Commercial Electricity Rates in Texas: A 2026 Data Guide

Commercial electricity rates in Texas today average 10.97 cents per kWh across 549 active competitive plans, with per-utility medians ranging from 9.245 cents per kWh in Oncor territory to 13.0 cents in AEP Central, and per-term medians from about 7.9 cents on mid-length contracts to 13.0 cents on short-term contracts. These are aggregate ranges from a live, daily-refreshed catalog of commercial plans across all five Texas Delivery Utility (TDU) territories, not a single point estimate.

The rest of this guide unpacks what those numbers actually mean, how commercial rates are structured, why a Houston business often sees a different price than a Dallas or Corpus Christi business on the same day, and what to watch when you shop.

What do commercial electricity rates in Texas look like right now?

As of the July 17, 2026 catalog snapshot, the deregulated Texas commercial market held 549 active plans. The statewide arithmetic average energy rate across those plans was 10.97 cents per kWh.

That statewide average masks a wide spread. The full range across the catalog runs from a low of roughly 4.4 cents per kWh (a small number of high-usage, long-term plans in Oncor territory) up to about 21 cents per kWh (short-term plans in TNMP and AEP North). Most commercial plans cluster between 8 and 13 cents per kWh.

Two things to keep in mind about any single "average" you see quoted online:

Third-party comparison sites often quote a single number (7 cents, 8.3 cents, 9 cents) drawn from different sources with different methodologies. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports one figure. State-level averages sometimes blend residential and commercial. Provider-authored pages tend to lead with a promotional low.
A commercial plan's advertised rate is only part of the delivered bill. The rate you see in a comparison table typically covers the energy charge; the total bill also includes delivery charges (TDU-specific), regulatory riders, and, above certain sizes, demand charges.

How are commercial electricity rates in Texas structured?

A commercial electricity bill in the deregulated Texas market has three broad components:

Energy charge. This is the rate per kWh advertised on the plan. It is what the Retail Electric Provider (REP) charges for the electrons themselves and is the number most commonly compared across plans.
Delivery charge. Set by your Transmission and Distribution Utility (Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP Texas Central, AEP Texas North, or TNMP), it is the same regardless of which REP you choose. Delivery includes a monthly customer charge and a per-kWh charge, plus, for larger businesses, a demand charge based on your peak kW draw during the billing period.
Regulatory riders and taxes. Small line items that pass through PUCT-approved system charges, transmission cost recovery, and state and local sales tax.

Some REPs quote an "all-in" rate that bundles the energy charge with an estimate of TDU delivery. Others quote a bare energy rate and pass through delivery separately. When you compare two plans, confirm which convention each is using before you draw a conclusion about which is cheaper.

For most small and medium commercial customers, the energy charge is where competition happens; delivery charges are essentially a fixed cost of doing business in that TDU territory.

How do commercial rates vary by TDU territory?

Not all Texas TDU areas price the same. The five deregulated TDU territories produce meaningfully different rate distributions in the current catalog:

Oncor (Dallas / Fort Worth / East Texas): 140 active plans; median 11.9 cents per kWh, average 11.2 cents. Also home to the catalog low at 4.4 cents.
CenterPoint (Greater Houston): 120 active plans; median 10.1 cents per kWh, average 10.7 cents. Consistently one of the lower-median territories.
TNMP (scattered across Gulf Coast, North Texas, West Texas): 102 active plans; median 11.9 cents per kWh, average 11.0 cents.
AEP Central (Corpus Christi / Rio Grande Valley / Laredo): 96 active plans; median 10.9 cents per kWh, average 10.9 cents.
AEP North (Abilene / San Angelo and rural West Texas): 91 active plans; median 12.5 cents per kWh, average 11.0 cents.

Two takeaways:

CenterPoint (the Houston-area TDU) currently posts the lowest median commercial energy rate in the state. That aligns with what most industry comparisons have shown over the last several years.
AEP North posts the highest median. That is partly a function of smaller catalog depth (fewer plans, less price competition on any given day) and partly TDU cost structure.

A commercial business's TDU is determined by service address, not by choice, so this variation is essentially a geography-driven cost floor.

How do commercial rates vary by contract term?

Contract length changes the price. In the current catalog, term-length statistics look like this:

Short-term plans (roughly 3 to 12 months): 397 plans; median 13.0 cents per kWh, average 12.0 cents.
Mid-term plans (roughly 13 to 24 months): 74 plans; median 7.9 cents per kWh, average 8.6 cents.
Long-term plans (roughly 25 to 60 months): 42 plans; median 8.0 cents per kWh, average 8.4 cents.

The pattern is durable: short-term commercial plans in Texas carry a substantial premium versus mid- and long-term contracts. Two forces drive that:

Wholesale hedging economics. A REP that guarantees a fixed energy price for 24 or 36 months can hedge that block in the forward power market efficiently; a REP quoting only 3 to 12 months carries more exposure to summer price spikes and prices that risk in.
Sales math. Short-term commercial plans are often positioned as "bridge" products for buyers whose contracts are expiring inside a high-priced summer window and who cannot lock into a longer term without moving off an existing contract.

For most stable commercial loads with a 12-month-or-longer planning horizon, mid-term contracts currently represent the most favorable cents-per-kWh math in the market.

What drives the spread between the cheapest and most expensive plans?

Even inside a single TDU on a single day, plans span from single-digit cents per kWh to nearly 20 cents. Four factors explain most of that spread:

Usage tier. Many commercial plans price down at higher monthly kWh consumption. A 5,000 kWh per month plan and a 50,000 kWh per month plan on the same product may have very different effective rates.
Contract term (see above).
Product type. Fixed-price all-inclusive plans price differently than index (wholesale pass-through) plans and time-of-use plans. A wholesale-passthrough plan will always look "cheaper" on paper but exposes the customer to real-time price spikes.
Renewable content. 100 percent renewable commercial plans occasionally carry a small premium versus a comparable non-green plan, though the gap has largely closed over the last two years.

How do commercial rates in Texas compare to residential and to the national average?

Commercial rates in the deregulated Texas market are almost always lower than residential rates in the same TDU territory, and lower than the U.S. commercial average.

The most recent EIA-derived comparisons put the U.S. average commercial electricity rate near 13 to 14 cents per kWh. The Texas commercial statewide average of about 11 cents in the current catalog is roughly 20 to 25 percent below the national average, and about 30 to 40 percent below typical residential rates in the same Texas TDU territories.

Two reasons commercial rates run cheaper than residential:

Higher and more predictable load. Commercial customers consume more electricity, on a steadier pattern, than a typical home. That is cheaper for a REP to serve.
Negotiation. Above about 20 kW to 50 kW of peak demand, commercial customers often shop custom quotes rather than click-to-buy rack rates, and the resulting prices reflect actual competitive bidding.

Frequently asked questions

What is the current average commercial electricity rate in Texas?

Based on a live catalog of 549 competitive commercial plans on July 17, 2026, the statewide arithmetic average energy rate is 10.97 cents per kWh. The median is closer to 11 to 12 cents. Individual plan rates in the catalog range from about 4.4 cents to 21 cents per kWh depending on term, usage, and TDU.

Which TDU territory has the cheapest commercial electricity rates in Texas?

CenterPoint (the Houston-area TDU) currently has the lowest median commercial energy rate at 10.1 cents per kWh across 120 active plans. AEP North posts the highest median at 12.5 cents.

Is a short-term or long-term commercial contract cheaper in Texas?

Mid-term contracts (roughly 13 to 24 months) are currently the cheapest bucket, with a median of 7.9 cents per kWh. Short-term contracts (under 12 months) are the most expensive at a 13.0 cent median. Long-term contracts (25 to 60 months) sit close to mid-term at an 8.0 cent median.

What is a "good" price per kWh for a Texas commercial customer?

That depends on TDU territory, usage, and term, but for a typical small or medium commercial customer signing a 24-month plan today, anything below 9 cents per kWh on the energy charge is competitive in Oncor and CenterPoint, and anything below 10 cents is competitive in AEP North and TNMP.

Are TDU delivery charges included in the rates on comparison sites?

Sometimes. All-inclusive rate quotes bundle energy plus estimated delivery. Bare energy rate quotes do not. Always confirm which convention a comparison site is using before comparing two plans directly.

Data notes

All rate figures in this guide are derived from a daily-refreshed catalog of commercial plans offered in the deregulated Texas market. The snapshot used here covers 549 active plans across CenterPoint, Oncor, TNMP, AEP Central, and AEP North on July 17, 2026. Statistics are aggregate: per-TDU counts, minimums, maximums, medians, and arithmetic averages of the advertised energy rate on each plan. Individual plan rates and REP identities are not disclosed. Rate figures update as the catalog changes.