The average Dallas commercial electricity account on a passive renewal pays 15–25% above what a competitive reverse auction produces for the same account. That gap exists because Oncor's deregulated territory gives over 100 licensed retail electricity providers the ability to compete for your business — but only if someone actually runs that competition. Most Dallas business owners sign the renewal offer their current provider sends and never see the other bids.
This guide explains exactly how commercial electricity procurement works in Dallas's Oncor territory, what rates Dallas businesses are actually paying versus what they should be paying, and how the reverse auction process works from bill submission to signed contract.
Every commercial electricity account in Dallas operates under a two-part structure. Oncor Electric Delivery owns and maintains the physical grid — the poles, wires, transformers, and meters that serve every commercial building from the Dallas North Tollway corridor to the Design District to Deep Ellum. Oncor's delivery charges are regulated by the Texas Public Utility Commission and are fixed — identical for every Dallas business in the same meter classification regardless of which retail provider supplies their electricity.
Your retail electricity provider (REP) is the company that supplies the energy itself and sets the per-kWh rate on your supply charge. This is the competitive piece. In Dallas's Oncor territory, over 100 licensed REPs are authorized to provide supply to commercial accounts. The supply charge is what varies between providers — and what a competitive auction drives down.
Your total Dallas commercial electricity bill breaks down roughly as: supply charge (40–55% of total, competitive), Oncor delivery charge (35–50% of total, fixed), plus taxes and fees. When a broker runs a reverse auction, every dollar of savings comes from the supply side. Oncor delivery never changes.
Current supply rates for Dallas commercial accounts in Oncor's North load zone as of April 2026: 7.2–8.9¢/kWh for 24-month fixed contracts, depending on usage volume, load factor, and meter classification. Oncor delivery charges add 3.5–4.8¢/kWh depending on your rate class. All-in rates for most Dallas commercial accounts currently fall between 11.0–14.0¢/kWh.
If you're paying above 13.5¢/kWh all-in on a contract more than 12 months old, a competitive auction would almost certainly produce a lower number.
The fundamental problem with calling providers directly is that you create a one-at-a-time negotiation where each provider knows you're not seeing competitive offers simultaneously. They quote their current rate, and you have no way to evaluate whether it's competitive without spending days calling 20–30 more providers — by which time the first quote has expired because commercial supply rates reprice daily based on wholesale ERCOT market conditions.
A reverse auction runs every provider simultaneously. Here's what the process looks like for a Dallas commercial account:
Day 1: You provide your current Oncor bill or account number. The broker pulls your 12-month usage history and interval data, identifies your meter classification (Secondary Service, Large Secondary, Primary, etc.), and flags your current supply rate and contract expiration date.
Day 1–2: The broker submits your load profile to 25+ licensed Texas REPs simultaneously. Each provider bids a fixed supply rate for your account without knowing what competitors are bidding. The auction is blind — genuine competition rather than matching.
Day 2–3: You receive every bid side by side: supply rate, contract term, demand structure, early termination fee, auto-renewal terms. The rate spread between the lowest and highest bid in a Dallas commercial auction typically runs 1.2–2.0¢/kWh.
On a Dallas office building consuming 60,000 kWh per month, a 1.5¢/kWh improvement from a competitive auction saves $900 per month — $21,600 over a 24-month contract. That math applies to every Dallas commercial account that hasn't been competitively bid recently.
The broker earns a small commission from the winning provider — built into the supply rate at the same level whether you use a broker or contact the provider directly. You pay nothing for the auction process.
Dallas's commercial market is concentrated in identifiable corridors, each with its own load profile and procurement characteristics. Here's what competitive auctions typically produce across Dallas's primary commercial sectors:
Corporate offices along the Dallas North Tollway and Legacy corridor: Typically 50,000–300,000 kWh per month, high load factor, relatively predictable demand profile. Supply rates in competitive auctions: 7.2–8.4¢/kWh for 24-month fixed. Many of these accounts are renewing passively at 9.5–11¢/kWh. A 100,000 kWh/month DNT office building saving 1.8¢/kWh nets $21,600 annually — directly to operating expense reduction.
Restaurants and bars in Deep Ellum, Uptown, and Knox-Henderson: High kitchen equipment loads, significant summer HVAC demand, demand charge exposure from simultaneous operation of fryers, grills, and air conditioning during service periods. Supply rates in competitive auctions: 7.8–9.0¢/kWh. For Texas restaurant operators, the demand charge structure embedded in the supply contract is as important as the headline rate — a broker who understands restaurant load profiles can model this correctly.
Manufacturing and industrial operations in the Dallas Design District, South Dallas, and along I-35E: High base load, significant demand charge exposure, 15-minute interval peaks from production equipment. Supply rates in competitive auctions: 7.0–8.2¢/kWh. Dallas manufacturing operations with monthly demand above 100 kW benefit most from demand charge optimization in the contract structure. See our detailed guide on demand charges on Texas commercial electricity bills.
Churches and religious centers in Dallas County: Weekend-peak load profiles, lower weekday demand, strong candidates for time-of-use plan structures. Supply rates in competitive auctions: 7.8–8.8¢/kWh. Dallas-area Texas churches also qualify for a sales tax exemption on electricity that permanently eliminates 6–8% of their electricity bill — an opportunity many congregations are missing.
Commercial real estate — office buildings, retail centers, and mixed-use properties: Master-metered common areas plus individually-metered tenant spaces, CAM charge reconciliation implications. Supply rates for common area master accounts in competitive auctions: 7.4–8.6¢/kWh. For Dallas CRE operators, portfolio aggregation across multiple properties produces meaningfully better pricing than individual property procurement.
Dallas sits in ERCOT's North load zone, which has historically seen some of the largest price spreads in the Texas market during peak summer events. ERCOT's own 2026 planning documents project peak demand growth of 9%+ in the North zone driven by data center development concentrated in DFW — particularly the Plano, Allen, and McKinney corridors.
This has direct implications for Dallas businesses procuring electricity right now. Forward contracts with summer 2026 exposure are incorporating risk premiums for the North zone specifically. Businesses with contracts expiring in June, July, or August that haven't yet run a competitive auction are facing a narrowing window to lock in spring forward pricing before summer risk premiums fully embed. See our ERCOT summer 2026 outlook for the full analysis.
The practical implication: Dallas businesses whose contracts expire between May and September should be running their auction in April. A forward-start contract executed now — effective at your current contract's expiration — locks spring pricing without any gap in coverage.
For Dallas commercial accounts above 20 kW — which includes most businesses beyond small retail — Oncor assesses demand charges based on your peak 15-minute power draw in each billing period. These charges frequently represent 30–50% of the total monthly bill for medium and large commercial accounts.
The demand charge has two components: Oncor's TDU demand charge (fixed, non-negotiable) and any demand-related component embedded in your supply contract. These are structurally different. Oncor's demand charge is regulated and identical regardless of your REP. Supply contract demand structures vary significantly between providers and between contract types.
A Dallas manufacturing operation that runs a reverse auction focusing only on the supply energy rate — without evaluating demand charge structures — can end up with a lower headline rate but a higher total bill if the winning contract has an unfavorable demand rider. A broker who runs Dallas commercial auctions understands this and presents total delivered cost comparisons, not just supply rate comparisons.
PUCT substantive rule §25.475 requires retail electricity providers to send written expiration notices 30–45 days before a fixed-rate commercial contract ends. If you take no action, your account reverts to the provider's holdover rate — a month-to-month variable rate that is almost always 20–40% above what a competitive fixed contract would cost.
This is the single most expensive thing that happens to Dallas commercial electricity accounts. A Dallas Uptown office building consuming 80,000 kWh/month that lapses onto a 2.0¢/kWh holdover premium pays $1,600/month extra — $19,200 per year — from a 90-day procurement window it missed. For more on exactly how this happens and what to do about it, see our guide on how Texas commercial electricity contracts auto-renew.
The 90-day window before your contract expiration is your procurement window. Start the reverse auction 90 days out, execute the contract 60 days out, and the new contract begins seamlessly at your existing contract's end date with no holdover exposure.
From bill submission to executed contract, most Dallas commercial accounts complete in 3–5 business days. Oncor enrollment after contract execution takes 7–14 business days. The transition happens at your next meter read boundary — no service disruption, no operational impact.
No. The broker's commission is paid by the winning provider at a fixed rate that is the same whether you use a broker or contact the provider directly. You pay exactly the same amount either way — but with a broker you see 25+ competing bids rather than one quote, and competition drives the winning rate below what direct negotiation typically produces.
Yes, with an early termination fee (ETF) in most cases. We review your existing contract during the audit and calculate whether the ETF makes an early switch economically worthwhile at current market rates. For accounts on holdover rates or above-market passive renewals, the math often favors switching even with an ETF.
Most of Dallas and its suburbs are in Oncor territory. Some areas in the broader DFW metroplex fall under other TDUs. We serve all deregulated Texas commercial accounts regardless of TDU territory, including accounts in Fort Worth, Frisco, Plano, and across North Texas.
Accounts spending $800 or more per month on electricity generally see meaningful dollar savings from a competitive auction. For multi-location Dallas businesses, we aggregate all locations into a single portfolio auction regardless of individual location size, producing better pricing through combined volume.
Submit your most recent Oncor bill — or just your account number and service address — and we'll pull your 12-month usage history, run a competitive reverse auction with 25+ licensed Texas providers, and present every bid transparently within 24 hours. No cost to your business. No obligation. No disruption to operations.
Contact EnergyBrokerTX for a free Dallas commercial electricity audit. PUCT License #BR260054. Serving all of Dallas, Oncor territory, and North Texas.
