Business Electricity in Dallas and Fort Worth: The Oncor-Territory Buyer's Guide
Business electricity in Dallas-Fort Worth means choosing a retail supplier while Oncor delivers the power, except in Garland and Denton, which run municipal utilities. Texas's commercial average is 8.66¢/kWh all-in (EIA, 06/2026) versus 14.19¢ nationally. Standard accounts shop live ZIP-code rates; accounts above 100,000 kWh a year, our estimate and not a published statistic, are good candidates for a reverse auction.
Say a Fort Worth warehouse runs 60,000 kWh/month. Example numbers to show the math, not a live quote. Left to roll over on an expired contract at 14¢/kWh, that account pays $8,400/month in energy charges alone. Rebid the same load onto a competitive 9¢ fixed contract and it drops to $5,400/month. That's $3,000 a month, $36,000 a year, sitting on the table because nobody flagged the renewal date on the calendar.
Who Delivers Your Power in Dallas-Fort Worth
Oncor Electric Delivery owns the poles, wires, and meters across almost the entire DFW Metroplex: Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano, Irving, Frisco, McKinney, Grand Prairie, Carrollton, Mesquite, Rockwall, Forney, and dozens more suburbs. Oncor doesn't sell you electricity. It gets paid a regulated delivery fee no matter which supplier's name is on your bill. Reliability, storm response, and how fast a crew shows up after an outage never change based on who you buy energy from. That's Oncor's job, and it's the same job whether you're on a 6-month contract or a 36-month one. The part you actually shop is the retail electric provider, the company selling you the energy itself.
- Garland: served by Garland Power & Light, a city-owned utility. Garland businesses buy on GP&L's commercial tariff and can't shop a retail supplier. A Garland company with locations elsewhere in Oncor territory can still put those accounts out to bid.
- Denton: served by Denton Municipal Electric, another city-owned utility. Denton businesses are on DME's tariff with no supplier choice, but Denton County suburbs like Flower Mound and The Colony sit on Oncor's grid and do have retail choice.
- Lewisville: fully deregulated, but the wires belong to TNMP, not Oncor. That doesn't change your rate options. TNMP delivers the power under the same ERCOT retail choice rules Oncor operates under, and you shop the same way.
The EIA Average vs Your Supply-Only Quote
Texas's average all-in commercial electricity rate is 8.66¢/kWh, well below the 14.19¢/kWh national commercial average (EIA, 06/2026). That gap is real and it's why Texas businesses generally pay less for power than businesses almost anywhere else in the country. But don't hold a supplier's contract quote up against that 8.66¢ figure and call it a good deal or a bad one on the spot. The EIA number is all-in, it bakes in Oncor's delivery charges and every fee on the bill. A supplier's quote is supply-only, the energy commodity charge and nothing else. Say a supplier quotes you 9¢ supply-only. Example numbers to show the math, not a live quote. Compare that 9¢ figure straight to the 8.66¢ all-in average and you'll think you're overpaying when you're not, once delivery charges land on top of either number.
All-in commercial rate, including delivery. Supplier supply-only quotes will run lower than either figure.
Contract Terms DFW Suppliers Actually Sell
Walk into a supplier negotiation in Dallas or Fort Worth and you'll see contract terms ranging roughly from 6 to 36 months, with 12- and 24-month fixed contracts common for standard accounts, our estimate, not a published statistic. Fixed-rate deals lock in a per-kWh energy charge for the whole term, the right call for a Fort Worth manufacturer or a Dallas restaurant that wants a predictable line item on the P&L. Index-based and block-and-index pricing shows up mostly for accounts running above roughly 50,000 kWh/month, our estimate, not a published statistic, think Irving's Las Colinas office towers or a Midland energy-services firm, where the account can absorb some month-to-month price movement in exchange for a lower average cost over the term. Most DFW commercial bills also carry a demand charge, billed on the highest 15-minute interval of power draw in the cycle, not just total kWh consumed. Larger interval-metered accounts may also see transmission costs tied to peak grid demand periods. If your account is IDR-metered, ask your supplier how demand-related charges factor into the quote before you sign.
A 24-month contract that isn't renewed on time doesn't just cancel, it rolls to a month-to-month variable rate, which can be priced above what you were paying. This mistake is easy to make. Mark your renewal date 90 days out, not 90 days after.
The Two-Lane Path: ZIP-Code Quotes or a Reverse Auction
How you shop a DFW commercial account depends on size. Standard accounts, most offices, restaurants, retail stores, salons, get quoted off live rates by ZIP code. Dallas 75201 prices differently than Fort Worth 76102 because Oncor's delivery tariff and local supplier competition vary block by block. That's a fast process: usage history, ZIP code, contract term, and you're comparing real offers the same day. Above 100,000 kWh a year, roughly 8,300 kWh/month, our estimate and not a published statistic, a reverse auction is often run instead. That's a McKinney medical clinic with multiple suites, an Irving corporate headquarters spanning several floors, or a Grand Prairie warehouse on SH-161. Suppliers bid against each other for the account instead of posting a flat rate card, and for an account at that scale, say a business near 100,000 kWh annually, that competitive process can produce a stronger result than a single take-it-or-leave-it quote. If your DFW business is anywhere near six figures of annual usage, don't accept the first number a rep gives you.
Multi-suite DFW office tenants in Plano, Irving, and Richardson can have multiple separate ESI IDs under one lease, for example three or four. Bundle them into a single competitive bid instead of shopping each meter on its own. A combined load can price more competitively than several small accounts sold separately.
Whether you're a 20,000 kWh Plano office or a 200,000 kWh Grand Prairie distribution center, the right shopping strategy for Oncor-territory accounts is different. Get a quote built for your account size, not a rate card that ignores it.
Get My QuoteFrequently asked questions
No. Oncor only delivers the power, it owns the poles, wires, and meters. You still choose a retail electric provider (REP) for the actual energy supply, and that's the part you can shop and negotiate under Texas's deregulated market.
Because the EIA figure is all-in, it includes energy plus Oncor's delivery charges and fees. A supplier's contract quote is supply-only. Add delivery charges to a supply-only quote before comparing it to the EIA average, otherwise you're comparing two different things.
Once an account tops 100,000 kWh a year, roughly 8,300 kWh/month, our estimate and not a published statistic, a reverse auction where multiple suppliers bid against each other for the load can produce a stronger result than a posted rate quote for an account at that scale. Below that, standard ZIP-code pricing is the faster path.
No. Garland is served by Garland Power & Light and Denton by Denton Municipal Electric, both city-owned utilities outside ERCOT's competitive retail market. Businesses in those cities buy on the municipal tariff. A company with locations elsewhere in Oncor territory can still shop those separate accounts.
A demand charge is billed on your highest 15-minute interval of power draw during the billing cycle, separate from total kWh used. Most commercial accounts in DFW carry one, and it can represent a meaningful chunk of the bill for operations with sharp usage spikes, like restaurants at peak service or offices running HVAC hard in summer.