TXU Light: Prepaid, No Deposit, and What to Expect

If you’re looking at TXU light right now hoping for a prepaid, no-credit-check option, here’s the straight answer: TXU no longer offers a prepaid plan. TXU’s own support pages confirm the prepay plan ended April 1, 2026, and customers who were on it got moved to standard postpaid service. If someone told you “just get TXU prepaid,” that advice is out of date. This post covers what TXU offers now, what that means if your credit is rough, and where to get pay-as-you-go lights today instead.

What TXU Light Is

TXU Energy is one of the largest light companies in Texas. They operate in the deregulated part of the state, which covers most of the major cities including Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston. San Antonio and Austin run on city-owned utilities, so TXU isn’t an option there, and if you’re in a rural area served by a co-op, TXU probably isn’t available to you either. You can check availability by entering your zip code on their site before you do anything else.

Today, TXU offers postpaid plans only. That’s the standard kind where you use lights all month and get a bill at the end. Those plans almost always come with a credit check, and if your credit is rough, you’re looking at a deposit that usually lands in the hundreds — TXU bases it on your expected usage (roughly two months of estimated bills), so bigger homes get quoted bigger deposits. That’s the TXU path most people get stuck on.

What Happened to TXU Prepaid

TXU used to offer a pay-as-you-go option (previously marketed under names like FlexPower). It worked like every prepaid plan: load money first, use lights, reload when the balance ran low, no credit check.

That’s over. Per TXU’s own prepay FAQ, the plan was discontinued and became unavailable as of April 1, 2026. Existing prepay customers were transitioned to month-to-month postpaid plans. TXU is not enrolling new prepaid customers, and there’s no announced plan to bring it back.

So if your credit is the problem, TXU’s only doors now are the postpaid ones — and those come with a credit check.

Your Real Options If Your Credit Is Rough

Option 1: Try for a postpaid plan with $0 deposit. Every light company sets its own deposit rules, and they’re all different. One company might quote you $300 while another approves you at $0 — same credit, different thresholds. We check multiple light companies at once to find who’ll take you without a deposit. Many people find one. It takes minutes instead of an afternoon of phone calls.

There’s also a lever worth knowing: if you can show 12 months of on-time payments with a previous light company, Texas rules say that counts as satisfactory credit, and the company can’t require a deposit. Ask your old light company for a payment history letter and have it ready.

Option 2: Pay-as-you-go lights from companies that still offer it. Prepaid didn’t leave Texas — TXU did. Payless Power, Pogo Energy, and other prepaid light companies still offer no-credit-check, no-deposit plans with same-day connection in most ERCOT territories. You typically need $30 to $75 to start, and that money goes toward your actual light usage — it’s not a fee you lose. Think of it as buying your first tank of gas before you can drive.

The honest tradeoff: prepaid rates run higher per kilowatt-hour than locked-in postpaid plans. You’re paying for the flexibility of no credit check and no deposit. If you need lights today, that tradeoff is usually worth it.

What You Need to Sign Up for Prepaid Lights

Before you call or go online with any prepaid company, get these things ready:

• A valid Texas address where you want the lights on
• Your name, date of birth, and contact info
• A debit card or credit card to fund your starting balance
• Your ESID number if you can find it (that’s the meter ID for your address, sometimes on the door of the breaker box or on an old light bill) — not required, but it speeds things up

Most prepaid companies can get your lights on the same day if you sign up before their cutoff time, usually late afternoon on weekdays.

The Bottom Line on TXU Light for Credit-Challenged Texans

TXU prepaid is gone — it ended April 1, 2026, straight from TXU’s own support pages. If you want TXU specifically, you’re signing up for a postpaid plan with a credit check, and a possible deposit if your score doesn’t clear their bar. If you need lights without a credit check, skip TXU and go to a prepaid light company that still does pay-as-you-go: $30 to $75 to start, no deposit, lights on today in most cases. And before you settle for prepaid rates, let us check whether a postpaid company will take you at $0 deposit — many people are surprised who says yes.