Your Commercial Energy Broker Across Every Deregulated Market
A commercial energy broker negotiates electricity and natural gas supply on your behalf — and a good one pays for itself many times over. We make suppliers compete for your business, negotiate the terms in your favor, and disclose exactly how we're paid. Average client savings: 27%.
What Is a Commercial Energy Broker?
A commercial energy broker is an independent intermediary that procures electricity and natural gas supply on behalf of business customers. The broker doesn't generate power or own the wires — that stays with your utility. What a commercial energy broker does is run the competitive market on your behalf: analyzing your usage, taking your load to multiple licensed suppliers, comparing their offers on a true apples-to-apples basis, and negotiating the contract you ultimately sign.
Think of an energy broker for business the way you'd think of a commercial insurance broker or a mortgage broker. You could call every supplier yourself, decode every quote, and negotiate each one — or you can have a specialist who does this every day run the process and bring you the best result. The broker works for you, the buyer, not for any one supplier. That's the entire point of using one.
For most businesses in a deregulated state, a good commercial energy broker is the difference between paying the default rate and paying a competitive one — and that gap is routinely 20–30% of the supply portion of the bill. Read our full guide to what a commercial energy broker does →
What Our Energy Brokers Do for Your Business
Brokering energy is far more than forwarding you a few quotes. Here's the work that produces real savings.
Usage & Load Analysis
We pull your interval data and historical bills to understand the load shape that determines your price.
- Interval data review
- Load factor analysis
- Usage benchmarking
- Savings opportunity sizing
Competitive Procurement
We take your load to multiple licensed suppliers at once and make them bid against each other on identical terms.
- Simultaneous, same-day bids
- Broad supplier access
- Pre-vetted providers only
- Real competition, not quotes
Unbundled Comparison
We normalize every offer so you compare a true all-in price — not a headline rate that balloons later.
- Pass-through clause review
- Bandwidth & swing terms
- Capacity & transmission treatment
- Side-by-side breakdowns
Contract Negotiation
Beyond price, we negotiate the terms that actually control your risk over the life of the contract.
- Materially adverse change clauses
- Usage flexibility
- Early-termination protection
- Favorable renewal mechanics
Market Timing
We watch the forward curve so you lock when it's favorable and layer purchases rather than betting on one date.
- Forward price monitoring
- Lock vs. wait guidance
- Layered purchasing
- Budget certainty
Transparent Commissions
We disclose exactly what we're paid and show the supplier's raw price separately from our fee. Always.
- Fully disclosed compensation
- No hidden rate padding
- Unbiased recommendations
- You see the real cost of supply
How Working With Our Energy Brokers Works
A systematic process that consistently delivers competitive rates and favorable terms — with zero service interruption.
Send Us Your Bill
Share a recent electricity or gas bill and your current contract. We establish your baseline and size the opportunity — free.
We Run the Market
We solicit competitive bids from pre-vetted suppliers in your deregulated market and unbundle every offer for true comparison.
We Recommend & Negotiate
You get a clear comparison and our expert recommendation. We negotiate the final price and terms in your favor.
We Manage It After You Sign
We monitor your contract, audit your bills, and flag your renewal window early so you never lapse onto a holdover rate.
Why Businesses Choose Inertia as Their Energy Broker
Since 2017, we've been the trusted commercial energy broker for over 4,000 businesses across every deregulated market in the country — generating more than $150M in client savings on electricity and natural gas supply.
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Transparent Compensation We disclose exactly how we're paid and never quietly pad your rate. You see the real cost of supply.
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Genuine Market Access We work with all major licensed suppliers and run real, simultaneous competitions — not single-supplier quotes.
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Deep Market Expertise We know the regional ISO/RTO markets — ERCOT, PJM, NYISO, ISO-NE, MISO — and negotiate accordingly.
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Full-Term Management Your dedicated advisor monitors your contract, audits bills, and manages every renewal — not just the first deal.
Commercial Energy Broker FAQ
The questions businesses ask most before hiring an energy broker.
How do commercial energy brokers get paid?
Most commonly, the supplier pays the broker a commission that's built into the rate you're quoted. The mechanics are standard, but they create a conflict if the commission is hidden. We work on a transparent-commission basis — we disclose exactly what we're paid and show the supplier's raw price separately from our fee, so you can see the real cost of supply. More on how broker commissions work →
Does using an energy broker cost my business anything extra?
Our analysis and procurement are free to you. We're compensated through a transparent, disclosed commission — never by marking up your rate. The savings a competitive procurement produces typically dwarf any cost of representation.
Do I really need a commercial energy broker?
If you operate in a deregulated market, spend meaningfully on energy, run multiple sites, or have a contract expiring soon — yes, almost certainly. A broker is how you exercise your right to shop your supply without negotiating against suppliers who price power for a living. How to vet an energy broker →
Will switching suppliers interrupt my service?
No. A broker changes who sells you energy, not who delivers it. Your utility still owns the wires, reads your meter, and handles outages. The electrons are identical — only the price and the supplier on your contract change. How switching works →
Which markets do you broker energy in?
We broker electricity and natural gas across every deregulated market in the U.S. — including Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, and more. See all states we serve →
A Commercial Energy Broker for Every Industry
We understand the unique load profiles and energy demands of diverse business sectors.
See What a Commercial Energy Broker Can Save You
Send us a recent electricity or natural gas bill and your current contract. We'll run a free, no-obligation analysis and show you exactly where a competitive procurement improves your rate.
Working with a commercial energy broker: common questions
What does a commercial energy broker do?
A commercial energy broker buys electricity and natural gas supply on behalf of a business in a deregulated market: building the load profile, screening suppliers, soliciting bids on identical terms, normalizing the results, negotiating the contract, and managing enrollment. A good one also does the surrounding work — bill auditing, tariff review, demand management and renewal tracking — that determines whether the rate actually saves money.
How are energy brokers paid?
Almost always by the supplier, as a per-unit fee on contracted volume. What varies, and what matters, is whether that fee is fixed across suppliers and disclosed. A broker paid different amounts by different suppliers has a financial reason to prefer one, and the client cannot see it. Asking for the fee in writing, per supplier, is a reasonable question and the answer is informative either way.
Does using a broker cost more than going direct?
It should not. The supplier fee exists whether or not a broker is involved; going direct generally means the supplier's own sales margin occupies the same space. What changes is whether anyone is comparing suppliers on identical terms and reading the contract clauses, which is where most of the value is.
What is the difference between a broker, a consultant and a supplier?
A supplier sells you energy and has an interest in the price. A broker arranges competitive supply and is typically paid by the supplier. A consultant is usually paid by the client, on a fee basis, and may advise without transacting. The models suit different situations, and the distinction is worth understanding before choosing.
Related to working with a broker
What a broker is worth depends on how they are paid and what they do besides collect quotes.
Judge the model
- how to choose an energy broker The eleven questions that separate a real advisor from a rate reseller.
- energy broker vs energy consultant What each model actually does, what each costs, and which fits your situation.
- about Inertia Resources Who we are, how we are paid, and why that alignment matters.
- Inertia Resources company facts Founding, coverage, compensation model and verified numbers in one place.
- commercial energy case studies Named clients, real contract terms and the savings that resulted.
What the work involves
- commercial electricity procurement Competitive electricity bids from vetted suppliers across every deregulated market.
- energy contract negotiation The clause-level work — bandwidth, pass-through, termination — that decides what a rate actually costs.
- energy supplier vetting Credit, service history and billing accuracy screened before a supplier reaches your bid sheet.
- commercial energy rate analysis Line-item breakdown of what you pay per kWh and which components are actually competitive.
- energy contract renewal management Renewal windows tracked so no contract rolls to a holdover rate.
Beyond procurement
- utility bill auditing Historical bill review that recovers overcharges and stops them recurring.
- utility tariff optimization Rate-class and rider changes that cut delivery cost without switching suppliers.
- peak load management Coincident-peak avoidance that lowers capacity and demand charges for a full year.
- commercial energy strategy The procurement, risk and efficiency plan that everything else executes against.
- energy management services The full service list, from procurement through auditing and sustainability.