electric provider (REP) such as Base Power Company.
As of 2026, the residential delivery charge is a flat about $3.24 per month plus a per-kWh rate of roughly 5.83¢ in the Central zone (Corpus Christi/South Texas) and roughly 5.67¢ in the North zone (Abilene/West Texas). At 1,000 kWh that's about $61.51/month in the Central zone and about $59.92 in the North zone. The Central zone is slightly higher because certain tariff riders tied to the former Central Power & Light area apply only there. These rates are PUCT-approved and the same for every retail provider.
No. The AEP Texas delivery charge is a regulated pass-through that's identical no matter which retail provider you pick — it's not something you can shop. What you shop is the retail provider and its energy rate and plan terms. Base Power (Base Texas REP, LLC; PUCT #10338) passes AEP Texas's delivery charges through with no markup, and adds one flat energy rate (from 8¢/kWh) plus a flat monthly membership. See Base's Electricity Facts Label and PowerToChoose.org for the exact, current numbers for your address.
Report outages and check restoration status with AEP Texas, not your retail provider. Call 1-866-223-8508 or use the outage map at outagemap.aeptexas.com. Because AEP Texas owns the poles and wires, it's responsible for restoring grid power regardless of who your retail provider is. A home battery, like the one Base installs, backs up your own home during an outage; it doesn't change who restores the grid.
Your ESI ID (Electric Service Identifier) is the unique number, beginning with '10', that identifies your specific meter/service location on the Texas grid. It tells a provider exactly which TDU and rate zone you're in — important here because AEP Texas has two zones (Central vs North) with different delivery rates. You can find your ESI ID on your current electricity bill or by doing an address lookup when you sign up with a provider such as Base.

Other Texas utilities

Shopping by city instead? See electricity rates by city or how to choose a provider.

You can obtain important standardized information that will allow you to compare this product with other offers. Contact Base Power at 512-518-1009 or basepowercompany.com.

AEP Texas delivers it — Base prices it

Same AEP Texas wires, same regulated delivery charges, passed through with no markup — plus a flat 8¢/kWh energy rate and a flat $19–$29/mo membership. No teaser pricing or bill-credit games.

Takes about two minutes.

Sources

Plan documents: Electricity Facts Label (EFL) · Terms of Service & Your Rights as a Customer. Products and pricing are offered to qualified customers in Texas only.

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