Time of Use electrical billing

[manwithtools]

Anyone in Southern California enrolled in one of these plans? Can you explain your experience so far?

Coming from TN with some of the lowest electrical rates in the country, this is a bit new to me. Interested to see others experiences so I can plan what to expect. SDGE by the way.

 

[Brent T]

I'm not in SoCal, but in Phoenix. We tried it for awhile, actually tried it a couple times over the past several years. Honestly, for us it wasn't worth the "savings". Doing laundry at 11 pm on a weeknight and always trying to plan our electrical use around the cheap rate just wasn't worth it for us. We have friends who use the plan, but for us saving $20 or $30 a month just wasn't worth the hassle. We are on the "equal pay plan" where they average your electric bill over 12 months so we don't have a huge bill in the summer (hot in Phoenix), but the time of use thing just wasn't worth it for us. To each his own.

 

[Daedalus]

I have sce and have the tou plan with an electric car. Saves me money vs the standard tier rates. Not bad after 8 pm weekdays. After 10 pm weekdays and all weekend it gets cheap. I try to keep the HVAC off till at least 8 pm and dishwasher till after 10. I figured it out once. I think I pay around 14 cents per kwh.

 

[Git]

It's going to basically depend on your lifestyle. Are you home during the day during peak demand or only at home at night and on weekends? That sort of thing

San Diego, as I recall, has the highest electrical rates in California. I just did a quick Google search and found this:

"This average (residential) electricity rate in San Diego is 6.58% greater than the California average rate of 15.34¢/kWh. The average (residential) electricity rate in San Diego is 37.63% greater than the national average rate of 11.88¢/kWh. Residential rates in the U.S. range from 8.37¢/kWh to 37.34¢/kWh".

We have SCE (Southern California Edison) and when I had my solar panels installed I was under the Tiered plan. After one year, I switched to TOU for a year because they indicated it would save me money. It may have on the monthly rate, but under TOU I had to pay more each month ($10 -$15 as I recall) for grid charges and other fees. I finally switched back to Tiered and the main reason was that all new Solar Customers are now required to use TOU Rates, while older customers had the choice. I figured if they are forcing customers to TOU it is to the utility's benefit, so I went back to Tiered

 

[Stuart in MN]

The SDGE web link to their time of use billing plans. They have several different options, and it says you can change plans at any time so if you don't like it you should be able to switch back to what you have now. https://www.sdge.com/whenmatters#how-it-works

 

[3robert 1]

Can't speak for how it's works in California, but I have TOU billing here in Ontario Canada and I don't have a choice as that is what they have been doing for some years now. I find it does change your lifestyle somewhat unless you want to pay a whole lot more . I suppose y you will have to decide what works for you.

 

[rlitman]

In my area, the optional TOU rate plan saves you a little during off-peak times, but the rest of the day costs you considerably more. If you average it out, unless you can shift a very significant portion of your usage into the night, your bill will go up on a TOU plan.

 

[rharman]

We switched to it several years ago (SCE) and have saved a TON. You just have to be aware of what you do and when. It's been great for us.

We also have the air conditioning cycling plan that gives us a credit during summer months for allowing them to turn off the A/C if needed. I think it's been done 3-4 times in 20+ years and, again, we save money.

 

[kaffine]

I switched to TOU plan when I got an electric car. With how many miles I drive a week my car uses more power than the rest of the house and I can schedule my car to start charging at 10pm when the lower rates kick in.

I wouldn't have changed if it wasn't for my car. The AC pulls a lot of power during peak prices. Now if I worked swing shift and no one else was at the house so I could set the temp up a few degrees in the summer to keep the AC from running it might work.

 

[Norcal]

With Pacific Graft & Extortion, my peak time is 4-9PM. The switch to smart meters made the TOU plan inevitable.

 

[manwithtools]

Thanks all, SDGE is requiring everyone to use TOU plans now. You can switch back after a year if it's not cheaper than last year. Unfortunately for me, there is no "last year".

I understand how lifestyle can impact usage, in our case the wife is home all day and we typically go to bed fairly early. In the area I intend to live, I suspect AC use will be quite high during the peak hours and low use will occur when the low rates kick in (semi-desert climate, hottest up until sundown and then cool at night).

I suspect that the cost will be quite high in our case because we are going to use most of our power during peak rate time, 4-9 PM. The incentive to have solar power and battery storage is slowly being created. The good news is it's a new house with good insulation so that will help.

 

[rsanter]

I was in tiered rate and am now on TOU
Costs about the same for me but I manage my energy use

I work for SCE so if you want give me a call and I’ll run through it formyou

 

[jhelrey]

Would be great if you worked nights...

 

[manwithtools]

Would be great if you worked nights...

Ain't that the truth?

 

[MikeF2316]

Can't speak for how it's works in California, but I have TOU billing here in Ontario Canada and I don't have a choice as that is what they have been doing for some years now. I find it does change your lifestyle somewhat unless you want to pay a whole lot more . I suppose y you will have to decide what works for you.

Yup, we have no choice. So we just roll with the punches, we try to use the dryer and the dishwasher after 10 pm. We've set the thermostat to cool the house down (for more comfortable sleeping), also at 10:00 pm in the summer.