Opening a New Warehouse in Texas: 3PL Electricity Setup Checklist

Short answer: you can price and contract electricity for a new Texas warehouse before it has a single bill. Confirm the exact address has retail choice, then give a broker or supplier your legal business name, square footage, type of operation and start date. Suppliers estimate a site with no usage history from its square footage and type of business, and a recent bill from another of your locations, even one outside Texas, sharpens that estimate most. Your EIN and a credit review come before signing. The wires utility, not the supplier, creates the ESI ID, sets the meter and energizes the site.

This guide is for 3PLs and warehouse operators at retail-choice addresses, including those expanding into Texas. For the tick-list, use the warehouse section of the new-location checklist.

Utility tariffs, ERCOT market rules and PUCT rules verified September 14, 2026.

Start With the Address: Retail Choice, the Utility, and Who Holds the Meter

Check retail choice at the exact service address, not the city or ZIP code. Most addresses served by CenterPoint, Oncor, AEP Texas and TNMP can choose a retail electric provider (REP). San Antonio (CPS Energy) and Austin (Austin Energy) cannot, and electric cooperatives generally aren't open (PURA §39.102). Lubbock Power & Light is the exception: a municipal utility whose territory moved to competitive REPs in April 2024 (ERCOT notice). At a non-choice address the local utility opens the account; see which Texas cities have retail choice.

At a choice address, identify the wires utility, or TDU, early: it controls the ESI ID, meter, construction and delivery tariff. Then read the lease. A tenant-metered building means a move-in on your own ESI ID. In a landlord master-metered or allocated building the lease governs and there may be nothing to enroll; a submeter counted inside another ESI ID gets no ESI ID of its own (ERCOT Nodal Protocols §15.4.1.2). Settle it during the before-the-lease stage.

Three Clocks, Not One

Setup runs as three separate processes, and opening-day problems start when they're treated as one:

Signed is not energized. The REP's responsibility begins on the date the TDU completes the move-in (ERCOT Retail Market Guide §7.4.1(1)), so tie the contract start to the date the utility confirms, not the lease or signing date. Your REP must tell you the approximate scheduled start date and any known delays (PUCT §25.474(k)).

In our experience the supply side usually takes under a month, and up to two or three months for large or newly formed businesses. Utility work runs on each TDU's clock. Once no inspections, permits or construction are outstanding, CenterPoint's tariff sets a new meter on the requested business day with two business days' notice (tariff §6.1.2.1). Oncor targets an underground service crew within 10 business days once a site is ready (Oncor), and TNMP says material ordering can delay a project "as much as 16 weeks" (TNMP). None is a statewide promise, and Elite controls none of them. The checklist's before-signing and before-opening stages track the handoffs; the new-location setup guide covers construction paths.

How a Warehouse Gets Priced With No Usage History

What the Supplier Estimates From

No usage history is not the same as no quote. Suppliers estimate a never-billed site's usage from its square footage and type of business, drawing on their experience with similar operations. Elite describes the site and compares the offers; the estimate is the supplier's. The before-quotes stage lists what to send.

Why "Warehouse" Isn't Specific Enough

EIA's Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey splits warehouse and storage into subcategories whose electricity use differs by an order of magnitude:

Source: EIA CBECS 2018, Table C22 (released December 2022; category definitions). U.S. national medians, electricity only, not a Texas forecast. EIA counts only about 3,000 refrigerated warehouses nationally, with a 44.7% relative standard error on that count, so treat that row as directional.

Dry versus temperature-controlled is the biggest fork in the estimate; cold storage vs. dry warehouse electricity explains why, and Texas warehouse electricity costs per square foot has the benchmarks and math.

The Best Proxy: A Bill From a Sister Location

The strongest evidence you can give a supplier is a recent bill from another site your company owns, even one outside Texas. It's the same operation, so it shows how your business actually uses power, including peak demand. Send the full bill, since another state's utility may report demand in kW or kVA, and say what will differ at the new site: climate, shifts, automation, refrigerated share and chargers. It improves the estimate; it doesn't guarantee a better price.

When the Prior Occupant's Usage Helps, and When It Misleads

The previous tenant's history helps only when the same kind of business continues at the address, such as one dry distribution center replacing another. A dry warehouse's history says little about cold storage. It isn't public either: a REP gets a premise's previous 12 months only with authorization, usually a letter of authorization, and the TDU must provide them within three business days (PUCT §25.472(b)(3); Retail Market Guide §7.5).

The Warehouse Details That Sharpen the Estimate

The warehouse checklist covers five details: temperature-controlled share, material handling and charging, shifts, lighting and HVAC, and planned expansion. Flag expansion early: added cold rooms or fleet charging can require a utility service review, on the utility's clock.

ESI ID and Meter Class for a New Warehouse

An ESI ID identifies one delivery point in the Texas competitive market. The TDU creates it, not the supplier or Elite, and it isn't the meter number or an account number.

Existing Building

The ESI ID is on the prior bill; Oncor's address lookup shows it in Oncor territory, and a REP can confirm it. Check that it matches your suite and is active. A quote doesn't need it, since a REP collects the ESI ID "if available" (§25.474), but enrollment does. See the ESI ID lookup guide.

New Construction

The TDU creates the ESI ID as it extends service, and ERCOT must accept it before service starts (Nodal Protocols §15.4.1.4). CenterPoint emails it "once construction is nearing completion" and asks you to allow two business days before contacting a REP (CenterPoint). Pricing can start from the address before then. Meter paths and fees are in getting a new commercial electric meter.

Your Delivery Class Is Set by Demand, Not by the Supplier

A working warehouse will almost certainly bill on a demand-metered delivery class, under thresholds in each TDU's tariff:

Sources: CenterPoint tariff §6.1.1.1.2–.3; Oncor tariff §6.1.1.1.2–.3 and §6.2.3.5 (effective June 1, 2026). AEP Texas and TNMP set their own thresholds. Separately, ERCOT requires an interval data recorder above 700 kW of peak demand, or 700 kVA in CenterPoint territory (Nodal Protocols §18.6.1). For ratchets, kW versus kVA and interval data, see warehouse demand charges and interval data; for the basics, what a demand charge is.

Credit, the Legal Entity, and Signing

The legal business name is needed to quote; the federal tax ID (EIN), authorized signer and supplier's credit review come before you sign. A REP may collect a non-residential applicant's federal tax ID as verification (§25.474).

Under PUCT §25.478, a REP may apply nondiscriminatory credit criteria to a non-residential applicant and require a deposit if satisfactory credit isn't shown. Governmental entities are exempt, a deposit is refunded after 24 consecutive non-residential billings with no late payment, and the rule's deposit cap covers residential customers only. A newly formed entity is more likely to face a deposit. Keep it out of your cost comparison: it's cash and credit, not cost.

Prices move daily, so have the signer and credit information ready when offers arrive. Read the contract before authorizing the move-in: "the right of rescission is not applicable to an applicant requesting a move-in" (§25.474(j)). Usage-tolerance terms matter more while a site's load settles; see fixed vs. variable rate electricity.

Supply vs. Delivery on the First Bill

Delivery charges follow the TDU's tariff and are the same whichever REP you choose, and a warehouse on a demand-metered class pays demand-based delivery charges too. Compare offers on supply, not against an all-in bill from an out-of-state site (Texas TDU delivery charges; how deregulated electricity works). Check the first bill against the first-bill stage and how to read a commercial electricity bill. For the sector overview, see warehouse and storage electricity.

Example: A Texas 3PL's New Location

A Texas 3PL opening a new location was priced from a sister-location bill plus the site's square footage and type of business, and signed at roughly 570,000 kWh of annualized contract usage. That is the yearly usage volume written into the contract, a supplier's estimate rather than metered use, and it is not a savings claim.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I set up commercial electricity for a new warehouse in Texas?

Confirm the address has retail choice and identify the wires utility. Give a broker or supplier your legal business name, square footage, type of operation and start date. Get the ESI ID for an existing building, or open a utility project for new construction. Sign after the credit review, tie the contract start to the date the utility confirms, and have your REP submit the move-in.

Can I get an electricity quote without 12 months of usage history?

Yes. Suppliers estimate a new site's usage from its square footage and type of business. A recent bill from another location your company owns sharpens that estimate most, even if it is outside Texas. The prior occupant's usage helps only if the same kind of business continues at the address.

What is an ESI ID and where do I find it?

An ESI ID identifies one delivery point in the Texas competitive market, and the wires utility creates it. For an existing building it is on a prior bill, and the utility or a REP can confirm it. New construction gets one as the utility extends service. It is not the meter number.

How far in advance should I contract electricity for a new facility?

In our experience the supply side usually takes under a month, and up to two or three months for large or newly formed businesses, so start about a month out, earlier in those cases. Utility construction is a separate, often longer clock; start it during site due diligence.

Does the landlord or the tenant set up the electric account?

Whoever will be the customer of record for the ESI ID. In a tenant-metered building that is the tenant, through its REP's move-in. In a landlord master-metered building the lease governs, and there may be no account to open. A landlord's continuous service agreement can keep a vacant space energized, but it doesn't create the tenant's account.

What happens if I move in before the contract starts?

Your REP's service begins on the date the utility completes the move-in. Until then the space is on someone else's account, such as the landlord's or prior tenant's, or isn't energized for you. Don't operate on another party's account. Align the requested move-in date with occupancy, and ask your REP for the scheduled date and any known delays.

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