I can't decide if I like the power market in Texas or no. I guess in theory it leads to low prices, but it also gives me a chore every so often where I have to select between very thinly-differentiated providers based on if I think my consumption habits will work well with whatever billing game they have devised.

(Fyi for non-Texans: In many cities, you choose an energy company and they have offers like, free power at certain times of day or night, special rates if your power consumption falls between two particular values, etc. Delivery is all the same no matter what power company you pick. The only parameter on which they can compete on the consumer side is billing gimmicks since the grid is the same no matter what. Usually they also offer a flat rate that for my consumption patterns is not much worse than their more complicated offerings. I don't know how the power companies provide energy to the grid. I think they can generate it themselves or buy it wholesale. That's probably the more interesting part of the system.)