Entrust Energy Shut Down in 2021

Entrust Energy is no longer in business. If you came here looking for Entrust Energy plans, rates, or a way to sign up, there is nothing to sign up for. The Houston-based retail electricity provider collapsed after Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, sold most of its customer book to Rhythm Energy that March, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 30, 2021. It has not sold electricity in Texas since.

This page explains what happened, what it meant for the customers who were on Entrust at the time, and what to do now if you are still trying to sort out your electricity service.

What Happened to Entrust Energy

Entrust Energy was a PUCT-licensed Retail Electric Provider headquartered in Houston, serving residential and small commercial customers across the deregulated ERCOT market from 2010 until 2021. Its collapse took about six weeks from start to finish.

February 2021 — Winter Storm Uri

Uri pushed ERCOT wholesale power to the $9,000/MWh cap for days. Retail providers who had not fully hedged their positions were buying power at those prices while still billing customers at contracted retail rates. Several Texas REPs did not survive it. Entrust was one of them.

March 3, 2021 — ERCOT declares a material breach

Entrust received a letter of intent from JP Energy Resources to buy its remaining customers. According to Entrust’s own bankruptcy filing, within hours of that proposal ERCOT notified the company that it was in material breach of the Standard Form Market Participation Agreement and announced it would move Entrust’s customers into the Provider of Last Resort program. ERCOT rejected Entrust’s request for one additional week to close the sale, which ended that deal.

March 4–10, 2021 — Rhythm takes the customer book

Rhythm Energy announced it had acquired roughly 40,000 residential and 10,000 small and medium commercial customers from Entrust Energy and Power of Texas Holding, specifically to keep them out of the Provider of Last Resort program. The transfer was automatic and required no action from customers. Rhythm honored the existing Entrust contracts, leaving rates and expiration dates unchanged. The sale of approximately 91,000 RCEs to Rhythm Ops closed on March 10 for $3.16 million.

March 30, 2021 — Chapter 11

Roughly 13,000 remaining customers could not be sold and went to POLR. Entrust filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Texas. Litigation between the Entrust estate and ERCOT continued for years afterward, reaching the Fifth Circuit.

If You Were an Entrust Customer

If your account moved to Rhythm in March 2021, Rhythm honored your Entrust contract exactly as written — same rate, same end date. That contract has long since expired. What you are paying today depends on what happened when it ended:

• You signed a new fixed-rate contract. Check the end date. Texas fixed plans usually run 12 to 36 months, so a contract signed at the end of your Entrust term may already have rolled over.
• You did nothing and rolled to month-to-month. This is the expensive outcome. Holdover and variable rates are typically well above what you can get by shopping, and they can move month to month.
• You were among the ~13,000 sent to POLR. POLR rates are punitive by design — the program exists to keep the lights on, not to be competitive. Anyone still on a POLR product years later is overpaying badly.

The fastest way to find out where you stand: pull up your most recent electricity bill and look for the REP name and the rate per kWh. That tells you who serves you and what you are paying.

What to Do Now

Texas retail choice still works the same way it did when Entrust was operating. Three steps:

1. Identify your current provider and rate from your bill. If you are on a variable or month-to-month product, you are almost certainly paying more than you need to.
2. Shop by your actual usage, not the headline rate. The advertised cents-per-kWh figure is quoted at 500, 1,000, and 2,000 kWh. If your household runs at 1,400 kWh, the 1,000 kWh number can be misleading — especially on bill-credit plans, where you only get the credit inside a specific usage band.
3. Read the Electricity Facts Label before you sign. The EFL is where the early termination fee, the base charge, the renewable content, and the real average price at each usage tier are disclosed. Every Texas REP must publish one.

You can compare all active offers for your ZIP code on the state’s official free site, powertochoose.org, run by the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

Active Texas Providers to Compare Instead

These providers were serving the ERCOT market at the time of writing. We publish separate reviews of each — read them before you shop, then compare live rates for your ZIP code:

• Rhythm Energy — the company that took on most of Entrust’s book
• TXU Energy
• Gexa Energy
• Cirro Energy
• Green Mountain Energy
• Direct Energy
• Payless Power
• Pulse Power
• Octopus Energy

Rates change constantly and availability depends on your TDU territory — Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP Texas, or TNMP. Always confirm current pricing for your own ZIP code before signing anything.

Frequently Asked Questions About Entrust Energy

Is Entrust Energy still in business?

No. Entrust Energy ceased operations in March 2021 following Winter Storm Uri and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 30, 2021. It is not a licensed active Retail Electric Provider in Texas and has not sold electricity since.

Can I sign up with Entrust Energy in 2026?

No. There are no Entrust Energy plans to enroll in. Any site showing current Entrust rates or plan lineups is displaying stale information.

Who took over Entrust Energy’s customers?

Rhythm Energy acquired approximately 40,000 residential and 10,000 small and medium commercial customers in March 2021, closing on roughly 91,000 RCEs. Around 13,000 remaining customers were transitioned to the Provider of Last Resort program instead.

What happened to my Entrust Energy contract?

If your account went to Rhythm, your contract was honored with the same rate and the same expiration date, and the switch happened automatically. Those contracts have all expired by now, so what you pay today depends on what you renewed into afterward.

Why did Entrust Energy fail?

Winter Storm Uri drove ERCOT wholesale prices to the market cap for an extended period while Entrust was still billing customers at contracted retail rates. ERCOT then found the company in material breach of its market participation agreement and moved to transition its customers to POLR, which according to Entrust’s bankruptcy filing ended a pending sale of the remaining customer book.

Is this the same company as Entrust the security company?

No. Entrust Corporation, the identity and encryption software company, is unrelated to Entrust Energy, the defunct Texas electricity retailer.

Was Entrust Energy the same as Griddy?

No. Griddy was a separate Texas retailer with a wholesale-indexed pricing model that also failed after Uri. Both companies collapsed in the same period, but they were different businesses with different products.

Sources: Rhythm Energy press release, “Rhythm Acquires Customers of Entrust Energy Inc and Power of Texas Holding, Inc.”, March 4, 2021 (PRNewswire); Entrust Energy Chapter 11 filing as reported by EnergyChoiceMatters, March 30, 2021, and Bloomberg; Texas Electricity Ratings inactive-provider register; Public Utility Commission of Texas. Rates, plans and provider availability change frequently — verify current offers for your own ZIP code before enrolling. This page is informational and is not an offer of electricity service.