Energy Doesn’t Pick Sides — And Commercial Businesses Are Paying the Price

By David Venafro

Across the United States, commercial businesses of every size — from billion-dollar corporations operating dozens or even hundreds of facilities, to regional restaurant groups, gym chains, churches, cold-storage warehouses, manufacturers, and family-owned businesses — are facing the same unavoidable reality: energy costs are rising, sharply and consistently. And it doesn’t matter whether your leadership leans left, right, independent, or simply doesn’t care about politics at all. Whether you manage a sprawling enterprise portfolio or a handful of locations, the pressure lands the same. Energy doesn’t pick sides — but it is picking apart commercial budgets.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), electricity prices have been rising consistently and significantly in recent years. The agency reports that “retail electricity prices have increased faster than the rate of inflation since 2022,” with commercial and industrial customers facing additional pressure from demand charges, peak adjustments, and capacity costs. Even in periods when overall inflation steadies, energy prices continue climbing — creating long-term strain on operating budgets across nearly every industry.

Several major news outlets have documented the same trend. Forbes reports that electricity bills nationwide “continue to rise sharply… driven by increased grid demand, capacity constraints, and the rapid expansion of AI data centers.” America’s power consumption is hitting historic highs, and commercial customers inevitably shoulder a large portion of the grid upgrades required to support that demand.

Fox News echoes this concern, noting that “commercial users may see prices climb nearly 30% as utilities respond to unprecedented demand from AI and large-scale electricity users.” Utility infrastructure expansions — whether for data centers, electrified transportation, or manufacturing hubs — are financially absorbed across the entire rate base. That means even businesses far from these developments are still paying for them.

Research from Harvard Law School further illustrates how these costs spread. As the school notes, “when utilities build new infrastructure to serve data-center load, the cost is spread to everyone — even customers who do not benefit directly.” A commercial bakery, hotel, or warehouse may never interact with a nearby cloud facility, yet their bills can still reflect the cost of serving it.

CNN Business adds that electricity prices have been increasing “more than double the pace of the overall inflation in the U.S. economy.” While headlines often highlight residential concerns, the factors driving these increases — fuel market volatility, transmission congestion, infrastructure investment, and peak-demand expansion — are equally, and often more sharply, felt by commercial customers due to the structure of commercial tariffs.

For American businesses, the conclusion is unavoidable: energy costs are not simply rising — they are becoming one of the most unpredictable and fastest-growing expenses in the commercial sector.

But businesses do have options.

In deregulated states, companies can utilize the Billing Energy Agent Program (BEAP) — a service-based program that bids electricity or natural gas supply rates on behalf of commercial clients. BEAP requires no installation, no equipment, no permits, no meetings, and no fees. Companies simply provide a copy of their utility bill, and competitive supply offers are returned. BEAP is a program, not a product — making it one of the simplest pathways to reduce energy procurement costs without operational disruption.

For businesses in all 50 states, there is OTEA (Optimizer Technology Energy Agent) — a physical product installed at the facility’s electrical panel. OTEA reduces electrical waste, eliminates harmonic distortion, improves power optimization and correction, protects equipment, lowers peak strain, and is tax-deductible as an equipment upgrade. Many operators compare it to an “electrical oil filter” for the building — a device that cleans and stabilizes the power your facility already uses.

Together, BEAP and OTEA (see video) address the two sides of the energy equation:
BEAP reduces what you pay. OTEA reduces what you waste.

For facility managers, operations directors, and property managers — the individuals responsible for balancing performance, budgets, and efficiency — the incentives are clear. As national reporting from major outlets confirms, energy isn’t just another utility anymore. It’s a strategic risk demanding proactive solutions.

Energy may not choose political sides, but businesses can choose a smarter approach — one that cuts costs, strengthens resilience, and protects the bottom line.

Let us bid for you.
=Save with Dave-

​

​