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Choosing an integration

Most partners open this page having already decided they want "the API." That's usually shorthand for "we want control and our own brand" — a fair goal, but not the question that decides your integration.

The real question: do you want a prebuilt shopping experience, or do you want to build your own?

There are only two answers, and everything else is a detail:

Prebuilt UXBuild your own
What you getA finished, conversion-tested shopping experiencePlan data, in JSON
What you buildA link, or one <iframe>The entire shopping UI
Live inMinutes to hoursDays to weeks
Who maintains itWe doYou do, permanently
When we improve the UXYou get it automaticallyYou re-implement it

The API doesn't hand you a shopping experience. It hands you plan data that you turn into one — and then keep maintaining as markets, pricing rules, and disclosure requirements change.

The prebuilt UX options​

"Prebuilt" isn't one thing. Pick the flow that matches your audience, change a parameter, and the whole experience changes with it. Every preview below is the live production storefront — click through them.

The complete shopping experience. Asks up front whether the shopper needs power for a business or a home, then routes them into the right flow.

You build
One <iframe>
Best for
A general audience, when you don’t know who’s arriving.
What the shopper walks through
  1. ZIP code & serviceability
  2. “Is this for your business or home?”
  3. Switch vs. move-in
  4. Advisor or Standard View
  5. Ranked plans, savings, filters
  6. Regulated enrollment
How you select it
(none — this is the default)
Live preview
This is the live production storefront running under a demo partner code — click through it.
You can mix the two

The last option matters more than it looks. Checkout only lets you build your own plan list from the API and still hand off regulated enrollment to us. Prebuilt vs. build-your-own isn't all-or-nothing.

See the difference​

On the left is a prebuilt UX — the same thing you'd embed with one iframe. On the right is what the API actually returns for the same request. Everything the left side does that the right side doesn't is work you'd be taking on.

Prebuilt UX — live

A guided flow: ZIP → business/home → switch or move-in → Advisor (personalized bill calculations) or Standard View → ranked plans with savings estimates, filters, and compliance.

What the API returns
{
  "title": "SimpleSaver 11",
  "term": 11,
  "rateType": "FIXED",
  "supplier": { "name": "AP Gas & Electric" },
  "rates": [
    { "usageKwh": 1000,
      "advertisedPriceUsdPerKwh": 0.175,
      "allInRateUsdPerKwh": 0.17511,
      "avgMonthlyBillUsd": 175.11 }
  ],
  "documents": [ { "type": "EFL", "url": "…" } ],
  "headlessEnrollmentUrl": "…"
}

Accurate, complete plan data — and nothing else. No ranking, no recommendation, no savings estimate, no filters, no Advisor. Those are yours to build.

The line your own customers see

Inside the storefront, PowerHQ asks shoppers how they'd like to proceed: Advisor — "personalized bill calculations for all plans based on your energy usage" — or Standard View — "plans with advertised rates (similar to other sites)."

An API integration produces the Standard View. The Advisor experience isn't something you can rebuild from the API, because the personalization logic isn't exposed.

What you own vs. what we handle​

Switch between the three approaches. Watch how much moves into your column when you build your own.

PowerHQ handles almost everything. You own nothing operational.
Live plan data & pricing feed
PowerHQ handles it
Guided flow: ZIP → business/home → switch vs. move-in
PowerHQ handles it
Advisor — personalized bill calculations from actual usage
PowerHQ handles it
Plan ranking / “Our Recommendation”
PowerHQ handles it
Savings estimates vs. the utility’s default rate
PowerHQ handles it
Filters & sorting (term, provider, features)
PowerHQ handles it
Correct all-in price display (per-state rules)
PowerHQ handles it
Disclosure documents shown correctly (EFL, Contract Summary…)
PowerHQ handles it
Broker registration disclosure
PowerHQ handles it
Regulated checkout & enrollment
PowerHQ handles it
Your branding around the plan list
Partial
Custom UX / your own product logic
No
Plan data for features beyond a shopping list
No
Future UX improvements
PowerHQ handles it

What "build your own" actually means​

These are the real steps in the prebuilt flow. Each one is a thing you'd design, build, and maintain yourself if you go the API route.

Every one of these already works in the prebuilt UX. Click any step to see what the API hands you — and what’s left for you to design, build, and keep maintaining.
The API gives you
Nothing. The API produces the Standard View.
You build
Advisor’s personalized bill calculations aren’t reproducible — that logic isn’t exposed.

Which one is right for you?​

Five questions. There's no wrong answer — this just makes the trade explicit.

1. Do plans need to appear inside your own branded UI?
2. Do you have engineers to build AND maintain a shopping UI?
3. Is our optimized flow (Advisor, ranking, filters) fine, or do you need your own?
4. Do you need plan data for anything beyond a shopping list (monitoring, analysis, your own product logic)?
5. How fast do you need to launch?
Answer all 5 to see a recommendation. (0/5)

When the API genuinely is the right call​

We'd rather you succeed than pick the option that flatters us. Choose the API when:

  • You need plan data for something other than a shopping list — monitoring a customer's plan over time, comparison features inside your own product, analysis, alerts.
  • The shopping experience itself is your product and its design is a real differentiator you intend to invest in continuously.
  • You have engineering capacity to maintain it — not just to build it once. Pricing rules, disclosure requirements, and market coverage change.

If none of those are true, a prebuilt UX will almost certainly convert better for less money — and it improves on its own.

You're not locked in

Plenty of partners launch on a prebuilt UX to get live quickly, then move to the API once they know exactly what they need. And even then, Checkout only lets you keep the prebuilt enrollment. Starting simple doesn't close any doors.

Start here​

Prebuilt UX

Build your own