Houston Business Electricity Rates
ElectricChoice Energy Research · Updated
- Commercial energy rates in Houston start around 5¢/kWh before delivery.
- Most Houston businesses end up paying 10–12¢ per kWh all-in.
- Rates drop with higher usage. Comparing providers gets you custom pricing.
What Houston Businesses Actually Pay
Every advertised commercial rate you have ever seen for Houston is the energy rate only. It leaves out the CenterPoint charges that appear on the same bill. Here is the whole number, with nothing left out.
| 4.1993¢ | CenterPoint Delivery | Per kWh for secondary service at 10 kVA and under, every rider included. Same for every supplier. |
| 5.60–6.80¢ | The Part You Shop | Competitive energy rates for fixed commercial contracts in the Houston load zone this month. |
| 10.40¢ | Typical All-In Rate | What a 5,000 kWh per month Houston business really pays once both halves and the monthly fee are counted. |
| 10 kVA | Where the Rules Change | Above this peak demand, CenterPoint stops charging mostly per kWh and starts charging per kVA of demand. |
Both halves, added up
A Houston business using 5,000 kWh in a month, on a mid-market fixed energy rate
| What it is | Who sets it | Rate | Cost this month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | Your supplier — negotiable | 6.10¢ / kWh | $305.00 |
| CenterPoint delivery | State regulated — fixed | 4.1993¢ / kWh | $209.97 |
| CenterPoint monthly fee | State regulated — fixed | $4.96 / month | $4.96 |
| Your actual bill | Before sales tax | 10.40¢ / kWh | $519.93 |
Notice that the 6.10¢ energy rate turns into 10.40¢ by the time the bill arrives. That gap is not a markup and it is not a hidden fee. It is the cost of the poles and wires between the power plant and your building, and it is the same whether you sign with the cheapest supplier in Texas or stay where you are.
The CenterPoint Half, Line by Line
CenterPoint does not sell you electricity. It owns the wires and the meter, restores your power after a storm, and bills a delivery charge that the Public Utility Commission of Texas approves. That 4.1993¢ is actually a stack of separate charges.
What makes up CenterPoint's 4.1993¢
Secondary service, 10 kVA and under · effective
| Charge | What you are paying for | ¢ / kWh |
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Local poles, wires, transformers and the meter on your wall | 1.7893¢ |
| Energy efficiency recovery | Rebate programs CenterPoint runs under state mandate | 0.4970¢ |
| Storm restoration II | Paying back the cost of past hurricane rebuilds | 0.0627¢ |
| Storm restoration III | A second, larger storm recovery bond | 0.2842¢ |
| Transmission cost recovery | High-voltage lines bringing power into the Houston area | ~1.15¢ |
| Everything else | Nuclear decommissioning, rate case expense, tax credits back to you | < 0.01¢ |
| Total delivery | Plus $4.96 per month regardless of usage | 4.1993¢ |
Storm charges are not optional
The two restoration charges add 0.3469¢ to every kWh a Houston business uses. On a 9,000 kWh month that is about $31.22. If a salesperson offers to get rid of it, they are either confused or lying.
These reset twice a year
CenterPoint delivery charges change on March 1 and September 1. A 24-month energy contract locks your energy rate, not your total bill. Expect the delivery side to drift while your energy rate holds.
The efficiency charge is worth using
You are already paying 0.4970¢ per kWh into CenterPoint's commercial rebate programs. Lighting, HVAC and refrigeration upgrades qualify. Most Houston businesses never claim a dollar of it.
Houston Bills in kVA, and That Costs Some Businesses Real Money
This is the one genuine quirk of being on the CenterPoint grid. Dallas businesses are billed for demand in kilowatts. Houston businesses are billed in kilovolt-amperes. If you run motors, the difference shows up on your bill every month.
The plain-English version
Think of electricity like a beer with foam on top. The beer is the part that does useful work — that is kilowatts. The foam is electrical demand that sloshes around without accomplishing anything, which motors and compressors create a lot of. Add them together and you get kVA.
Oncor charges Dallas businesses for the beer. CenterPoint charges Houston businesses for the beer and the foam. The ratio between the two is called power factor, and if yours is poor, you are paying for foam.
A building full of LED lights and computers runs a power factor near 0.98, so there is almost no foam and nothing to fix. A building with big compressors, old motors, or legacy fluorescent ballasts can sit at 0.80, which means roughly 20% of the demand charge is pure waste. Correcting it is a one-time equipment install, not a negotiation.
Nothing to fix
Offices, retail shops, professional practices, restaurants with modern equipment. Power factor is usually above 0.95. Skip this section entirely and go negotiate your energy rate.
Worth checking
Grocery and convenience stores with banks of refrigeration, car washes, laundromats, small fabrication shops. Ask CenterPoint for your power factor. If it is under 0.90, get a quote on capacitors.
Almost certainly paying for it
Machine shops, cold storage, plastics, metal fabrication, anything along the Ship Channel with large induction motors. Power factor correction typically pays for itself in 12 to 24 months here.
One phone call gets you the answer. Ask CenterPoint for 12 months of interval data on your meter, or pull the demand figures off a year of bills. If your billed kVA runs much higher than your kW, that gap is what you are overpaying.
What Happens When You Pass 10 kVA
Below 10 kVA of peak demand, CenterPoint bills you almost entirely per kWh. Above it, your per-kWh delivery charge collapses to nearly nothing and you start paying for your single highest 15-minute spike instead. Most Houston businesses do not realize they have crossed this line until the bill jumps.
Two completely different billing methods
CenterPoint secondary service · effective September 1, 2026
| 10 kVA and under | Above 10 kVA | |
|---|---|---|
| Charge per kWh | 4.1993¢ | 0.0930¢ — essentially zero |
| Charge per kVA of demand | None | $6.26 plus $4.34 to $6.18 transmission |
| Fixed monthly charge | $4.96 | $13.41 standard, $151.41 with interval metering |
| What drives your bill | How much you use | Your worst 15 minutes of the month |
| Biggest lever you have | Shop a lower energy rate | Stop everything from starting at once |
Once you are demand-metered, roughly $10 to $12 per kVA lands on your bill every month based on one brief peak. A Houston restaurant that fires ovens, fryers, hood fans and rooftop AC within the same ten minutes can set a peak 40% above its real operating demand — and then pay for that number for the entire billing cycle.
Staggering your startup is free money
Demand charges are set by a single 15-minute window, so the fix is scheduling, not equipment. Bring rooftop units up first, wait ten minutes, then kitchen equipment, then everything else. Houston businesses that stagger opening routines routinely knock 10% to 20% off the demand portion of the bill without buying anything or changing hours.
What It Costs by Type of Business
These are modeled at a 6.10¢ energy rate with current CenterPoint delivery charges, for accounts still under the 10 kVA demand threshold. Use them to sanity-check your own bill, not as a quote.
Monthly cost by usage level
Energy at 6.10¢ plus CenterPoint delivery at 4.1993¢ and $4.96 per month
| Business | Why usage lands there | kWh / month | All-in rate | Monthly bill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corner store or small office | One meter, normal business hours, no walk-in cooler. | 2,000 | 10.55¢ | $210.95 |
| Restaurant or dental office | Kitchen equipment or medical equipment plus full-day cooling. | 5,000 | 10.40¢ | $519.93 |
| Convenience store with coolers | Refrigeration running around the clock pushes usage up fast. | 9,000 | 10.35¢ | $931.90 |
| Small warehouse or church | Large square footage, lighter equipment load per square foot. | 15,000 | 10.33¢ | $1,549.86 |
The all-in rate drops as usage rises because the $4.96 monthly fee spreads across more kilowatt-hours. That is also why very small accounts should not chase the headline rates advertised for large users — those prices are built for load profiles you do not have.
Restaurants along Washington, Montrose and the Heights
Refrigeration never stops and the kitchen creates sharp spikes during service. These are the Houston businesses most likely to be demand-metered without knowing it. Check whether your bill shows a kVA line before you shop anything.
Medical and dental offices near the Texas Medical Center
Steady weekday load, almost nothing overnight, imaging equipment that spikes hard. A predictable profile, which means suppliers price it well. Fixed rates on 24 or 36 months usually beat anything clever.
Warehouses in north and northeast Houston
Low usage per square foot but big demand when dock equipment and forklift chargers run together. Moving charging to overnight is often the single cheapest change available to a Houston distribution facility.
Ship Channel industrial and cold storage
Large motor loads, kVA billing and heavy summer cooling all stack against you here. Power factor correction and a demand cap written into the contract matter more than shaving a tenth of a cent off the energy rate.
Houston Against Dallas and the Rest of the Country
Here is a claim you will find on a lot of energy websites: Houston delivery costs more than Dallas. For small commercial accounts that is simply wrong, and the state's own filings show it.
Delivery charges, same rate class, same month
Secondary commercial service at 10 kW or kVA and under · PUCT filings effective September 1, 2026
| Utility | Cities served | ¢ / kWh | Monthly fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| CenterPoint Energy | Houston, Galveston, Sugar Land, Katy | 4.1993¢ | $4.96 |
| AEP Texas Central | Corpus Christi, McAllen, Victoria | 4.5181¢ | $5.66 |
| Oncor | Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Midland | 5.1227¢ | $6.70 |
On a 5,000 kWh month, CenterPoint delivery runs about $214.93 while the same account in Oncor territory pays roughly $262.84. Houston comes out ahead by about $47.91 a month on the wires alone. Where Dallas wins is on large interval-metered accounts, which are billed on an entirely different schedule.
The Texas average is lower than either metro figure because it blends in very large industrial accounts that buy power at prices a storefront will never see. For statewide context see Texas commercial electricity rates.
When to Sign, and When to Wait
Houston has a seasonal pattern worth planning around. Suppliers price summer risk into any contract that starts near it, and hurricane season makes them more cautious than in the rest of Texas.
Mild weather, low demand, and summer still far enough out that suppliers are not pricing defensively. This is when Houston businesses get their best forward numbers on 24 and 36 month terms.
ERCOT prices spike, and hurricane season adds a risk premium on top. If your contract expires now, sign the shortest term you can tolerate and re-shop in the spring rather than locking three years at a summer price.
Demand drops off after September and prices settle. Not quite as good as spring, but a solid time to lock. Watch the first cold snap, which can briefly move the market.
Four things to do before you sign anything
Find your contract end date
It is on your supplier's bill, not CenterPoint's. Start shopping 60 to 90 days before it. The month after a contract expires is almost always the most expensive month of the year, because you roll to a month-to-month rate.
Check whether you are demand-metered
Look for a kVA or kW line on the delivery portion of your bill. If it is there, your peak matters as much as your rate, and any quote that ignores your demand profile is a guess.
Compare energy rates only
Every quote carries the same CenterPoint charges. Line the offers up on the energy rate at your actual usage, over the same term length, and the winner becomes obvious in about a minute.
Match the term to your lease
A 36-month contract in a space you might leave in 14 months is how businesses end up paying termination fees. Line the two up, or keep the electricity term shorter than the lease.
Questions Houston Owners Ask
What does a Houston business pay per kWh for electricity?
Most small Houston businesses land between 9.8¢ and 11¢ per kWh all-in. That is a supplier energy rate of roughly 5.60¢ to 6.80¢ plus CenterPoint delivery of 4.1993¢ and the $4.96 monthly delivery fee spread across your usage. If your peak demand goes above 10 kVA, the math changes completely because demand charges replace most of the per-kWh delivery charge.
Is CenterPoint delivery more expensive than Oncor?
Not for small businesses. For accounts at or under 10 kVA, CenterPoint charges 4.1993¢ per kWh and $4.96 a month. Oncor, which serves Dallas and Fort Worth, charges 5.1227¢ and $6.70. Houston is about a penny per kWh cheaper on the wires. A lot of broker websites claim the opposite, but the PUCT filings say otherwise.
Why does my Houston bill show charges in kVA instead of kW?
CenterPoint bills demand in kVA, which is total electrical demand rather than the portion doing useful work. Oncor bills in kW. The practical difference is that poor power factor raises your CenterPoint bill directly. If you run a lot of motors, compressors, or older fluorescent ballasts, a capacitor bank can cut the demand portion of your bill without changing your usage at all.
What is the storm charge on my CenterPoint bill?
Two of them, actually. System Restoration Charge II adds 0.0627¢ per kWh and System Restoration Charge III adds 0.2842¢, for a combined 0.3469¢. These pay back the cost of rebuilding the grid after major storms. They are regulated pass-through charges. No supplier can remove them and no broker can negotiate them away.
Can I switch electricity suppliers in Houston without an outage?
Yes. CenterPoint keeps delivering your power the entire time and nobody comes to your building. The switch happens on your meter read date. If you are still under contract, most suppliers will sign a future-dated agreement that begins the day your current term ends so you avoid an early termination fee.
When is the best time of year for a Houston business to lock a rate?
Spring and fall. Forward prices for summer delivery carry a premium because ERCOT demand peaks in July and August, and Houston suppliers price hurricane risk into long contracts signed close to the season. Shopping in March or October usually gets you a better number than shopping in June.
Do I need my ESI ID to get a commercial quote?
For a firm price, yes. The ESI ID is the 17 or 22 digit number on your bill that identifies your meter. It tells a supplier your exact rate class and usage history, which is what a real commercial price is built from. For a ballpark number, your monthly kWh and your address are enough.
Delivery charges on this page come from the Public Utility Commission of Texas monthly TDU rate report effective September 1, 2026. Supply ranges reflect fixed-rate commercial offers in the CenterPoint Houston load zone during October 2026. Related reading: Texas commercial rates, restaurant electricity costs, and how load factor affects your price.
