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A recent article in the Amarillo Globe-News highlighted an enormous project currently in the works. The plan is to run just under 2,000 miles of transmission lines through the Texas panhandle with the hope of delivering wind-generated power to larger cities. How big is this project? Seven billion dollars big.

Wind power has gotten a fair amount of publicity in recent years. For many it embodies the idea of renewable (or “green”) energy. With more and more Americans concerned about the impact of industrial activity on the environment, green energy sources have become an increasingly important factor in the production of commercial electricity. According to the SECO (State Energy Conservation Office), “Texas currently leads the nation in wind development.”

In the case of wind-generated power, the obstacle to overcome is delivering green energy to those who can use it. The SECO states, “The greatest challenge facing the wind industry is that wind farms can be built more quickly than transmission lines. It can take a year to build a wind farm, but five to build the transmission lines needed to send power to cities.”

As the article from the Amarillo Globe-News points out, the project underway to run thousands of miles of transmission lines seeks to address this issue. In the coming years, projects like this one have the potential to impact the Texas commercial electricity market in a variety of ways, sometimes pushing commercial electricity rates up and sometimes helping to lower them. And of course, we all hope that continued focus on environmentally conscious production of power will help keep Texas beautiful.

Perhaps your business already makes efforts to be green, as well. Did you know there are commercial electricity products out there designed specifically for the environmentally minded? You have the option to specify a preference for renewable energy with most commercial electricity providers. And that is just one of dozens of options you have when making arrangements for your energy needs.

All of us here at Live Energy are committed to helping you make the best commercial electricity decisions possible, which includes finding the most fitting product at the lowest rate. (We’ve yet to work with someone who isn’t interested in saving money!) We do this by first engaging in thorough analysis of your business, including important factors like the degree to which using renewable energy is important to you. We then take what we’ve learned about you as a company and pair that knowledge with our market-savvy industry expertise to determine the best product and timing to lock in a low commercial electricity rate for you. If your organization has made a commitment to being green, we want you to know that we understand that commitment and are prepared to help you facilitate that goal while at the same time saving you money.

Think of us as your commercial electricity consultants. We have the tools and experience to help you find the option that will work best for you. If you’d like to learn more about how we can guide you to the commercial electricity plan that fits your business best, please contact us at (877) 810-7770.

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Here’s a question we get from time to time: who needs an energy broker?

It’s a good question. Business owners and decision makers shopping for commercial electricity rates have, in essence, three options. One, you can elect to do the research, negotiation and comparison yourself. Many business owners are accustom to taking on tasks like this one themselves and don’t hesitate to take a do-it-yourself approach to commercial electricity. After all, you probably chose the power company for your home. How different could it be to choose the power company for your business?

It’s more different than you might think. For your home, you likely only had a couple of options. For your business, there are literally well over a dozen different ways your power could be contracted. Depending on how your business functions, some of those options will save you money and some of them will cost you. Additionally, the commercial electricity market drives the price of energy for businesses. It’s a complex market, affected by a wide variety of factors. The volatility of the market means that the timing of when you contract is pivotal. The difference of a few days or even, in some cases, a few hours, can impact the rates available to you. Finding the best possible option for your commercial electricity needs is a combination of identifying the product that fits you best and zeroing in on the best time for you to sign.

If all of that sounds more than a little complex, that’s okay. It is complex. In fact, it’s so complex that many business owners and decision makers quickly recognize that the do-it-yourself approach to this task may not be the best option. Option number two would be to hire your very own commercial electricity expert. Large (typically, very large) companies sometimes go this route. If the company is big enough, this can be a solid option, but the vast majority of businesses simply don’t have the money sitting around to add someone to the payroll exclusively for help with their commercial electricity contracts.

That brings us to your third option: partnering with a broker. Utilizing the services of a broker who is a proven expert in the Texas commercial electricity market can save you time, money and more than a few headaches. A broker will have the experience and expertise to analyze your business and recommend the products that will fit best for how you consume power. Furthermore, a broker will have his fingers on the pulse of the market, diligently watching the trends and patterns so that you know when it’s the best time for you to sign. The benefit for you is a lower price with less time and hassle.

At Live Energy, we pride ourselves on providing that very service to our clients. We’re here to take the pain out of making a solid commercial electricity decision. Let us use our experience, our expertise, our market-following technology and our top-tier staff on your behalf. We have the tools to help you find a commercial electricity rate that will save you money, and we have an unparalleled passion for client satisfaction. If you’d like to see how we can put our resources to work for you, give us a call at (877) 810-7770.

Picking a commercial electricity rate can be a headache, but it doesn’t have to be. Let us make it a pain-free process for you.

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Last weekend, storms across central Texas managed to leave about 3,000 homes and businesses without power. Naturally, the utility companies were quick to restore power to the affected customers, but this small, relatively minor incident serves as a reminder: weather can be an enormous factor in changes to the cost of commercial electricity rates.

Texas is home to a variety of weather conditions. In the last few years, we’ve seen everything from tornados to hurricanes to ice storms impact the cost of commercial electricity. Mother Nature is active in our great state. The weather here can be breathtaking—watching a sunset in the hill country, for example, or enjoying a springtime storm as it rolls in across the plains—but it can also pack a punch. And, as is so often said, if you don’t like the weather in Texas, wait five minutes. It can and does change fast.

When the weather hits hard, with sudden storms like the ice storms we experienced in February of 2010, or with extreme temperatures, like the heat wave we endured last summer, it can affect commercial electricity rates in a variety of ways. Storms and extreme conditions can, of course, damage equipment, making it more difficult or costly to produce power. At times, unexpected weather leaves us with a surplus of supply. Other times, we suffer through rolling blackouts because unforecasted shifts in temperature have made it difficult for generators to keep up with the state’s demand.

As we push through tornado season (March-June), and move into hurricane season (June-November), keep in mind that the weather is a very significant factor for commercial electricity rates in Texas. While a great deal of effort and science is geared toward making the most accurate predictions possible, even one unexpected incident can have a reverberating effect on the market, pushing prices much higher than expected.

The lesson in this for business owners and decision makers is that there is a great deal of value in locking in a low rate when possible. By fixing your rate, you are protecting yourself from the unpredictability of the Texas energy market. As an example, when ice storms rolled through north Texas in 2010, contracted commercial customers were largely protected from the sudden increase in commercial electricity rates. Businesses that had not planned ahead, however, paid as much as ten times more for their power that month due to the unexpected rise in commercial electricity cost.

Right now, rates are low. The natural gas market is still at the lowest we’ve seen it in the last ten years. Summer temperatures haven’t hit yet and, while we’ve seen some extreme weather already this year, the impact on the commercial electricity market has been minimal. This is, quite frankly, a great time for you to consider signing a new commercial electricity contract, or extending your existing contract, and the experts here at Live Energy are prepared to help. We have the tools, the people and the experience to help you find the best fit for your business, and with market conditions as favorable as they are, we are confident we can get you a rate you’ll be pleased with.

If you’d like to see how we can help you lower your commercial electricity costs now and protect you from unexpected shifts in the market in the future, give us a call at (817) 810-7770.

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If you are a regular reader of this blog, this post is the same song, new verse.

Natural gas, the primary fuel used in the production of commercial electricity in Texas, is currently selling at the lowest prices we’ve seen since the state deregulated power ten years ago. During that ten years, the price of natural gas has been well over twice what it is today for most of the time. At its peak, it hit prices as high as 6 times as high as it is now.

You don’t have to be terribly market savvy to understand the impact this can and does have on commercial electricity rates. If it costs generators less money to create power, it will typically cost consumers less money to buy it. When natural gas prices dip (as they have in recent months), the effect on commercial electricity rates is favorable—the price drops.

As Bloomberg reported just yesterday, “U.S. utilities…are burning a record amount of natural gas for generating electricity without triggering a forecasted boost to the fuel’s price from near 10-year lows.” That’s the good news, but there is more to this story than that. The same article from Bloomberg went on to point out, “Cheap gas, rather than helping power producers…, undercuts their revenue because it drives down wholesale electricity prices,” which is why the Public Utility Commission (PUC) in Texas is currently considering raising the Power Balance Penalty Cap and System High Cap to $4500 as soon as August of this year, with additional increases scheduled that could push the cap as high as $9000 by 2015. In Texas, we need energy production to be attractive to generators so that they will build more generation. We’re a growing state, and our consumption is growing, too. Without more generation, our needs will eventually outpace our supply.

While there are other factors influencing the cost of commercial electricity, it is still well worth pointing out that the natural gas market is low. Commercial electricity rates appear to have bottomed out for the time being, due largely to the cost of natural gas, making this a prime time to lock in a low energy rate for your business. Because rates seem to be on their way back up, waiting to make your move could end up costing you in the long run. Why not consider taking advantage of the favorable market conditions now?

At Live Energy, we specialize in assisting businesses like yours capitalize on our market knowledge to secure the lowest possible commercial electricity rate. We thrive on saving our clients money. We’re ready and willing to put our expertise to work for you. The Texas energy market is volatile—let us guide you through the variety of commercial electricity choice you have, helping you to select the product and term that will fit your business best.

If you’d like to learn more about how the powerhouse team here at Live Energy can help you trim your commercial electricity costs, give us a call at (817) 810-7770.

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In a recent article, the Dallas Morning News reported that Texans should not be surprised if we are asked to take a conservative approach to our power consumption this summer. According to the article, ERCOT (the Electric Reliability Council of Texas) has indicated that “the state should have enough electricity, but if the summer is very hot and everyone uses more electricity than usual, people might have to conserve or face outages.”

Unfortunately, we’re familiar with outages. Rolling black-outs occur when the demand for power exceeds the statewide capacity to produce it. In order to maintain stability across the grid, areas of the state are taken offline for relatively short period of time. This provides some relief to the grid, but, as anyone who has lived through them can tell you, is a thorn in the side of residents and commercial electricity customers alike.

“Power generators will bring around 2,000 megawatts of capacity back online by firing up some old, mothballed plants,” the article says. “That’s enough to power about 400,000 homes in the summer.” Hopefully, it will be enough to get us through the coming summer, which is forecasted to be “warmer and drier than the 15-year average, although less extreme than the inferno last August.”

But it won’t provide us with a permanent solution.

In order to address the growing need for additional energy production in Texas, the PUC (Public Utility Commission) is currently considering a proposal to raise the Power Balance Penalty Cap and System High Cap to $4500 as soon as August of this year. And it won’t stop there. By 2015, the cap could be as high as $9000. The hope is that the promise of higher profits will entice energy producers to build more plants so that the state’s rising demand can be met. That’s the upside. The downside is that it will likely drive the cost of commercial electricity up.

But summer is coming. The temperature is already on the rise, and so are commercial electricity rates. We are just beginning to see the low prices we’ve been enjoying level out and rise, but there are a number of indicators in the market that suggest that commercial electricity rates will not remain as low as they have been.

What that means for business owners like you is that if you aren’t already considering taking a look at your commercial electricity arrangements, now is a good time to do so.

Here at Live Energy, our top priority and our passion is to enable you to make the best commercial electricity decisions you can make. That means we keep a close eye on the market—everything from the weather patterns to regulatory changes to the cost of natural gas and fluctuating heat rates—so that we can tell you the best time to buy, and the best product to purchase. You have dozens of choices when it comes to commercial electricity, and we’re here to help you sift through them all and find the one that fits best. If you’d like to take advantage of the fact that prices are still low while you still can, please give us a call at (817) 810-7770.

Don’t wait until the price is high to make your move. Give us the opportunity to save you money on your commercial electricity rate now.

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Natural gas prices remain the lowest we’ve seen them in the last ten years, which has been beneficial for anyone shopping for commercial electricity. Because of the close tie between the natural gas market and the energy market, commercial electricity rates have been low. However, we’re beginning to see the cost of commercial electricity rise, even as the cost of natural gas continues to decline. The trend is changing, and that’s big news for business owners.

The shift in the trend has a lot to do with how heat rates impact the cost of energy. The heat rate is a measure of how efficiently fuel is converted into electricity. In Texas, natural gas is a very common fuel for energy production, which explains the close relationship between the two markets. The lower the cost of the fuel, the lower the cost of power, provided that the heat rate stays the same.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to track heat rates. Unlike the cost of commercial electricity or the cost of natural gas, there isn’t a public index you can refer to for heat rates. This is largely due to the fact that the heat rate is changing in real time, often in unpredictable ways. Factors like inclement weather and the number of power plants online have the potential to greatly influence the heat rate, and the impact of the heat rate on commercial electricity rates is great enough that it can offset low natural gas prices, driving the cost of power up even as the cost of fuel continues to go down.

That is what we are seeing happening in the market now.

This matches what we’ve seen in the commercial electricity market before. Typically, when natural gas prices fall, heat rates go up. When heat rates fall, natural gas prices tend to go up. At the moment, the increase in heat rates is out-pacing the low natural gas price, which leads up to believe that we’re seeing a shift in a significant market trend.

We believe that commercial electricity rates have hit their lowest, at least for the time being, and that the next few months will mark increases in commercial energy costs. But while the cost of energy is beginning to rise, the swing from lower prices toward higher prices has just begun. This is still an excellent time to buy.

For that reason, the talented team members here at Live Energy are working with our clients to secure low rates before commercial electricity costs rise higher. We know that the business owners we work with are busy people with full plates. Watching the market closely enough to know when and how to contract is a big job, and most business owners simply don’t have the time, resources, energy market knowledge base, and technology to tackle it. But we do.

Each and every day we’re working with our clients to save them money. We diligently stay on top of the market, tracking the trends so that our clients can benefit from our expertise. And we can offer the same benefits to you. If you’d like to learn more about how the team at Live Energy can work with you to lower your commercial electricity costs, please give us a call at (877) 810-7770.

The market is changing. Let us help you stay ahead of the curve.

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Being a broker in the Texas commercial electricity market is hard work.

The price of commercial electricity is determined by a wide variety of factors, many of which change and shift on a daily or even hourly basis. In fact, the cost of energy itself changes every 15 minutes. The job of an energy broker is to diligently watch and track the changing market, which means also watching and tracking all the things that influence the energy market, like the natural gas market, the weather and state-wide legislation and regulation. We don’t have a crystal ball, so in order to know what’s coming down the pike we use cutting edge technology, proven strategies and our decade of experience in this market to stay ahead of the curve.

It’s like trying to ice skate on the deck of a ship in the middle of a storm. While juggling. There’s a lot to bear in mind.

While these same factors affect the price of residential energy, you don’t have nearly as many choices when you pick a rate for your home. When picking a rate for your business, however, there are literally dozens of choices, many of which require high-level cost/benefit analysis. Contracting based on the heat rate rather than the cost of commercial electricity, for example, could save you thousands or cost more depending on your location, your consumption habits, your plans for future growth, and the market conditions when signing. In fact, timing, in and of itself, is so key that its impact cannot be overstated. With the price changing every 15 minutes, getting you the best possible rate could come down to the time of day you sign your commercial electricity contract.

But if that sounds complex and maybe a bit intimidating, don’t let it rattle you because our top priority here at Live Energy is to manage all the heavy lifting for you. You can save a lot of money by being smart about your commercial electricity decisions, and we like saving people money. We’re passionate about it.

Working with a broker who has the personnel, the experience and the technology to assist in your commercial electricity plans is like having an ace up your sleeve. It makes it possible for you to take into account all the complex, fluctuating factors involved without investing the time and resources necessary to analyze the market, yourself. Here at Live Energy, we pride ourselves on having a grade-A staff, 10 years experience in the Texas commercial energy market and state-of-the-art technology tools to help us stay informed at all times. What we offer our clients is the benefit of our expertise, which can save you a considerable amount of time and money.

Yes, being a broker in the Texas commercial electricity market is hard work, but we love what we do. We have the resources, we have the experience, and we find it incredibly satisfying to help our clients make decisions that impact their bottom line. If you would like to learn about how we can put our expertise to work for you, please contact us at (877) 810-7770.

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We have an energy problem here in the great state of Texas.

In fairness, it’s a good problem to have in many ways. We are a growing state, and as a result of our growth, we are consuming more power. Certainly, no one wants growth to stop. As a business owner, you undoubtedly agree.

However, as we grow and as our commercial electricity usage grows, our production of energy must grow, too, and therein lies the problem. Right now, generators, the companies that build, own and run power plants, aren’t building in Texas at a fast enough rate to keep up with our growing demand. While the outlook in the immediate future isn’t currently a concern—it appears that we will make it through this summer, for example, with enough production—the next few years are less certain. In order to ensure that we don’t end up having to deal with rolling black outs, we need generators to address our growing consumption by building more power plants.

To make that happen, the Public Utility Commission is considering a policy change that will, hopefully, provide generators with some economic incentive to build new plants. The solution that is under considerable right now is to raise the cap on the price of energy during peak demand hours. If this strategy is pursued, the Power Balance Penalty Cap and System High Cap could jump to $4500 as soon as August of this year, and could well be as high as $9000 by 2015. That would certainly allow for generators to make more money, making expansion in Texas a financially attractive option, but it will likely also drive the cost of commercial electricity up.

Even if you don’t follow the commercial electricity market like a hawk, you may have already heard about this potential policy change, either on this blog or in the news. What you may not be aware of is the fact that the PUC is constantly watching the Texas energy market. In an effort to ensure that we have the power to meet our needs at all times, there are often significant policy changes under review. Some of them make headlines and some of them don’t. With the potential for impact to your energy costs in the balance, how can you stay ahead of the curve?

That’s where the experts here at Live Energy can save you both time and money. It’s our job to watch all elements of the Texas energy market 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Whatever factor has the potential to drive commercial electricity rates up or down—be it the natural gas market, heat rates, inclement weather, seasonality, or legislative changes (like the policy change currently under review)—we utilize our considerable resources to stay on top of things. We want to be your energy experts, advising you of the ideal time to act and helping you to select the energy plan that will get you the best possible commercial electricity rates, so that you can concentrate on running your business. With energy prices low, now could be a very good time for you to make a move.

If you’d like to see how our expertise can save you time and money, please give us a call at (817) 810-7770. You have enough of on your plate already. Let us help you take the worry and hassle out of selecting your commercial electricity rates.

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Natural gas prices are low. In fact, they are not just low. They are hovering just above ten year lows, and that has a huge impact on commercial electricity rates.

Ten years ago the state of Texas deregulated the electricity market. At that time, natural gas prices were around $2 per MMBTU. Over the course of the last ten years, however, prices have been considerably higher. Prices over $5 per MMBTU have been the mainstay for long periods, and we’ve seen the price rise above $10 more than once, at times even approaching $15. The good news is that current prices are back down in the range they were in ten years ago—around $2 per MMBTU.

And if you’re interested in saving money on your commercial electricity, that is very good news.

While the natural gas market and the commercial electricity market are not identical, they are closely tied to one another. In Texas, the most common fuel used for producing energy is natural gas. When the cost of fuel is low, that can help to drive the cost of electricity down, and that is certainly what we’re seeing right now. For the time being, commercial electricity rates are trending low right along side natural gas prices.

However, heat rates (which are in essence a measurement of how efficiently fuel, like natural gas, is converted to energy) are on the rise. That has the potential to counter-balance the low cost of natural gas. Additionally, the Public Utility Commission is considering some significant changes right now. In an effort to prompt generators to build additional power plants, the PUC is considering raising the cap on the price of electricity during times of peak demand. The change would allow for generators to make more money, encouraging growth, but it would also likely mean higher prices for commercial electricity.

This creates a time crunch that industry insiders are familiar with. It is often the case with commercial electricity that there are windows of opportunity to guarantee the lowest prices. We are in one of those windows right now. Savvy business owners are taking advantage of this time to lock in low rates that will last for years. After all, we don’t know how high the price will rise when this window closes, or how long it will be before the next ideal buying time arrives.

Why not take advantage of this time to save your business some money?

At Live Energy, we work with businesses to guide them through the complex and potentially confusing world of commercial electricity rates. Our goal is to enable you to make decisions that impact your bottom line. Whatever your expense for commercial electricity, lowering it is always a good thing. Now is a prime time to take a closer look at your commercial electricity rate and consider renewing or extending your contract. If you’re interested in how we can help you make sense of your options, helping you make the most cost effective decision possible, please contact us at (817) 810-7770.

Don’t let the current window of opportunity close without making the move that is best for your business.

This is the first line of an article published last Saturday, April 14, in the Fort Worth Star Telegram. It’s certainly enough to grab the attention of anyone concerned about commercial electricity rates. The article goes on to state,

Since mid-February, the futures price of electricity…in the state’s largest electric grid reversed a yearlong decline and started rising. The trend represents the belief among industry players that by 2013-14, power prices in North Texas and much of the rest of the state will be higher…

We’ve made mention of the natural gas market and its connection to commercial electricity prices several times in recent weeks. We’ve also highlighted the fact that the historically low prices in the natural gas market are yielding favorable commercial electricity rates, but there is no guarantee that the low prices available now will last. In fact, the article from the Star Telegram suggests that today’s low natural gas market is the very thing that will drive prices up in the coming months.

“The goal is to prod generators to add power plants in the deregulated Texas market,” the article explains. Texans use a lot of electricity, and none of us care to relive the brown outs and black outs we’ve experienced in the past during times when the demand for power has risen above our capacity to produce it. “But low wholesale power prices, driven down by the lowest natural gas prices in a decade, are zapping profits for generators.”

The problem is that the statewide demand for power is on the rise but there is no economic incentive to develop new generation at current market rates. As a result, the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUCT) is considering raising the cap on the price of electricity when demand is at its highest. The proposal currently on the table would raise the Power Balance Penalty Cap and System High Cap to $4500 as soon as August 2012 and up to $9000 by 2015. The logic is that this change in regulation could make energy production more attractive, hopefully enticing energy producers to build more plants to meet the state’s rising demand, but it will also necessarily drive the cost of commercial electricity up.

Additionally, this market change could trigger a clause in many commercial electricity contracts that would allow Retail Electricity Providers (REPs) to charge more than the contracted rate due to a “Change in Law”. Concerned parties see this as handing the REPs a blank check because they will be able to effectively charge their customers a higher rate based on their own calculations and interpretation of how the change in law impacts their cost structure that was the basis for contracts written prior to the change. Needless to say the REPs that operate conservatively by hedging the majority of their book would be net losers while those REPs who have failed to strategically hedge could use this as an opportunity to pass on the cost of poor hedges to the consumers.

Bottom line is that as of today we don’t know exactly how this will all play out but we can already see some important fundamental changes in the market. Even though natural gas prices have continued to trend down, heat rates have spiked to such a degree that commercial electricity rates have started to trend up in the face of lower natural gas prices. There is a very important lesson to be learned here. You cannot rely on natural gas prices as the only price discovery tool! Our team has closely analyzed heat rates, wholesale electricity rates and natural gas prices in recent weeks and it does look like we hit the bottom in February. That is the timeframe when the tight directional correlation between natural gas prices and electricity rates apparently ran its course. Spiking heat rates have outpaced the drop in natural gas prices and have effectively established a floor in the electricity market.

So what will it take to bring heat rates back down? There are a couple things; trend reversal in the natural gas market should have some impact, but it may very well require commitment of new generation to slow or reverse the heat rate trend. The right incentives for new generation are where the PUC decisions will be pivotal. The very best we can do is watch market trends, and carefully follow these developments, and more importantly make sure that we fully understand how any change in law will be passed through to consumers in the form of higher commercial electricity rates.

Clearly, there’s a lot to keep in mind when it comes to your commercial electricity decisions. And that is where Live Energy comes into the picture.

At Live Energy, we have the personnel, the experience and the technology to help you make sense of the complex commercial electricity market. Now could very easily be the best time for you to consider shoring up your commercial electricity rates for the next few years. Our job is to help you save money by taking all the factors into account, giving you a clear picture of the best time to act and the best rate to act on. If you’re interested in learning about how we can help you lower your commercial electricity rates, please contact us at (817) 810-7770.

The Texas commercial energy market is constantly changing. Let us equip you to navigate it like a pro.