Ambit Energy sells six main families of residential and small business electricity plans in Texas as of September 2026: Lone Star Classic (fixed, 12 or 24 months), Lone Star Flex (variable, month-to-month), Free and Clear Nights (fixed with free overnight power), Texas Solar Buyback (fixed with export credits), high-usage plans like Secure Savings and Lone Star Plus, and the TSC commercial series for small businesses. This guide compares every one of them side by side, using the numbers on their most recent public Electricity Facts Labels (EFLs), and shows which plan actually suits which household or business. It is written for Texas households and small business owners shopping electricity plans, not for prospective Ambit Independent Consultants.
Unlike the generic Ambit overviews on ChooseEnergy, ChooseTexasPower, and ComparePower, which repeat headline rate ranges without breakeven math or expert context, every plan in this guide is anchored to its most recent published EFL, benchmarked against Texas market averages from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and ElectricChoice, and paired with a plain-English fit test drawn from real Ambit enrollments.
Ambit's Texas retail electricity lineup in 2026 has six plan families: two fixed-rate Lone Star Classic terms, a variable Lone Star Flex, a Free and Clear Nights time-of-use plan, a Texas Solar Buyback plan for rooftop-solar homes, three high-usage products (Secure Savings, Budget Relief, Summer Break), and a Texas Small Commercial (TSC) fixed series for small business. Which one saves you money depends more on your monthly kWh usage, hours of use, rooftop-solar status and appetite for a contract than on the headline rate.
Ambit was founded in Dallas in 2006 and is one of about 100 retail electric providers certified by the Public Utility Commission of Texas to serve the deregulated ERCOT market. That regulator sets the rules every plan below has to disclose: a standardized Electricity Facts Label, a Terms of Service, and a Your Rights as a Customer document at signup.
Here is how every current Ambit residential and commercial plan lines up on the four numbers that actually decide your bill: contract term, rate type, listed rate at 1,000 kWh usage, and the two fees that most often surprise people (monthly base and early termination).
| Plan | Term | Rate type | Rate at 1,000 kWh | Base fee | Early termination fee | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lone Star Classic 12 | 12 months | Fixed | 20.4 cents per kWh (AEP North, 2025 EFL) | $9.95 | $199 | E-Plan 0.2 cent discount with paperless and autopay |
| Lone Star Classic 24 | 24 months | Fixed | 16.8 cents per kWh | $9.95 | $199 | 2-year price lock |
| Lone Star Flex | Month-to-month | Variable | 20.4 cents per kWh | $4.95 | None | No contract, no ETF |
| Free and Clear Nights 12 | 12 months | Fixed | 21.9 cents per kWh (daytime) | $9.95 | $199 | Free power 9 p.m. to 5:59 a.m. daily, 100% wind |
| Texas Solar Buyback 12 | 12 months | Fixed | 16.7 cents per kWh | $9.95 | $199 | 3.5 cents per kWh solar export credit, rolls forward |
| Texas Solar Buyback 24 | 24 months | Fixed | 16.7 cents per kWh | $9.95 | $199 | Same buyback with a 2-year term |
| Secure Savings | 12 or 24 months | Fixed | Tiered (lower charge at 1,000+ kWh) | Not listed | Standard $199 | Discount kicks in at 1,000 kWh monthly usage |
| Budget Relief add-on | Rides base plan | Add-on | $50 monthly credit at 1,000+ kWh usage | N/A | Ties to base plan | Bill relief for larger homes |
| Summer Break | Seasonal | Fixed | 50% off energy charges June through September | Not listed | Ties to base plan | Cuts summer energy charges in half |
| Ambit Ultimate Perks | Rides base plan | Rewards | Rewards Dollars accrual | N/A | N/A | Retail, travel and entertainment redemption |
| TSC 18 Month Term (commercial) | 18 months | Fixed | 11.90 cents per kWh energy charge | $9.99 min-usage charge below 1,250 kWh | $250 | Small business fixed rate on Oncor |
| TSC 24 Month Term (commercial) | 24 months | Fixed | Not fully listed publicly | $9.99 min-usage charge below 1,250 kWh | $250 | Longer small business term |
For a plain-English walkthrough of the numbers on every EFL, see the six numbers that actually tell you what a Texas electricity plan will cost. Every rate above is drawn from Ambit's most recent published EFLs and can move on a new enrollment. Plan details subject to change, EFL available at signup, and enrollment subject to credit approval.
A fixed rate plan locks your energy charge in cents per kWh for the entire contract term. A variable rate plan lets the retailer change that energy charge every month with 14 days written notice. Fixed protects you from wholesale spikes. Variable lets you leave any month without a cancellation fee. The choice is not a preference, it is a bet on which direction the ERCOT wholesale market will move over your contract.
The 2026 numbers back a bias toward fixed for anyone staying put through a summer. According to ERCOT, Texas set an all-time peak demand record of 91,089 MW on July 22, 2026, and posted an August 2026 weekend peak of 86,238 MW. Prices in ERCOT's real-time market spike hardest when demand nears those levels, which is what a fixed contract insulates a household from. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Texas average residential retail price was 19.42 cents per kWh in its most recent annual filing, and ElectricChoice tracked Texas at roughly 16.99 cents per kWh in August 2026, so the average moves up several cents in the peak summer months.
"When demand hits a record and wholesale clears at scarcity prices, the households on variable rates absorb the difference in real time," Ed Hirs, an energy economist and University of Houston Energy Fellow, has said of Texas retail rate exposure. Michael Webber, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, has made the same case in Utility Dive, arguing that Texas summer bills are now less about generation cost and more about how consumers manage their contract term. The Lone Star Classic 12 or 24 is Ambit's answer for households that want zero month-to-month rate surprises. The Lone Star Flex is for households that want the freedom to walk away any month and are willing to eat the volatility to get it.
For a market-timing view of whether to lock now, see my read on what the forward price curve says about locking a Texas fixed-rate plan.
Lone Star Classic 12 is Ambit's flagship fixed-rate residential plan on a 12-month contract. Lone Star Classic 24 is the same plan on a 24-month contract and usually prices lower per kWh because the retailer is buying a longer forward strip of power. Both plans lock the energy charge you pay for the entire term and both carry the same $199 early termination fee if you cancel early.
The most recent publicly available EFL for Lone Star Classic 12 in the AEP North TDU area listed a 20.4 cents per kWh price at 1,000 kWh usage, a $9.95 monthly base charge, a $199 early termination fee, and a 9% renewable content share. Lone Star Classic 24 listed 16.8 cents per kWh at 1,000 kWh on the same fee structure. Both plans qualify for Ambit's E-Plan, a 0.2 cent per kWh discount for enrolling in paperless billing and autopay.
Ambit publishes separate EFLs for each of the five Texas TDU service areas (Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP Central, AEP North and TNMP) because delivery charges differ. The Public Utility Commission of Texas requires every REP to disclose the all-in average price at 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh on each TDU-specific EFL, which is why the same Ambit plan quotes a different rate in Dallas than in Houston. Two households on the exact same Lone Star Classic can see different quoted rates because they sit in different utility footprints.
Classic 12 fits households that expect to move or reassess in a year. Classic 24 fits households that want to set the rate once and stop thinking about it, and it is usually the cheaper per-kWh option of the two.
Lone Star Flex is Ambit's only true no-contract, no-cancellation-fee residential plan. It is billed month to month at a variable energy charge that Ambit can change with 14 days notice, and a $4.95 monthly base fee. Its most recently published rate at 1,000 kWh usage was 20.4 cents per kWh, but the whole point of the plan is that the rate is not locked, so that number is a snapshot and not a promise.
Flex is designed for two specific situations. The first is a household that just moved in and wants power on immediately without committing to a contract while they compare providers. The second is a household on a soon-to-expire fixed plan that wants a landing spot for one or two months without triggering a cancellation fee anywhere. The trade-off is straightforward: on a bad wholesale month you pay for it, and you have to actively re-shop to avoid rolling forward at an uncompetitive variable rate.
The risk here is well documented. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the February 2021 ERCOT event, some Texas households on variable and index products saw multi-thousand-dollar monthly bills when wholesale prices hit the $9,000 per MWh cap. Ambit's Flex is not a wholesale-indexed product and is not directly comparable to those cases, but the underlying point stands: a variable rate can move any month, in either direction, on 14 days notice. For most Texas households that plan to stay put through a summer, a Lone Star Classic 12 or 24 removes the risk that Flex is exposing you to.
Free and Clear Nights is a 12-month fixed plan that charges nothing for electricity consumed between 9:00 p.m. and 5:59 a.m. daily, seven days a week. Its most recent publicly listed daytime rate is 21.9 cents per kWh at 1,000 kWh, on a $9.95 monthly base and a $199 early termination fee. Ambit sources 100% of the plan's electricity from Texas wind generation and requires a smart meter to enroll (nearly every metered Texas home already has one).
The plan only saves money when a household actually shifts a meaningful share of its electricity usage into the free window. The rough break-even is that at least about 20 to 25 percent of monthly kWh needs to land between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. for the free-nights discount to outweigh the higher daytime rate. That threshold is not arbitrary. The U.S. Energy Information Administration Residential Energy Consumption Survey reports that the average Texas single-family home draws roughly 20% of its daily kWh between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., driven by refrigeration, HVAC setback and always-on electronics. Households that also run a pool pump, EV charger, dishwasher, laundry and a smart thermostat pre-cool cycle on late-night schedules can push well past that ratio. Households that come home at 6 p.m. and are asleep by 10 usually cannot.
Katie Coleman, a Texas energy attorney who represents commercial ratepayers, has argued in Utility Dive that free-nights products are a rational answer to ERCOT's growing overnight wind surplus, which regularly clears at near-zero prices between midnight and dawn. For a side-by-side of Ambit's free-nights plan against the more famous TXU version with the actual break-even math, see TXU Free Nights and Weekends vs Ambit Free and Clear Nights: The Break-Even Math.
Texas Solar Buyback is Ambit's plan for households with rooftop solar. It pays bill credits for excess distributed generation exported back to the grid at a fixed export rate, and it is offered in either a 12-month or 24-month fixed term. The most recent publicly listed structure was 16.7 cents per kWh at 1,000 kWh consumption, on a $9.95 monthly base and a $199 early termination fee, with a 3.5 cents per kWh credit for exported kWh that can roll forward if you generate more than you consume in a given month.
Solar Buyback is not the cheapest Ambit plan on the consumption side, and it is not designed to be. Solar owners get their value from the export credit, so the right question is not "does this plan have the cheapest rate" but "how does the credit rate stack against my monthly export volume." According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, Texas ranks second nationally in installed solar capacity, and residential rooftop growth has pushed most solar-friendly REPs to publish a public buyback rate rather than negotiate one at signup, which is exactly what Ambit did here.
For a full walkthrough of how those numbers pencil out on a real Texas solar home, see Ambit Solar Buyback Plan Review 2026 and the broader Best Solar Buyback Plan in Texas 2026 comparison. Households without rooftop solar should not sign this plan. The export credit does nothing for them and they will pay a higher energy charge than Lone Star Classic 24.
Yes. Ambit runs three products aimed at larger Texas homes and higher monthly kWh usage: Secure Savings, Budget Relief and Summer Break. Each targets a different pain point. Secure Savings lowers the effective rate above 1,000 kWh, Budget Relief drops a flat $50 credit onto bills that clear 1,000 kWh, and Summer Break halves the energy charge from June through September.
Secure Savings is a fixed-rate plan whose energy charge steps down when monthly usage reaches at least 1,000 kWh, so the effective rate is lower on a 1,500 or 2,000 kWh bill than on a 700 kWh bill. Budget Relief is a $50 monthly bill credit that triggers when usage reaches 1,000 kWh in a billing period, aimed at giving predictable relief on peak-summer bills. Summer Break is a seasonal plan that discounts the energy charge by 50% from June through September, when Texas cooling demand is highest and residential bills typically spike. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average Texas residential customer consumed roughly 14,000 kWh across 2024, well above the U.S. average of about 10,800 kWh, so the "high-usage" bracket these plans target is larger in Texas than in most states.
According to Ambit Energy press materials (2024), Lone Star Plus 12 and Lone Star Basics 12 were introduced for the Oncor and CenterPoint service areas as a matched pair, with Plus targeting higher-usage households and Basics targeting lower-usage ones. Ambit publishes ZIP-specific EFLs for each, so the exact rate depends on the TDU footprint at your address. For context on how big "high-usage" actually is in Texas, see what's the average electricity bill in Texas, and how high-usage homes pay less.
Ambit sells a Texas Small Commercial (TSC) fixed-rate series to small businesses in ERCOT, priced on a lower cents-per-kWh energy charge than any residential plan but layered with a minimum-usage charge and a higher early termination fee. It is the right shape for a single-meter small business on a predictable weekday load. It is the wrong shape for a business with heavily seasonal or overnight usage.
The most recent publicly available EFL was TSC 18 Month Term for Oncor: 11.90 cents per kWh energy charge, a $9.99 monthly minimum-usage charge that only applies when usage is below 1,250 kWh, a $250 early termination fee, 9% renewable content, and no purchase of excess distributed generation (so this product is not designed for a solar business). Illustrative all-in prices on the EFL run 17.0 cents per kWh at 1,500 kWh, 18.0 cents at 2,500 kWh, and 17.8 cents at 3,500 kWh. TSC 24 Month Term is also offered for Oncor.
Commercial electricity is priced differently from residential. Small businesses often see meaningful savings from locking a longer term when the forward curve is flat or falling, because they can amortize the switching effort across 18 or 24 months of usage. For a broader read on where small business commercial rates sit and how the renewal window works, see commercial electricity rates in Texas: a small business renewal guide.
Every Ambit Texas plan combines the same four cost lines: the energy charge (cents per kWh), the TDU pass-through delivery charges (set by Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP or TNMP), a monthly base or minimum-usage charge, and an early termination fee that only bites if you cancel a fixed contract early. Nothing on that list is a hidden fee, but every one of them is on the EFL and on the Terms of Service document Ambit is required to give you at signup.
Plan details subject to change, EFL available at signup, and enrollment subject to credit approval.
The Try It, Like It, or Change It pledge lets a new residential customer switch to a different Ambit plan for free within the first 60 days of service on select eligible plans. It is the mechanism Ambit uses to reduce the risk of picking the wrong plan on day one, and it is worth knowing about before you sign because the standard $199 early termination fee otherwise applies to every fixed residential plan.
According to Ambit Energy press materials (2024), the pledge specifically waives the cancellation fee that would otherwise apply if you moved off a fixed plan inside the term, provided the switch is to another Ambit product on an eligible plan. Practically, this means: if you enroll in Lone Star Classic 12 and discover in month one that more than a quarter of your usage is overnight, the pledge lets you switch into Free and Clear Nights without eating the ETF. If you enroll in Flex and get uncomfortable with the variable rate after a month, it is the mechanism that lets you move to a Classic 12 or 24. Ambit publishes the exact eligibility rules on its Satisfaction Guarantee page, and consultants can confirm which of your options actually qualify before you sign.
The right Ambit plan is the one that matches your kWh bracket, your rate-type tolerance, your overnight usage share, your solar status and your contract tolerance, in that order. Rate alone is not the answer, because two households on the same rate can pay very different bills once TDU delivery charges and usage patterns are factored in. Run your household or business through six questions instead.
The 6-Line Ambit Plan Fit Test:
For a small business, replace question 3 with "does your load run outside business hours" (Free and Clear Nights rarely fits a 9-to-5 office) and question 4 with "is your building metered separately from a landlord's electricity account." The TSC 18 Month or 24 Month Term is the default answer for a single-meter small business on Oncor.
What is the cheapest Ambit Energy plan in Texas? On the residential side, Lone Star Classic 24 has consistently listed the lowest per-kWh energy charge on its recent EFLs, at 16.8 cents per kWh at 1,000 kWh usage. On the commercial side, TSC 18 Month Term (Oncor) lists an 11.90 cents per kWh energy charge, but the all-in per-kWh price a small business actually pays runs higher after TDU delivery and the minimum-usage charge are included. The truly cheapest plan for you depends on your ZIP code and monthly usage, so always compare the actual EFL for your address on the PUCT Power to Choose comparison site.
Does Ambit Energy have a no-deposit plan? Ambit runs a credit check on every enrollment and can waive the deposit for households that pass. Ambit does not publish a specifically branded no-deposit product. Households that cannot clear the credit check can post a deposit or shop the no-deposit alternatives explained in the same-day electricity no-deposit in Texas guide.
Can I switch Ambit plans without paying an early termination fee? Yes, under two conditions. First, the Try It, Like It, or Change It pledge lets a new customer switch to another Ambit plan for free within the first 60 days on eligible plans. Second, Lone Star Flex has no cancellation fee at any time because it is a month-to-month variable product.
Are Ambit Energy plans available in every Texas TDU area? Ambit sells retail electricity across the five ERCOT TDU service areas: Oncor (Dallas-Fort Worth and much of West Texas), CenterPoint (Houston and coastal Texas), AEP Central (Corpus Christi and the Valley), AEP North (Abilene area), and TNMP. Not every plan is offered in every TDU. Free and Clear Nights and the Solar Buyback plans, for example, depend on smart-meter coverage and TDU-specific tariffs. The Ambit shop-plans tool filters by ZIP so you only see products actually available at your address.
How do I read the Ambit Electricity Facts Label? Every Ambit plan comes with a one-page EFL that lists the energy charge in cents per kWh, the TDU delivery charge, the base or minimum-usage charge, the average price at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh, the renewable content share, the contract term, and the early termination fee. The 1,000 kWh number is the fair comparison rate. For a numbered walkthrough of every line, see how to read your Texas Electricity Facts Label: the 6 numbers that actually tell you what a plan will cost.
Ambit's Texas lineup is not a single "best plan" and a bunch of near-clones. Each plan family is designed for a specific household or business profile: Classic 24 for the low-drama fixed rate, Flex for month-to-month freedom, Free and Clear Nights for real overnight-usage households, Solar Buyback for solar owners, Secure Savings and Budget Relief for high-usage homes, Summer Break for the summer spike, and TSC for small business. Run the 6-Line Ambit Plan Fit Test on your actual usage profile before you sign, and always pull the current EFL for your exact ZIP and TDU because the rates in this guide are drawn from the latest publicly available filings and can move on a new enrollment.
If you want a human read on the right pick for your address, Ambit's independent consultants can look at your recent bills and match a plan to the pattern in your usage rather than to the headline rate. Ambit Independent Consultant earnings vary and are not guaranteed. Independent contractor income depends on individual effort and business results.
This guide serves Texas households and small businesses shopping electricity plans, not prospective Ambit Independent Consultants. Every rate cited in this article is drawn from the latest publicly available Ambit Energy Electricity Facts Labels as of September 2026 and can change with a new enrollment. Plan details subject to change, EFL available at signup, and enrollment subject to credit approval.
Copyright © 2026 VIPEnergyService.com. All rights reserved | PUCT# 10117