Commercial energy procurement is the discipline of buying electricity and natural gas on competitive markets, structured to insulate operating budgets from wholesale volatility. The four pillars are: understanding load profile, demand charges, capacity tags, and RFP timing. The right RFP runs 5 to 9 suppliers in parallel and locks 18 to 36 months at the August through October window. Typical commercial savings on a clean lock vs utility default: 12 to 22 percent on the supply portion.
Pillar 1: understand your load profile
Pull 12 months of hourly interval data from your utility (most ISO-affiliated utilities publish this on request for commercial accounts). Calculate average kW, peak kW, kWh per month, and load factor.
Suppliers price differently for flat profiles vs spiky ones. Knowing your load factor before requesting offers helps you score the responses appropriately.
Pillar 4: run the RFP at the right time
The August through October window prices most aggressively across PJM, ERCOT, and ISO-NE because PJM capacity auction has cleared and winter spike risk has not yet priced in.
Invite 5 to 9 PUC-licensed suppliers. Provide standardized RFP package (load profile, contract term, terms required). Score offers on all-in price + contract clauses + commission disclosure together.
Lock the rate before the next reset.
Seenra runs the supplier shortlist in 5 minutes. No credit pull, no on-site visit, no service interruption. Forever free for households.
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Quick answers from the editorial desk
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Further reading