Houston bills jump 28 percent as CenterPoint's Texas profits climb 32

A $14 surprise at the bottom of the bill

Houston's October electric bills carry a surprise: CenterPoint's delivery charge rises from 4.99 to 6.41 cents per kilowatt-hour↗, roughly $14 more a month, and it applies even to households on fixed-rate plans ¹. The fee usually rises in spring and dips in September; this autumn it jumped 28.3 percent, against 7.3 and 1.8 percent increases at two other Texas wires utilities ¹. Customers cannot switch it away: the wires company is assigned by geography ¹².

The wires companies earned a third to half more

The step lands on a strong half. Houston Electric, CenterPoint's Texas utility, earned $298 million in the first six months of 2026, up 32 percent↗, with second-quarter profit up 43 percent ². Oncor, the wires utility around Dallas and much of the rest of the state, earned $640 million, up about 45 percent ².

The market has already voted

Shareholders are not celebrating. CNP touched a 52-week low of $36.37 on 29 September↗, below its 50-day and 200-day averages ³. Morgan Stanley cut its target to $38 this month, RBC arrived at $40, and Scotiabank trimmed to $46 from $49 on 30 September ³⁴. None of the three target cuts cites Austin as a reason; the sell-side file and the legislative one have not yet met ³⁴. Consensus still reads Moderate Buy at an average $44.93 ³, and that 22 percent upside is a bet that Austin changes nothing ³⁴.

The charge only goes one way

The delivery rate was 4.05 cents in 2020; it is 6.41 now↗, about $566 a year more for a household using 2,000 kilowatt-hours a month ⁵. Both Texas wires companies also won higher authorized returns on equity from the state in the past two years, approvals that do not by themselves explain the profit jump ². Berkeley's Energy Institute at Haas puts excess utility costs to U.S. consumers at about $7 billion a year ².

CenterPoint: no profit on the day-to-day costs

CenterPoint says it earns nothing on day-to-day operating costs, only a commission-set return on infrastructure, and the demand behind that infrastructure is real ⁵. Texas is auditing data-center connection requests above 474 gigawatts↗, more than five times the grid's record peak ⁶. Consolidated net income at CNP has risen year over year for four straight quarters, to $244 million in Q2 ⁷.

Two dates: 27 October and 12 January

Third-quarter earnings land 27 October ⁴, with guidance held at $1.89 to $1.91 a share ⁹, eleven weeks before the legislature convenes on 12 January ². At a 30 September hearing, Senator José Menéndez told the utility commission that low-risk utilities should expect lower returns and demanded an objective test↗; the average allowed return sits near 9.6 percent ⁸. Houston pays first; Austin decides later.