Business energy resources
How commercial energy pricing actually works, what the terms on your bill mean, and exactly which markets we cover today.
Guides
The handful of things worth understanding before you sign anything.
How to read a commercial energy bill
Supply, delivery, demand and fixed charges are four different things. Only one of them is competitive, and it is usually not the largest.
Load factor, and why it decides your plan
The ratio between your average and peak draw. It determines whether shopping the energy rate will actually move your total cost.
Fixed vs variable for a business
What each protects you from, what each exposes you to, and why a variable rate is riskiest exactly when you use the most energy.
Contract timing and holdover rates
Why the 60 to 90 day window before renewal matters more than any negotiating tactic, and what happens if you miss it.
Deregulated vs regulated markets
Whether your business can choose a supplier at all, what stays with the utility either way, and what switching does not change.
Reading a supplier offer honestly
Introductory rates, monthly fees, cancellation terms and usage bands — the places a headline rate hides its real cost.
What we cover today
Built from our own data, not a hand-maintained list. Boards we have configured but not yet validated are shown as planned rather than omitted.
| State | Board | Energy | Status | Offers | Suppliers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PA | PA Power Switch | Electric | Live | 338 | 24 |
| OH | Apples to Apples Ohio | Electric | Live | 228 | 23 |
| PA | PA Gas Switch | Gas | Live | 23 | 12 |
| CT | EnergizeCT Rate Board | Electric | Planned | — | — |
| DC | DC Power Connect | Electric | Planned | — | — |
| MA | Energy Switch MA | Electric | Planned | — | — |
| NH | Energy NH (CEPS) | Electric | Planned | — | — |
A board is marked live only once its offers have been validated against the source. Planned boards are configured but not yet publishing data here.
Glossary
The terms that appear on commercial bills and supplier offers.
Supply rate
The price of the energy itself, in cents per kWh or dollars per therm. This is the only part of the bill you can competitively shop.
Delivery charges
What your utility charges to move energy over its wires or pipes to your meter. Regulated, and unchanged by switching supplier.
Demand charge
A charge based on your highest short-interval draw during the billing period, measured in kW. On a peaky commercial account it can rival the energy charge.
Load factor
Your average draw divided by your peak draw. High means steady usage; low means short sharp spikes and, usually, painful demand charges.
Price to compare
The utility's own supply rate, published so you can measure a competitive offer against the default. Beating it is the point of shopping.
Holdover rate
The month-to-month rate an account rolls onto when a fixed term expires without a new contract. Frequently the most expensive rate available.
Therm
A unit of heat energy used to bill natural gas, roughly the energy in 100 cubic feet of gas. One Mcf is about 10.37 therms.
Retail choice
A market where you may buy energy from a competing supplier while the utility continues to deliver it. Also called a deregulated market.
Utility vs supplier
The utility owns the wires or pipes, reads the meter and restores service. The supplier sells you the energy. Switching supplier never changes who restores your service.
Fixed vs variable
A fixed rate holds for the contract term. A variable rate moves with the market, which can help you and can also spike during a cold snap.
About our data
Where does your rate data come from?
Supplier offers come from the public energy-choice boards each state runs — the same boards a business would shop on directly. State averages are derived from the EIA-861 utility dataset. We name the source on every figure we publish.
How often is it updated?
Each board is re-read and the results are compared against what we already hold, so a price change is recorded as history rather than overwriting the old figure. Offers that vanish from a board are marked withdrawn instead of being deleted.
Are you paid to rank suppliers?
No. Rankings are by price or by offer count, as labelled on each table. No supplier can buy a position, and nothing on these pages is sponsored placement.
Why is a state missing a rate?
Either the state is regulated, so there is no supplier market to index, or it is deregulated but we have not validated its board yet. We would rather show nothing than show a partial list as if it were the whole market.
Ready to compare?
See the average commercial rate in your state and the lowest live offer we index.
See rates by state