Texas businesses are overpaying for power. We're fixing that.

Earlier this year, we looked at 7,148 real electricity bills from Texas homes. We wanted to know if the state's deregulated market, the one that's supposed to give people choice and better prices, was actually working the way it's supposed to.

It wasn't. Three things stood out:

1. Loyalty to your current provider is often punished, not rewarded.
2. The big, familiar brand names often charge the most.
3. Two neighbors on the same street can pay drastically different rates, sometimes even 85% apart, for the exact same power, just because one of them bothered to check what they were paying for electricity.

That study was about homes. It left us with an obvious next question: if this is happening to homeowners, is it happening to businesses too?

After months of piloting with commercial accounts across the state, we have an answer: yes.

And today we're doing something about it, with the launch of Base Energy for Business: fixed-rate commercial electricity plans for companies across the ERCOT market.

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Why we’re doing this

Base launched its residential energy-only product in March 2026, built on a simple idea: tell people what they're actually paying, and provide them a low, transparent rate. As our team started talking to business owners this year to see if the same problem existed on the commercial side, one thing became clear fast: overpaying doesn't discriminate by industry.

We saw it at dental offices. At restaurants. At auto shops, pharmacies, places of worship, multi-site property portfolios. A pilot group of early commercial members who switched to Base saved an average of 20% off their energy rate, and in the same switch, got back operating costs that had been quietly leaving their business every month.

Two examples make the point: one Dallas business who switched to Base was in a Reliant contract at 14.28¢ per kilowatt-hour, and another was paying TXU 13¢ per kilowatt-hour. The most recent published market rate, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration is 8.55¢. Each business will cut their energy costs in the tens of thousands in their first year, saving $18,547 and $3,710, respectively. (Individual results vary, but the direction of the gap rarely does.)

We've seen proof with our own members who switched from previous providers to Base.

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That gap tracks closely with what we found in the residential study: Texans who never switched providers paid a median of 16.0¢/kWh, 2¢ more per kilowatt-hour than people who'd switched at least twice. 

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Why this keeps happening

Texas deregulated its electricity market so that competition would push prices down. In theory, any business can shop around for electricity the way you'd shop for a phone plan or business insurance. In practice, most don't; not because the option isn't there, but because no one's given them a reason to think it's worth the time.

"Texas businesses are operating in a deregulated market and have every right to shop their rate. Most just haven't had a compelling reason until now," said Justin Lopas, Base Power's COO and co-founder. "We built Base Energy for Business because the problem is real, it's measurable, and it's fixable."

Meanwhile, the cost of staying with a default provider keeps climbing. EIA data shows Texas commercial electricity rates rose 27% between 2019 and 2024, from 6.73¢ to 8.35¢ per kWh. That's not a small business's fault, but it is a small business's problem. A 2026 NFIB survey found 92% of small business owners rank electricity as their top energy cost concern, a number that makes sense once you consider how directly it eats into operating margins.

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"What we're hearing from owners and administrators is that they didn't realize there was a better option for their energy plan. Many are leaving thousands of dollars on the table." said Matt Kenahan, Base Power's lead commercial energy advisor.

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What's changing today

Base Energy for Business extends the same fixed-rate model that Base built for homes to small, medium, and large commercial accounts across ERCOT, with no complicated contacts, and no fine print designed to be missed. It's the same problem we set out to solve for Texas homeowners, applied to the businesses that keep those neighborhoods running.

You can find more information at basepowercompany.com/business.

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Methodology note: Rate comparison data reflects previous provider rates as self-reported or identified from bill submissions at the time of quote, across Base's commercial pipeline since launch. Average savings figures are weighted by historical usage volume and represent the difference between previous rates and Base's quoted rate, for businesses where both data points were available.

Sources: EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A; EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook; ERCOT Preliminary Long-Term Load Forecast 2026–2032, PUCT Project 58777, April 15, 2026; NFIB Small Business Energy Survey, February 2026; Base Power Bill Comparison Data Set, May 2026.

Disclosures: You can obtain important standardized information that will allow you to compare this product with other offers. Contact Base Power Company at basepowercompany.com/business.

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