Time of use electric rates?
My provider is signing everyone up for time of use unless you opt out and reselect your current plan. A total slim ball move.
They studied the 4 bills and it showed the new plan will cost me more unless I change my lifestyle. Like most people I am resistant to change and they will need show how I would benefit, this letter has the opposite effect.
I saw surprised at how little difference there was between peak and off-peak rates for now. Only $0.005 per kWh in the summer and $0.002 in the winter.
What is your peak- off peak differential?
The 12-hour long peak seem kind of long. How long are your peak hours. If the peak were something like 2-6 people could shutdown the AC and ride out the peak but 12 hours make that impossible.
Walta
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Replies
Where I live in NC if I were to get grid tied solar I would have to switch to a time of use rate for electricity but otherwise it remains optional. Duke recently sent out a letter to show how my cost over the last year would compare to if I were on the time of use plan and supposedly I would have saved a few dollars total over 12 months but for now I like the simplicity of a flat rate of 8 or 9 cents per kwh depending on time of year.
The time of use schedule here has a base rate of 7.6 cents for most hours, a discount rate of 5 cents for the lowest use times, and a peak rate for 3 hours of 17 cents from either 6 to 9 am or pm depending on time of year, plus up to 20 calendar days per year when the 3 peak hours of the day are at a critical peak rate of 37 cents per kwh. If someone wants to program their water heater and smart thermostat to avoid peak hours that could work ok. If you already have batteries it could also work well.
In Michigan, with DTE, we also got forced into a partial Time of Use rate. It runs from 3-7pm Mon-Fri. It's a bigger rate increase in the summer. About $0.055 more during peak hours. Rates dropped about $0.01 during non-peak hours from the old constant rate.
There are two other time of use rates I can sign up for. On-peak would be 11am-7pm and rates are around $0.23. Off peak would be only around $0.11.
The frustrating bit is I guess they are starting to use the time of use rates to manipulate solar generation. You sell during peak, you only get to credit it during peak is what I had heard.