New plans based on the time of day
To support the statewide commitment to reliable and sustainable energy, new Time of Use pricing plans are being introduced to residential customers over the next few years. These plans are based on how much and when you use energy, and offer you more choices on how to better manage and control your energy costs.
How do these plans work?
The plans are different from our current Standard tiered option, which is solely based on how much energy you use. Time of Use plans also take into account the time of day that you are using energy. This allows you two ways to save – by shifting your electricity use to lower cost hours of the day or to reduce your overall usage.
During the on-peak hours of 4 pm to 9 pm, increased demand on the electric grid means a higher cost to produce and deliver electricity to you. So, by shifting your use to off-peak hours, when there is less demand, the cost of electricity is less.
Why are on-peak hours from 4 pm to 9 pm?
As more Southern Californians generate their own solar or wind power, and as utilities put more renewable energy on the grid to serve its customers, the on-peak – or higher demand hours – for electricity are changing to late afternoon and early evening.
By shifting your energy use to off-peak hours, you not only pay less but also help decrease the demand on the electric grid, which ultimately benefits the environment.