Commercial energy renewal prep checklist

What this checklist does and does not cover

This page is the working list. The rules behind it — what a supplier is required to tell you, what holdover pricing is, and why a renewal offer is a new price rather than a continuation of your old one — are covered in the renewal guide, which is the page to read first if the deadline has surprised you. Everything here assumes the decision is still ahead of you and there is enough time to prepare. Work through it in order; the later steps depend on the earlier ones, and the usage picture in particular cannot be assembled in an afternoon if the account spans several sites.

Documents to pull before you ask anyone for a price

Start with the boring part. A supplier prices an account from its usage and its contract, and every week spent hunting down a document is a week of leverage gone. Pull these in one sitting if you can, and keep them in one folder, because you will be asked for the same set by every supplier you talk to. If an account is managed by a landlord, a property manager or a previous owner, get the utility account number first — everything else follows from it, and that single number is the most common reason a renewal stalls at the last minute.

• Twelve months of bills for every service address, including the demand and usage lines, not just the amount due.
• The signed supply agreement — the contract itself, not the renewal notice and not the bill.
• The renewal or expiration notice your supplier sent, if one has arrived.
• The utility account number and meter identifier for each address, plus the service address as the utility has it recorded.
• A list of every service address and every legal entity that holds an account, in case more than one business is involved.

The five dates worth writing down

Renewals fail on dates, and one of these dates is the real deadline. Write them into a calendar with reminders rather than leaving them in an inbox. The notice deadline is the one that decides what happens next: miss it and the agreement's own default applies, which in Texas means a month-to-month rate set by the supplier, and elsewhere means whatever the end-of-term clause says. If you cannot find the notice deadline in the contract, that is itself an answer worth acting on — ask the supplier to confirm it in writing before the term ends.

• The contract end date.
• The notice deadline — the date by which you must act. This is the one that matters most.
• The date you signed the current agreement, which tells you how long the supplier has held your account.
• The date the new term would begin if you renew without any gap in service.
• The date you intend to have a decision made, which should sit comfortably before the notice deadline rather than on it.

Confirm the deadline in writing, not by phone

A deadline remembered from a phone call is not a deadline. Ask the supplier to confirm, in writing, the end date of the current term, the last date on which you may give notice, what the agreement does if no notice is given, and what the rate would be in that case. Their answer tells you two things at once: whether your understanding of the contract is right, and whether the supplier is organised enough that you want to sign another term with them. Keep the reply — if the price or the terms later turn out to differ from what was described, a written record is what you would rely on.

• Ask for the end date, the notice deadline, the default treatment if no notice is given, and the default rate.
• Ask whether the current term renewed automatically after an earlier one, which is common and easy to miss.
• Keep the reply in the same folder as the contract and the usage history.

Pull the usage data the utility holds, not just the invoice totals

A supplier prices forward usage, and the amount-due column on an invoice does not describe it. The distribution utility that reads the meter holds the detail, and it is worth asking for it directly rather than reconstructing it from a folder of statements. Request twelve complete billing months, each with its period start and end dates, the consumption in kilowatt-hours, and the meter-read date — and ask whether each read was actual or estimated, because an estimated stretch distorts the apparent shape. Where the account is demand-metered, ask for the billed demand in kilowatts as well. Where an advanced meter is installed, ask for the interval record itself, which in Texas is usually a fifteen-minute file; take it with timestamps, units and any estimation flags attached. Ask for the data at premise level for each service identifier rather than one account total, and in a machine-readable file so it can be shaped rather than read. A twelve-month summary answers what you used, not when you used it, and it is the shape that a demand charge or an indexed product is priced against.

• Twelve complete billing months, with period start and end dates, not an annualised total.
• Meter-read dates, and whether each read was actual or estimated.
• Billed demand in kilowatts where the account is demand-metered.
• The interval or advanced-meter file where one exists, with timestamps and quality flags.
• Ask for it per service identifier, in a machine-readable format, not as an account summary.

Build the usage picture the quote will be priced from

This is the part that changes the price. A supplier is not buying your history, it is buying your forward usage, and it prices the shape of that load — how much, when, and how far it swings. Twelve months of monthly consumption is the minimum; where demand is billed separately, the peak figures matter as much as the total. Then write down what has changed since the last contract was signed, because a quote built on stale usage is the most common way a business ends up with a lower rate and a higher bill. Added equipment, a tenant that left, a shift that moved, a location that closed or opened: each one changes the load the supplier is pricing, and none of them appear on a bill from last year.

• Monthly consumption for twelve months, as billed, not annualised from a quarterly bill.
• Peak demand for each month, where the tariff bills demand separately.
• Any change in operations since the last contract: equipment added, hours changed, shifts moved, occupancy changed.
• Any site opening, closing or being added to the account.
• Whether the account is billed under more than one rate class across its addresses, which means quotes are not directly comparable between sites.

The disclosure documents to request from every supplier

Every supplier should be asked for the same paper before you compare price. In Texas the documents a provider must give a residential or small commercial customer are the Terms of Service, the Electricity Facts Label for the specific product, and the Your Rights as a Customer statement, and they must be provided at enrolment, when they change, and on request at any time without charge. For a renewal the useful part is the label: it is product-specific, it states whether the price is fixed or variable, it carries the contract term, and it lists the recurring charges a headline number leaves out. Ask for the label and the Terms of Service in writing even where the account is a larger commercial customer the rule does not directly reach, because the same paperwork is what makes two quotes comparable. Read the label against the questions further down this page, and keep the version you were given — it is the record of what was actually offered.

• In Texas ask for the Terms of Service, the Electricity Facts Label and the Your Rights statement.
• The label is product-specific: fixed or variable, the term, and every recurring charge.
• Terms of Service hold the effective date, expiration date, deposit and early-termination terms.
• Ask in writing even if the account is larger than the rule's small-commercial reach.
• Keep the version you were given; it is the record of what was offered.

The questions to put to every supplier, in the same words

Ask the same questions in the same order of everyone you talk to, or the answers will not be comparable. The rate is one line in a quote with several others attached to it, and the questions below are the ones that decide the effective cost rather than the headline number. Ask for the answers in writing, including the ones that are uncomfortable to ask — especially what happens at the end of the new term, because signing it creates your next deadline. A supplier who will not put the minimums, the ratchet language or the renewal notice in writing has told you something useful about the terms.

• What is the all-in price per kWh or per therm, and which components of the bill does it cover?
• What term length, what start date, and what happens if the start date slips?
• Is there a minimum usage fee or a ratchet clause, and how is it calculated?
• What notice is required at the end of this new term, and what does the agreement do if no notice is given?
• What is the early termination charge, and on what basis is it calculated?
• If the product is indexed, what is the index, where is it published, and how often is it applied?

The gas renewal is a separate list

A gas renewal is a separate list, because the units and the bill are different. Gas is measured in therms and in hundreds or thousands of cubic feet: a therm is 100,000 British thermal units, a Ccf is 100 cubic feet, and an Mcf is 1,000 cubic feet, or ten Ccf. The local distribution company keeps delivering the gas and billing its own delivery charges whichever supplier is chosen, so only the commodity line moves. Gather the same twelve months of usage, but in therms or hundreds of cubic feet as your bill states them, together with the boiler, furnace or process capacity, any hot-water, cooking or other gas end uses, whether the site has a backup fuel, and how much interruption risk the operation can accept. Decide the budget posture before you shop — a fixed price, an indexed one, or a blend — because that choice, not the supplier's name, decides which quotes are comparable. Ask whether a commodity quote covers capacity, storage, balancing and transportation or the gas alone.

• A therm is 100,000 Btu; a Ccf is 100 cubic feet; an Mcf is 1,000 cubic feet, or ten Ccf.
• The distribution company still delivers, and still bills delivery, whichever supplier you pick.
• Gather usage in therms or Ccf as the bill states them, plus boiler and process capacity.
• Note backup fuel and how much interruption the operation can tolerate.
• Ask whether the quote covers capacity, storage, balancing and transport, or the commodity only.

Work the timeline backwards from the notice deadline

A workable renewal runs on a backward calendar. Ninety days before the notice deadline, the usage data is requested and the end-of-term clause is found. Sixty days out, quotes are requested from a shortlist and the same supplier questions go out in writing. Thirty days out, the quotes are normalised onto the same term and start date, the internal sign-off is obtained, and the incumbent's offer is treated as one column rather than the answer. The notice deadline itself is not the day to decide; it is the last day you may, and a decision taken on it is a decision taken on the clause's terms rather than yours. If only one date goes into a calendar, put in the notice deadline minus ninety days, because that is the point at which the renewal is still a project rather than a deadline.

• 90 days out: request the usage data and locate the end-of-term clause.
• 60 days out: send the same written questions to a shortlist of suppliers.
• 30 days out: normalise quotes onto one term and start date, and obtain sign-off.
• The notice deadline is the last day to act, not the day to decide.
• If one date goes in a calendar, make it the notice deadline minus ninety days.

Line up the internal pieces before the quotes land

The cheapest delay in this process is the one that happens before the deadline rather than after it. Deciding who signs, whose budget it comes from and who handles the switch should all happen while quotes are being gathered, not while a notice window is closing. Accounts held by several entities, or address lists that have changed, are the usual reason an otherwise straightforward renewal takes weeks longer than anyone planned. If the account has an unpaid balance, resolve it before shopping: a switch-hold can prevent a business from moving to another supplier until the balance is settled.

• Who signs, and who approves the spend — named before quotes arrive, not after.
• Which entity or entities hold the accounts, and whether that has changed.
• Who will handle the practical work of the switch at each site.
• Whether any account is in arrears, since a balance can block a change of supplier.

The comparison sheet that stops quotes blurring together

Three quotes on three different term lengths starting in three different months cannot be compared by looking at the rate. Put the answers side by side in one table with the term, the start date and the included components identical across the columns, and keep the awkward rows in it — the minimums, the ratchet language, the early termination charge and the notice deadline on the new term. Those rows are where a quote that looked cheaper stops being cheaper. Anything a supplier would not put in writing belongs in the table as an open question rather than a blank.

Before you sign anything

Competitive supply depends on the service address, the meter and the utility that serves it — municipal utilities, cooperatives and some jurisdictions offer no choice at all, and the notice rules described in the renewal guide are Texas's unless another state is named. HighGround may receive compensation from providers on completed purchases. An inquiry places no order and switches no supplier; it starts a conversation about what your options actually are.

PUT THE OPTIONS SIDE BY SIDE

Your comparison checklist

Common questions