Nice!

My house will end up being more than my business and the business has 35 tons of ac, multiple coolers and freezers, neon lights, etc..... I hate tricounty

Nuh uh

You Texas folks do some crazy stuff... We have a main provider and some, as I call them fly by night providers... We've always stayed with our main provider... They're always cheaper in the long run... Dan

This is correct - in 2023, ERCOT hit a peak demand of ~86,000 MW.

The current projections are that ERCOT's peak will hit 150,000 MW by 2032.

This is why rates will stay high / increase. It is advisable to lock in your energy cost for as long as you are comfortable. We will see relief when new generation assets are online which can take some time.

The heavy users are allowed to sell back energy credits during peak usage when supply is short and reap huge payouts. Some of the bitcoin mining outfits make as much off of ERCOT as they do bitcoin mining. That will no doubt have perverse effects on consumer energy pricing.

Demand Response? Yes, this is available, as well as 4CP programs. The key here is that they are allowed to, not obligated to. They are incentivized to sell power back only when real time prices are high.. These services are great for grid stability, not so much for overall real-time pricing.

My contract expires Msrch 27; not even looking until March 1 because all rates are high in February. Usage will drop sharply in March and, if I have to, I will do a 30-90 day contract to buy time until the Spring rate drops set in