Quick answer
A marketplace earns a commission from the provider you pick. A subscription concierge charges you a monthly fee and takes no commission. An aggregation pool negotiates on behalf of a group of committed households. All three can genuinely help. Each one has a built-in pull, and knowing which pull applies tells you how to read the advice.
Everyone shopping on your behalf gets paid somehow
That is not a scandal. It is how the market works. The useful question is not whether someone is paid but what they are paid for, because that is what shapes the advice.
Here are the three models, side by side, including ours.
The state marketplace
Power to Choose is the official plan listing run by the Public Utility Commission of Texas. It is not commercial and it lists licensed plans.
| Strength | Limitation |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive and official | Sorts on a disclosed price at a fixed usage level, which rewards plans engineered for that point |
| No commission motive | No usage analysis, so it cannot tell you what you will pay |
| Free | Plan structures that look cheap at 1,000 kWh can sit at the top of the list |
Use it to see what exists. Do not use it to decide.
Commercial comparison marketplaces
Private sites that list plans and earn a commission from the provider when you enrol.
| Strength | Limitation |
|---|---|
| Better tools and clearer presentation than the state site | Paid per enrolment, so the incentive is volume |
| Many now price against your real usage, which is the right method | Plan selection may be limited to providers they have agreements with |
| Free to you | Commission rates can vary between providers on the same list |
A good marketplace is genuinely useful. Ask one question: do they list providers they earn nothing from?
Subscription concierges
You pay a monthly fee and they manage your shopping and renewals, usually declining commissions entirely.
| Strength | Limitation |
|---|---|
| The commission conflict is removed cleanly | You pay whether or not they save you anything in a given year |
| Renewals get handled, which is where most households lose money | The fee has to be recovered before you are ahead |
| Usually usage-based analysis | Works best for high-usage homes where the fee is a small share |
Do the arithmetic. Annual fee against expected saving. For a modest-usage apartment that maths is tighter than for a large house.
Aggregation
Households join a pool. The pool approaches providers as one block of committed demand rather than hundreds of individual customers.
What changes is the provider’s cost of acquiring a customer, which is a real cost in this market, usually recovered through plan structures that reward a narrow usage band. A pool that arrives pre-committed does not need to be acquired one household at a time.
| Strength | Limitation |
|---|---|
| Group negotiating position rather than individual | You are taking what the pool negotiated, not hand-picking one plan |
| Renewal handled for the group, which removes the main cause of bill jumps | Only worthwhile if the pool is large enough to matter |
| No monthly fee to the household | Still cannot change your regulated delivery charges, and neither can anyone else |
That last line applies to all three models. No one shopping on your behalf can touch the delivery half of your bill.
How to interrogate any of them
Four questions, whoever you are talking to.
- How do you get paid? A straight answer is the minimum.
- Do you price plans against my actual twelve months of usage, or against a benchmark?
- Which providers are not on your list, and why?
- What happens at renewal? This is where most households lose more than they ever saved by shopping once.
Where we sit
Aggregate Energy runs the aggregation model. Households join a pool, the pool negotiates, and renewals are handled for the group rather than left on your calendar.
We cannot change your delivery charges. We do not claim a fixed saving figure, because the honest answer depends on your usage and what you are paying now. What we can describe is the mechanism, and you can judge whether it fits.
Check your ZIP code to see how the pool is structured for your area.
Frequently asked questions
Is Power to Choose a good way to shop?
It is good for seeing what exists. It sorts on a disclosed price at a fixed usage level, so it is a poor way to decide.
Do comparison sites cost me anything?
Not directly. They earn a commission from the provider when you enrol.
Is a subscription service worth the fee?
It depends on your usage. Compare the annual fee against a realistic saving before committing.
What is electricity aggregation?
A group of households buying together so the group, rather than each person, negotiates with providers.