What Is an LOA? What a Letter of Authorization Means in Commercial Energy

In commercial energy, an LOA (letter of authorization) is a signed form that lets a named third party, usually an energy broker, get your usage history from the utility so suppliers can price your account. A usage LOA is not a contract, and it does not switch your supplier.

That is the energy meaning. Ask what LOA means in business more generally and the answer depends on the department: HR uses it for a leave of absence, contracts use it for a letter of agreement or a letter of acceptance, and telecom uses a letter of agency to authorize a change of phone carrier. The rest of this article is about the energy version, for Texas businesses that can choose their REP.

Texas market rules and forms use "letter of authorization" for two different documents. One releases usage data. The other authorizes a supplier to switch your account, and it has to show a price, a term, and fees. Telling them apart is most of what you need to know.

What an Energy LOA Lets a Broker Do

Pull up to 12 months of usage from your TDU

ERCOT publishes a standard form for this: the Letter of Authorization for the Request of Historical Usage Information (Retail Market Guide Appendix B1, with a Spanish version in Appendix B2). It asks your TDU, the wires utility that delivers your power and owns your meter, to release "energy usage data, including kWh, kVA or kW, and interval data (if applicable)" to a named retailer or its representative. The request is "limited to no more than the most recent 12-month period of service."

The TDU needs written authorization, and electronic counts. Once it receives a valid LOA, ERCOT's guide says it provides the data in Excel within three business days (Retail Market Guide §7.5, August 1, 2026). The PUCT's customer-privacy rule sets the same three-business-day deadline when a REP requests your prior 12 months of usage with your authorization (16 TAC §25.472(b)(3)). A portfolio spread across more than one TDU can use a single LOA with ERCOT's multi-TDU request sheet (Appendix B3).

The form covers each service point by its ESI ID. If you don't have yours handy, our ESI ID lookup guide shows where to find each one on a bill.

See 15-minute data through Smart Meter Texas

Ongoing access to smart-meter data is a separate arrangement. PUCT rules let a customer authorize "an entity other than its REP" to get read-only access to its advanced-meter data, including historical load data, and require 15-minute data to reach the utility web portal on a day-after basis (16 TAC §25.130(g) and (j)). The portal the TDUs run for this is Smart Meter Texas.

There, the requesting company sets up a data-sharing agreement, Smart Meter Texas emails the customer, and the agreement stays "Pending - Customer Authorization" until the customer approves it (SMT interface guide). The portal's user guide describes a Manage Agreements page where the customer can view and terminate existing data-sharing agreements. For what those 15-minute readings actually measure, see kW vs. kWh on a commercial electricity bill.

Ask suppliers to price your load

Usage data is what a broker takes to REPs for pricing. Texas treats procurement services regarding the selection of a REP as brokerage, and nobody may provide brokerage services for compensation without registering with the PUCT (16 TAC §25.112). Our explainer on what an energy broker does covers the rest of that work.

Watch where the authority comes from, though. ERCOT's form releases usage and says nothing about pricing. Many broker LOAs add wording that lets the broker request quotes or deal with suppliers on your behalf, so that permission comes from the broker's own document, not from a rule.

If a broker's LOA goes further and makes it your agent for choosing, enrolling in, or signing a REP product, PUCT rules call the broker a client agent. That agreement must be in writing. The broker must also tell you what actions it may take, how long the agency lasts, how you can end it, any fee for ending it, and how your data will be used, protected, retained, and disposed of (16 TAC §25.486(g)).

All of this assumes the site is in a retail-choice area. A business served by CPS Energy in San Antonio or Austin Energy in Austin has no REP to shop, so an electricity LOA has nothing to price there. Our guide to deregulated cities in Texas shows where choice exists.

What a Usage LOA Does Not Do

A usage LOA is narrow by design. On its own, it:

• Does not sign a supply contract or set a price. It releases data. ERCOT's form names no product, price, or term.
• Does not switch your REP. A switch needs a separate enrollment authorization from the REP you choose, covered in the next section. PUCT rules also bar a broker from switching your REP, or causing it to be switched, without first getting your authorization (§25.486(h)(2)).
• Does not make the broker your supplier or your utility. The REP still sells the electricity and the TDU still delivers it.
• Does not give anyone control of your meter. The TDU owns and maintains it, and access to advanced-meter data under §25.130 is read-only.
• Does not create a bill or a charge. Brokers are separately barred from billing an unauthorized charge to your electric bill (§25.486(h)(1)).

What a broker's LOA can add is an exclusivity clause, sometimes called a letter of exclusivity (LOE), where you agree to work only with that broker for a period or for certain accounts. None of the rules cited here addresses exclusivity, so read the clause for its length, the accounts it covers, and how it ends. For the full mechanics of changing suppliers, see how switching electricity providers works for a Texas business.

One nuance for larger accounts: a customer whose peak demand reaches 50 kW is outside the small commercial class and can agree in writing to different levels of many protections, including the brokerage protections above (§25.471(a)(3) and (d)(11); §25.486(c)). The rules on unauthorized REP changes (§25.495) and unauthorized charges (§25.481) are exceptions that can't be varied that way.

Two Different Documents Are Both Called an LOA

This is where businesses get caught out. Under 16 TAC §25.474(e), a written enrollment letter of authorization is "a separate or easily separable document… for the sole purpose of authorizing the REP to initiate a switch request." It must disclose the REP, the plan, the price per kWh, the contract term, any early-termination fee, and any deposit. A signature on a compliant one "shall constitute an authorization of the move-in or switch request." Online, telephone, and door-to-door enrollments follow their own authorization rules in the same section.

So the quick test is on the page itself. If the document shows a price, a term, or a cancellation fee, treat it as an enrollment or contract document, not a data request. Here is how the three documents a Texas business is most likely to see compare.

Rules and forms as of September 2026.

A usage LOA comes at the start of a quote. An enrollment authorization comes at the end, once you have an offer you want. How early to begin relative to your current contract's end date is covered in when to renew a commercial electricity contract.

How Long Does a Letter of Authorization Last?

• ERCOT usage LOA. The customer "must provide an expiration date or designate the form as unlimited," and the same form can be reused until then (RMG §7.5.1). If the Unlimited box is chosen, the authorization has no end date. Each request still returns no more than the most recent 12 months.
• Smart Meter Texas agreement. It runs until it expires, unless you or the requesting company terminate it first. The portal flags agreements expiring within 30 days and within 15 days.
• A broker's own LOA or agency agreement. It lasts for whatever term the document states. A broker acting as your client agent must disclose how long the agency lasts and how you can end it (§25.486(g)(2)).

ERCOT's guide describes the usage form in terms of an expiration date, not a withdrawal process. The practical protection is to write in a date that covers your quote timeline instead of choosing Unlimited, and to put any withdrawal in writing to the company holding the LOA. Keep a copy of what you signed, too. A requesting company can fill in and submit the form itself if you authorized it, taking "full responsibility for obtaining such Customer authorization" (RMG §7.5.1(2)).

What to Check Before You Sign an LOA

1. Who is named? Look the company up in the PUCT's Directory of Brokers. Registration is required for paid brokerage, REPs may not knowingly give bids to an unregistered broker, and registrations expire after three years unless updated (§25.112). A broker must also give you its PUCT registration number before brokerage services begin (§25.486(f)).
2. What does it authorize? Releasing usage only, requesting pricing, acting as your agent with suppliers, or exclusivity. Each is a different level of authority.
3. Does it show a price, a term, or a cancellation fee? Then treat it as an enrollment or contract document. A written enrollment LOA under §25.474(e) must show those terms, and signing a compliant one authorizes a switch.
4. Which accounts? Check the legal entity, every service address, and every ESI ID. The form has the signer affirm authority to act for the accounts listed, so make sure that is true for all of them.
5. Expiration date or Unlimited? Write in a date.
6. What data? Summary usage, interval data, or both. For interval-metered accounts, ERCOT's process lets the request specify which.
7. How do you end it? Smart Meter Texas agreements can be terminated on the portal's Manage Agreements page. For a signed form, send written notice and keep a copy.
8. Where does your data go? A broker must not release your proprietary client information, which includes historical usage, without your written authorization, or sell it without your written permission (§25.486(j)). REPs and aggregators face similar limits under §25.472(b). Ask how the broker stores your data and disposes of it when the work ends.

Do Natural Gas LOAs Work the Same Way?

The purpose is the same. A gas LOA lets a broker request your usage history, in this case from the LDC that delivers your gas, such as CenterPoint Energy, Atmos Energy, or Texas Gas Service. The process is not. The ERCOT form and PUCT rules above apply to electricity, and each gas utility handles usage requests its own way, so ask which form your LDC requires and run it through the same checklist. Gas supply choice also exists only through each LDC's transportation tariff, and eligibility differs by utility. How to buy natural gas for your business in Texas walks through that process, and how to read a commercial gas meter covers the meter side.

How Elite Uses an LOA

Elite Energy Consultants is a broker. We don't sell or deliver electricity, install meters, or run the grid, and we don't guarantee savings. When a business signs an LOA with us, we use it to request usage history so we can take the load to 25+ REPs for pricing. The REP pays us, not the customer; how broker compensation works explains the details. You decide whether to accept any offer, and nothing switches unless you sign the REP's enrollment paperwork.

You don't need an LOA to get started. A recent bill is the quickest way to request a quote, and the LOA fills in the rest of the 12-month history and any interval data. Before you sign ours, run it through the checklist above and ask us about anything it doesn't answer. For the bigger picture, see our overview of commercial electricity in Texas.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does LOA mean in business?

It depends on who is using it. In HR, LOA usually means a leave of absence. In contracts it can mean a letter of agreement or a letter of acceptance, and in telecom a letter of agency authorizes a change of phone carrier. In commercial energy, an LOA is a letter of authorization: a signed form that lets a named party, usually a broker, get your usage history so suppliers can price your account.

Is an energy LOA a contract?

A usage LOA is not a supply contract. It authorizes the utility to release your usage data to a named party and sets no price, term, or fee. Read the whole document anyway. A broker's own LOA can add authority to request pricing, act as your agent, or work with you exclusively, and a form that lists a price, a term, and an early-termination fee is likely an enrollment or contract document that can authorize a switch.

Does signing an LOA switch my electricity provider?

A usage LOA does not. A switch needs your authorization through one of the enrollment methods in PUCT §25.474. A written enrollment LOA under §25.474(e) is a separate document whose sole purpose is authorizing the REP to switch you, and it must disclose the REP, the plan, the price, the term, and any early-termination fee. PUCT rules also bar a broker from switching your REP without your authorization.

How long is a letter of authorization valid?

ERCOT's historical-usage form lasts until the expiration date written on it, or has no end date if it is marked Unlimited, and each request still returns no more than the most recent 12 months. A Smart Meter Texas data-sharing agreement lasts until it expires or is terminated. A broker's own LOA lasts for whatever term it states, so choose an expiration date that fits your quote timeline.

Can I cancel an LOA?

You can terminate a Smart Meter Texas data-sharing agreement yourself from the Manage Agreements page in the portal. ERCOT's guide describes the usage form in terms of an expiration date rather than a withdrawal process, so for a signed form, send written notice to the company holding it and keep a copy. A broker acting as your agent must tell you how to end the agency agreement and whether ending it costs anything.

What information goes on an energy LOA?

Expect the customer name, each service address and ESI ID, the TDU for each account, the company receiving the data, the data requested (kWh, kW or kVA, and interval data if applicable), an expiration date or Unlimited, and the signature of someone affirming they are authorized to act for those accounts.

Do I need to sign an LOA to get a quote?

No. A recent bill is the quickest way to start a quote. An LOA lets a broker fill in the rest of your 12-month usage history and any interval data.

What is an exclusivity clause in an energy LOA?

Some broker LOAs ask you to work only with that broker, for a period of time or for certain accounts. The document is sometimes called a letter of exclusivity (LOE). None of the Texas rules cited in this article addresses exclusivity, so treat it as a business term and check how long it lasts, which accounts it covers, and how you can end it before you sign.