We’ve made some changes due to COVID-19, including suspending service disconnections for residential and small business customers for nonpayment, and only continuing critical work needed to protect public safety and reduce the risk of wildfires. Learn more here. If you have recently lost your job, even if you are receiving unemployment benefits, you may qualify for a reduced energy rate through our CARE or FERA programs. Learn more.
New TOU Periods for Business
Take Advantage of Business Time-Of-Use (TOU) Rate Periods
In 2019, your TOU periods changed. This means you can lower your costs by shifting more of your energy use away from these times:
Business TOU On-Peak periods are now 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Agriculture & Pumping Optional TOU peak periods are now 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
As California continues to adopt cleaner resources to generate energy, the cost to deliver power throughout the day is changing. Energy is now less costly during midday and more costly in the late afternoon and evening. TOU peak periods have changed to reflect these times of day.
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What is Time-Of-Use?
Our Time-Of-Use rates are part of a statewide initiative designed to keep the electric grid reliable—even when energy resources are in high demand.
All rates feature energy charges that vary based on the time of day, the day of the week, and the season. Some rates also include demand charges that are based on the maximum amount of electricity your business uses at once and during certain times of the day.
Interested in getting TOU text alerts to help remind you of on-peak and/or lower cost periods? Sign up to get notified of peak periods through your text messages.
TOU rates better align the cost of electricity to the time it is produced and the cost to deliver it when your business needs it. Pricing will generally be higher during summer weekdays in the late afternoons and evenings.
You can help lower your costs by shifting energy use from the more expensive On-Peak hours to the Mid-Peak, Off-Peak, and Super Off-Peak hours of the day when TOU pricing is lower.
Customers with behind‐the‐meter (BTM) solar generating facilities may be eligible to be served on TOU rates that retain legacy TOU periods for 10 years from the date their systems were authorized to operate. To qualify for TOU period grandfathering, you must meet the following eligibility criteria:
● Your initial solar interconnection application must have been submitted by January 31, 2017. This deadline was extended for public agency customers to December 31, 2017.
● Your solar generating facility must be sized to offset at least 15% of your annual load.
One way to understand demand charges is to consider an example–imagine a single light bulb running for 10 hours. Now imagine 10 light bulbs running at once for 1 hour. Both situations use the same amount of electricity, but running 10 light bulbs at once increases the load demand on the electricity grid. This makes it more expensive for us to maintain the supply of energy. In some rate plans, your business can incur costs for the extra demand.
Demand charges are based on the highest amount of electricity used within any 15-minute period during your monthly period (referred to as “Facilities-Related Demand”) and/or on your highest amount of electricity used within a specific TOU period during your monthly billing period (referred to as “Time-Related Demand”). The unit of measurement used is kilowatts (kW). Energy charges are based on the total amount of electricity used in each TOU period within a billing cycle. For energy charges, the unit of measurement is the kilowatt hour (kWh).
Facilities-Related Demand Charges apply year-round and are calculated per kilowatt (kW) according to the highest recorded demand during each monthly billing period, regardless of season, day of week, or time of day.
Time-Related Demand Charges apply year-round and are calculated per kilowatt (kW) according to the highest recorded demand during On-Peak and Mid-Peak hours, non-holiday weekdays. On-Peak TRD charges apply during the summer and Mid-Peak TRD charges apply during the winter.
