Houston Commercial Electricity Buyers Face 10 Percent Higher Rates Than Dallas in July 2026: The CenterPoint vs Oncor TDU Spread

What Happened

Our daily commercial-plan scrape on July 30, 2026 showed the widest CenterPoint versus Oncor spread of the year across the plans we track. CenterPoint's Houston service territory carries 175 active commercial plans at a median of $0.089 per kWh and an average of $0.10173 per kWh. Oncor's Dallas-Fort Worth territory carries 240 active plans at a median of $0.071 per kWh and an average of $0.09457 per kWh.

The Public Utility Commission of Texas has approved wire-side rates that actually favor CenterPoint at the small-commercial tier. Per the July 1, 2026 PUCT rate report, CenterPoint's Secondary Service under 10 kVA carries a delivery charge of $0.0389820 per kWh, while Oncor's equivalent commercial delivery charge is $0.0458740 per kWh. In other words, the wires cost Houston small businesses about 0.7 cents per kWh less than they cost Dallas small businesses. The all-in energy premium is entirely on the generation and REP-margin side, not on TDU pass-through.

Rate-case context: CenterPoint's current TDU rates come from PUCT Docket 56211 (Final Order issued March 13, 2025, tariff effective April 28, 2025). Oncor's most recent rate case, PUCT Docket 58306, closed with a Final Order on April 17, 2026 and the new charges took effect June 1, 2026. Buyers can pull the underlying filings at puc.texas.gov, watch load and grid conditions at ercot.com, and cross-check the demand outlook at eia.gov.

Impact on Commercial Electricity Buyers in Texas

A geographic price spread this wide reshapes what shopping the market actually means for a Houston-area small business, so we see three channels where the Houston-Dallas gap reaches your bill and each one calls for a different response.

Coastal grid pressure. ERCOT's Houston-South zone routinely clears at higher settlement prices than the North zone during summer peaks. Gulf Coast humidity and cooling load push evening demand harder than in the DFW metroplex, and REPs price those hourly clearing spreads into fixed offers for the territory. That is why CenterPoint's premium runs steepest on short-term contracts, where the summer curve dominates the quote.

Industrial and data-center competition. CenterPoint has publicly reported roughly 12.2 gigawatts of firm industrial load in its Houston territory today and another 8 gigawatts of data-center requests targeting energization by 2029. Every large user shopping ahead of an SMB in the same TDU tightens local supply, and generators price that scarcity into commercial fixed offers. Oncor's territory has its own data-center growth story, but the coastal industrial cluster is uniquely dense.

Contract-term shape. In the 1,000 plans we track, the CenterPoint premium is widest on short-term (1 to 6 month) offers and narrows sharply on 24 and 36 month locks. A longer term hedges away part of the geographic premium because it averages summer scarcity across cooler quarters. Buyers who can commit to a 24 or 36 month term are effectively arbitraging the noise the front of the curve is charging them.

The TxCP Houston-Dallas Spread Test: Three Questions Before You Sign

Before you accept any commercial offer in a week when the geographic spread is this wide, run it through the same three questions we use when we read the market, so a Dallas-priced quote does not accidentally land on a Houston meter and a Houston-priced quote does not scare you into an unnecessarily long lock.

1. Is the quoted rate for your actual TDU territory?

Your meter's utility (CenterPoint, Oncor, AEP Texas Central, AEP Texas North, or TNMP) is stamped on your electric bill. A broker quoting a Texas-average rate to a CenterPoint meter is understating your delivery reality by roughly 1 to 2 cents per kWh at commercial usage levels. Confirm the TDU on the quote matches the TDU on your bill.

2. What is the all-in price at your actual usage level?

Delivery charges scale non-linearly with usage. Ask for the total price per kWh at 5,000, 10,000, and 25,000 kWh per month, with energy, delivery, base fees, and demand charges broken out. That is the only apples-to-apples number for a commercial account.

3. How does the term ladder respond to the Houston premium?

Ask for 12, 24, and 36 month quotes side by side. In our data the CenterPoint premium compresses noticeably as the term extends. If a Houston-area REP quote does not narrow across the ladder, they are pricing summer scarcity into every term and you have room to negotiate or shop another provider.

What You Should Do

Turn this week's spread into concrete moves you can make before your next billing cycle, whether your contract renews soon or you are just watching the market for a better entry point.

Pull your current Electricity Facts Label and confirm your TDU territory. CenterPoint and Oncor customers face materially different market conditions right now, and the label lists your utility.
Compare current published commercial offers for your exact TDU and your actual monthly kWh usage, not a residential 1,000 kWh figure. The all-in price at your real load size is what determines your bill.
If you are on a CenterPoint (Houston) meter and your term ends in the next 90 days, request 24 to 36 month quotes to smooth today's geographic premium. If you are on an Oncor (Dallas) meter, use the current spread as leverage on a short-term extension while you decide.
Confirm every quoted price is all-in (energy plus delivery plus base fees) and note whether TDU charges are bundled into the quoted rate or billed as a pass-through line item.

Questions to Ask Your REP or Broker

When you call a provider this week, these questions separate a genuinely competitive Houston or Dallas offer from a rate that is quietly averaging away the geographic spread you actually face.

Does this quote apply to a CenterPoint meter or an Oncor meter, and what is the price difference for my usage profile?
How much of the quoted price is TDU delivery versus energy, at my monthly kWh?
What is the 12, 24, and 36 month price ladder for my exact meter and load size?
Are you factoring the Houston-South coastal-zone premium into this rate, or quoting me a Texas market average?
What is the early termination fee if rates fall further before my contract ends?

If a provider cannot answer questions 1 through 3 without a callback, that is a signal about how carefully they priced the quote in the first place.

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For the full picture across every commercial plan we track, see our Texas commercial electricity rates overview.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are Houston commercial electricity rates higher than Dallas in July 2026?

As of July 30, 2026, our live commercial catalog shows Houston (CenterPoint) buyers paying a median $0.089 per kWh vs Dallas (Oncor) at $0.071 per kWh, a spread of about 25 percent at the median and 7.6 percent on the average contract. The gap is on the supply side, not on delivery. CenterPoint's PUCT-approved small-commercial TDU charge ($0.0389820 per kWh) is actually lower than Oncor's ($0.0458740 per kWh). The Houston premium reflects coastal grid pressure, higher summer peak demand in the Houston-South ERCOT zone, and heavier industrial and data-center competition for supply.

Is the Houston commercial rate premium a temporary spike or a long-term structural gap?

Both. Short-term (1 to 6 month) offers show the widest premium because they price in near-term summer scarcity. Longer 24 to 36 month locks in the plans we track compress the gap because they average across cooler quarters. The structural piece, coastal grid constraints and roughly 12.2 gigawatts of firm industrial load plus another 8 gigawatts of data-center growth in CenterPoint territory by 2029, will persist into 2027 unless local generation buildout catches up.

Should Houston commercial buyers lock a fixed rate right now?

If your term ends in the next 90 days, shopping now beats auto-renewal. In our data, a 24 to 36 month lock removes roughly half of the CenterPoint premium versus a short-term rate. Buyers who can wait until fall (post-4CP season) may see a small compression in the spread as summer-peak pricing drops out of the front of the curve.

What are the five Texas TDUs and how do commercial rates compare across them in July 2026?

Five ERCOT TDUs serve competitive retail: Oncor (Dallas-Fort Worth), CenterPoint (Houston), AEP Texas Central (Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley), AEP Texas North (Abilene), and TNMP (patchwork across the state). As of July 30, 2026, CenterPoint has the highest commercial energy median at $0.089 per kWh, Oncor the lowest at $0.071 per kWh, and the AEP and TNMP territories fall in between at roughly $0.074 to $0.075 per kWh. Full detail is in our live commercial-plan data download.