Energy Procurement: Simplify sourcing with data-driven electricity procurement strategies.
Transform a complex buying process into a streamlined procurement experience with competitive supplier comparisons, market intelligence, contract analysis, and expert guidance that helps businesses secure the right electricity plan with confidence.
Five stages, in order. No stage skipped, no stage rushed — the order itself is what compounds the result.
Usage & shape analysis
Pull 12–24 months of interval data. Compute load factor, summer/winter ratio, and daily shape — the inputs every supplier underwrites against.
Benchmark
Map your usage onto the current ERCOT forward curve. Every offer gets compared against the curve, not against your last contract.
RFP
Identical specs to 6–9 pre-qualified suppliers. Same term, bandwidth, and start date — so margin is the only variable.
Negotiation
Bandwidth, swing, pass-throughs, ETF, auto-renewal. Margin gets compressed and the clauses get rewritten before signature.
Lock & document
Execute when the forward curve supports it. Hand finance and legal a clean record: comparison matrix, curve at lock, red-lines, monthly forecast.
Forward curves move. Pick the right window. ERCOT forward prices for any given term shift daily — locking in February vs. July is rarely the same number, even with the same supplier.
A real procurement process watches the curve and locks when the signal is favorable — not on contract-end day.
- Forwards below trailing 90-day avg for your term
- Summer weather risk priced in, starting to fade
- Counterparty with capacity to fill at a margin discount
Cumulative savings band across contract terms
High band = lock at a forward-curve trough · Low band = average window · Net of supplier margin
Identical specs, supplier-blind ranking. Three quotes is not an RFP — it's three different products quoted at three different prices. A real RFP fixes the spec before any supplier sees it.
| Dimension | Three quotes | Real RFP |
|---|---|---|
| Identical specs across bidders | No — each supplier picks | Yes — spec frozen up front |
| Bandwidth / swing tolerance | Variable, often hidden | Fixed and disclosed |
| Pass-through line items | Mixed handling | Standardized across offers |
| Margin negotiated post-bid | Rare | Standard |
| Clause-level red-line | No | Auto-renewal, ETF, regulatory pass-throughs |
| Lock timing decision | Contract-end day | When the curve supports it |
Often the supplier with the lowest sticker rate isn't the lowest all-in cost once shape, swing, and clauses are normalized. The "winner" of the headline race frequently loses once the contract is loaded into a real cost model.
Margin compressed against a documented benchmark. Clause language rewritten in your favor. A defensible record of why this offer beat the alternatives — saved before signature, not after.
Documentation that survives an audit. After lock, finance and legal walk away with a paper trail — not just a signed term sheet and a vague memory of why.
Matrix
Offer comparison
All bids, normalized to one spec — apples-to-apples on price, swing, and clauses.
Curve
Reference at lock
ERCOT forward strip on the day of execution. Saved as evidence of timing discipline.
Red-line
Clause changes
Auto-renewal, ETF, regulatory pass-throughs — what was negotiated, against what baseline.
Forecast
Monthly cost
12/24/36-month cost projection by month, so finance can plan against actuals.
This is where most procurement engagements quietly fail — the deal got done but the institutional memory of what was won is lost. We hand it back in writing.
Procurement questions. Short answers to what buyers ask before a renewal.
Procurement is one step in a system. The pillar, the market context, and the benchmark all sit alongside it.
- [01]Commercial electricity 101How commercial rates are built and negotiated.
- [02]Compare commercial ratesIndicative ranges by load, term, and TDSP zone.
- [03]ERCOT market insightsForward-curve analysis to inform lock timing.
- [04]Get a benchmarkSend your contract-end date — we'll lay it out.
- [05]By industrySector-specific rate profiles.
- [06]By TDSP zoneDelivery-area rate dynamics.