Hospital & Healthcare Facilities
Healthcare facilities run 24/7. Your energy contract should reflect that.
Hospitals, medical office buildings, outpatient facilities, and healthcare systems have distinct energy profiles — high load factors, continuous operation, and budget certainty requirements that make procurement decisions consequential. Alden Energy has worked across the healthcare sector throughout Texas.
Why Healthcare Is Different
Healthcare facilities are among the most energy-intensive commercial buildings per square foot. HVAC, medical equipment, lighting, and critical systems run continuously, producing a load profile that's relatively flat and predictable — which is actually an advantage in procurement, because it makes your usage history clean and your pricing highly competitive when properly presented to suppliers.
The challenge is organizational: healthcare systems often have complex procurement processes, multiple decision-makers, and budget cycles that don't always align with optimal market windows. Getting the right people aligned at the right time — when the market is favorable — is where we add the most value.
Budget certainty is also paramount in healthcare. A fixed-price contract that eliminates energy price volatility from the budget equation is almost always the right structure, and we'll make sure you're getting the best available fixed price rather than just any fixed price.
What We Focus On
Load factor advantage. Healthcare facilities typically have excellent load factors — meaning your demand is high and consistent relative to your peak. This translates to more competitive retail adders from suppliers, and we make sure that advantage is captured in the pricing we present.
Multi-facility coordination. Health systems with multiple campuses benefit from coordinated procurement — synchronized renewal calendars, aggregated load where beneficial, and consistent contract structures across the portfolio.
Regulatory and compliance awareness. Healthcare procurement often involves board approval, CFO sign-off, or competitive bidding requirements. We're accustomed to working within those processes and can provide the documentation and analysis needed to support internal approvals.
Sales tax exemption. Qualifying nonprofit healthcare organizations may be entitled to sales tax exemptions on electricity and natural gas. In Texas, up to 48 months of previously paid sales tax may be recoverable. We identify whether this applies and help navigate the process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our facility can't afford any disruption to power supply — does switching suppliers risk that?
No. Switching retail energy suppliers in ERCOT is purely a billing and contract change — your physical power delivery through the utility (Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP, etc.) is unchanged. There is no service interruption of any kind when changing suppliers.
We have a GPO that handles some purchasing — does that affect energy procurement?
Group purchasing organizations generally don't cover deregulated electricity and natural gas in the way they cover medical supplies. Energy procurement requires individualized load analysis and market timing that a GPO framework isn't designed to provide. Those that do can lack the market expertise that these specialty purchases require, in the same way that we’d have trouble explaining in comprehensive detail which brand sold the best nitrile gloves or stethoscopes, what the optimal price for various lots of those were and what time of year one could get the best deal on them was.
What contract lengths do you typically recommend for healthcare facilities?
It depends on where the market is. We'll show you where current pricing sits relative to historical ranges and give you a clear recommendation. In periods of elevated pricing, shorter terms preserve flexibility. In periods of historically low pricing, longer terms lock in the advantage.