Texas Commercial Electricity Catalog Contracts to 548 Plans as Batch Zero Era Opens
The July 12, 2026 TxCP scrape removed 229 commercial electricity plans and added 72, leaving 548 active plans across 32 retail electric providers. The reset landed one day after ERCOT's Batch Zero large-load interconnection framework took effect.
On July 12, 27 retail electric providers moved through a repricing event where 229 plans were removed, 72 new plans were introduced, and 10 plans were repriced. The active pool decreased to 548 plans, the lowest count in the current Q3 repricing cycle. This event also occurred one day after ERCOT's Batch Zero large-load interconnection framework took effect on July 11.
As the third catalog reset since Q3 pricing commenced, the July 12 movement continues a substantial mid-summer shift. Between July 1 and July 12 the commercial pool moved from 508 active plans up to 715 plans mid-cycle, then back down to 548. Providers are still repositioning, as evidenced by the plans flagged in this scrape's lifecycle sweep: 152 additional plans flagged and 77 fully deactivated.
Snapshot from the July 12 scrape
Out of the 27 retail electric providers scanned, 16 shipped catalog changes and 11 held pricing steady. New plan additions concentrated on short-term and mid-term contract lengths. The 229 removals cut across all five TDU territories.
Post-scrape totals across the market: 548 active commercial plans, 32 active providers, market-wide average rate 10.86 cents per kWh.
Contract length is where the arithmetic gets interesting
Term-length averages continue to contradict the common assumption that shorter contracts are cheaper. As of July 12 the plans average worse rates for shorter contract terms.
- Short-term contracts, 397 plans: average rate 11.78 cents per kWh, median 13.00 cents per kWh.
- Mid-term contracts, 72 plans: average rate 8.71 cents per kWh, median 7.90 cents per kWh.
- Long-term contracts, 48 plans: average rate 7.80 cents per kWh, median 8.00 cents per kWh.
Long-term averages sit about 34 percent below short-term averages. Mid-term averages sit about 26 percent below short-term averages. Commercial buyers with a stable load profile find the cheapest per-kWh rates on the longer end of this catalog, not the shorter end.
TDU-level rate bands
Rate bands vary meaningfully by transmission and distribution utility. Median commercial rates by TDU territory on July 12:
- Oncor: 10.73 cents per kWh median across 130 plans.
- CenterPoint: 10.00 cents per kWh median across 118 plans.
- AEP North: 10.43 cents per kWh median across 93 plans.
- AEP Central: 10.62 cents per kWh median across 102 plans.
- TNMP: 11.88 cents per kWh median across 105 plans.
TNMP currently carries the highest median. CenterPoint carries the lowest median. Businesses shopping across territory lines should note the delivered rate difference alone can exceed a full cent per kWh at the median.
What Batch Zero has to do with the commercial retail catalog
The PUCT-approved Batch Zero framework took effect on July 11. It resets how new large loads, including data centers, request to interconnect to the ERCOT grid. The legacy large-load interconnection process was in effect through end of day July 10. Batch Zero provisions have been in effect since July 11.
Batch Zero is a wholesale-side and interconnection-side reform, not a retail-side reform. It does not directly change what a commercial customer sees in the retail plan catalog. The change flows in through the queue of large loads expected to come online in the ERCOT footprint over the next several years. More load in that queue means more demand-side pressure. Provider portfolios that rely on longer-dated hedges tend to reprice their retail offers when the long-term demand curve shifts upward.
That is the pressure showing up in the July 12 catalog. The top of the catalog is thinning even as more grid capacity is being unlocked at the interconnection layer. For commercial buyers, the practical read is that the window to shop and lock is compressing.
What commercial buyers should watch this week
Three signals to track in the coming 5 to 7 days.
First, whether the 72 plans added on July 12 hold their initial pricing through the next scrape cycle or get repriced within days. In prior Q3 waves, roughly one in eight new plans repriced within a week.
Second, whether the at-risk pool of 152 plans flagged in this scrape contracts further. That would tighten commercial supply into peak summer.
Third, natural gas at Henry Hub. Prompt-month gas was trading in the low 3 dollar per MMBtu range during the week of July 8. Sustained gas above 3 dollars per MMBtu puts pressure on retail hedges. A move below 3 dollars gives providers room to hold pricing.
Data footnote
Figures above come from the TxCP daily commercial plan scrape, scrape id 54e47918-6a3e-4542-90de-830a7b194087, completed July 12, 2026 at 13:16 UTC. Rate figures are aggregated across all active plans in the given segment, presented as territory or term-length medians and averages. This article does not name individual retail electric providers or list per-plan rates. Batch Zero timing references pull from ERCOT market notice M-B062326-01 and the PUCT June 18 press release.