Texas Business Energy Bill Audit Guide

A Texas business should confirm that the service location is in a competitive retail territory before treating a Retail Electric Provider proposal as actionable. Municipal and cooperative arrangements require their own check. ERCOT geography alone is not a sufficient account-eligibility test.

Identify the delivery territory and provider

Read the delivery utility and current retail provider on the bill. Names such as Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP Texas or TNMP describe delivery context; the retail provider is a separate role. For a municipal or cooperative account, ask the serving utility whether customer choice is offered. Texas law gives cooperative boards a choice decision; do not presume an opt-in.

Record the business's actual customer class and meter scope. The PUC's Provider of Last Resort information distinguishes account classes and describes a backup service for areas open to competition. A POLR figure should not be mistaken for a normal negotiated business quote or the universal default for every Texas location.

Read the commercial charge schedule

Request the complete price schedule and applicable contract documents. Ask whether the quoted rate includes delivery, transmission, capacity, losses or only a specified energy component. The phrase fixed price should be connected to the actual included items, not assumed to fix every dollar on the invoice.

For usage-based credits or tiers, identify the exact trigger and months in which it applies. A conditional credit should not be entered as an unconditional monthly credit. The bill checker does not reproduce a contract's tiered bill formula or interval-indexed settlement.

Demand and load need separate attention

Gather twelve months of kWh and any billed kW, along with major operating changes. A workshop adding equipment, a refrigerated retailer and an office have different questions about usage and demand. The constant supply calculator does not validate a utility demand charge or model time-of-use operations.

For a multi-site company, retain one scenario per equivalent contract/account scope. Combining locations before checking delivery territory, meter class and contract period can make a blended rate misleading. A group quote still needs an account schedule showing what it covers.

Hypothetical annual comparison

Assume an eligible business uses 480,000 annual kWh. Equivalent current and offered supply components differ by 0.25¢ per kWh, creating $1,200 of annual modeled difference. If the offered scenario adds $30 per month in separate fees, the difference falls to $840 before switching costs.

This example does not remove a TDU charge, apply a conditional credit or forecast a future price. It is not a Texas supplier offer. If the proposal includes delivery while the current entered price excludes it, the two numbers must be reconciled before the result is useful.

Gas is not part of the electric-choice assumption

Check the gas utility, commercial tariff and any transportation or supplier arrangement independently. A competitive electric account does not establish a retail gas opportunity. Record the quantity unit and complete proposed gas-cost scope before comparing.

Before requesting a review, identify the actual business, service state, utility/delivery context and specific decision. Retain the current contract end date, notice requirements and proposal. A bill-check scenario should help organize those questions, not substitute for account authorization.

Use the result as a starting point

Once the current and offered components match, use the business bill checker to show the arithmetic. It holds entered prices constant, does not fetch live offers, and does not independently calculate utility demand, delivery or tariff charges. Use the optional twelve-month usage series when one month is unrepresentative.

For an account question, send your business, state, utility and the issue through the first-party review form. Keep bills and account identifiers out of the initial message; arrange document sharing after connecting. A listing in this guide is not a supplier-availability guarantee.