Commercial Electric Rates

Finding a Cheap Commercial Electric Rate

When beginning your businesses search for a cheap commercial electric rate you don't want to just go with the lowest electric price quote you receive. There are more then a few electric providers in Texas that will quote a low rate after they have extracted some important fees and charges from that rate and then added that to another line item in the contract. A couple of ways a commercial electric provider will deceive their potential customers is by creating a commodity charge or fuel surcharge. They will quote a fixed price but will stipulate somewhere in the contract that the rate is subject to change based on fuel prices. This type of rate can always be quoted lower then the rest of the electric companies that offer a true fixed electric rate. The problem is that natural gas and fuel charges change every week. Of course your fixed electric rate will change on this type of contract and it will change often. Keep in mind in this type of contract the electric provider doesn't necessarily have to lower their electric rate if fuel prices come down. Another scheme Texas commercial electric companies will sometimes do is promise to offer a lower Transmission and Distribution Service Provider charge then all the other electric companies. This is a problem because the TDSP charges are pass through charges that get passed through from the monopoly utility (pole and wires company) in your area. This simply means that the TDSP charges are the same regardless of the provider you pick. For an electric company to say they can get you a better TDSP charge is simply misleading. Some providers will also extract part of the fixed electric rate charges and add these in the TDSP line item to make their "energy only" rate look better. By putting the negotiable part of the electric rate next to the non-negotiable electric charge it makes the customer think they are getting a better rate then they really are receiving. Generally a customer is quoted just the "energy only" portion of the rate since the TDSP charges are non-negotiable pass through charges. When an electric provider mixes the charges around it misleads the customer even though they may be operating within the laws of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

Should a Commercial Business use an Energy Consultant?

There are several supposed energy consultants and brokers out there that claim to be a customer advocate but actually are a shell company for 1 or 2 electric providers in Texas. These brokers are not trying to get you the best electric rate but are simply a sales arm for a particular electric company. You want to avoid these type of energy consultants at all costs. You will not achieve a competitive electric rate and the broker probably knows little about the energy market he works in. There are approved, licensed and registered energy brokers and consultants that have been approved by the Public Utility Commission of Texas to aggregate franchises and broker energy agreements. If you have found a licensed aggregator you are probably dealing with an energy consulting company that has enough experience to provide a service rather then just selling you a mediocre priced electric rate. If the energy consulting company has been in business since close to the beginning of the Texas deregulation market which was started in 2002 then you will be working with a company that has a few years experience and generally has a long list of electric providers they work with. One of the best solutions to narrowing down a quality energy consulting company in Texas is to locate one that is a member of TEPA Texas. The Texas Energy Professionals Association is a self governing body of energy professionals in Texas. This group is a highly experienced association of energy consultants and works to maintain a strict set of ethical guidelines and rules to keep consumers protected and Retail Electric Providers honest. If you have found an energy consulting company that is a member of TEPA and has been in business from the beginning of Texas deregulating the electric utility market then you should be able to get some competitive prices cheaper then you could achieve on your own negotiating skills. Another important point to note, is generally when working with an energy consultant the terms and conditions in the electric contract will be tweaked as well to provide the electric service consumer a more legally acceptable energy contract