Time-Of-Use Residential Rate Plans

If you switch to a Time-of-Use rate, you will not be able to make another switch for a full 12 months. Keep in mind that Solar Billing Plan customers are required to be on the TOU-D-PRIME rate and NEM 2.0 customers are required to be on a Time-of-Use rate.

The rate you are currently on may now be a discontinued TOU rate plan, including TOU-D-A, TOU-D-B, and TOU-D-T. Discontinued TOU rate plans are no longer open to customer enrollment. If you’re enrolled in one of these rates, you can continue to stay on it for now. If you switch to a different rate plan, however, you cannot re-enroll in your previous plan.

If you can shift some of your electricity use to take advantage of the lower priced (off-peak) time periods, you have the ability to lower your overall electricity costs. Running your dishwasher during Off-Peak periods instead of during On-Peak periods is an example of shifting in usage to lower your electricity costs. Use our Appliance Energy Use Cost Estimator to see how much you can save by shifting energy use to off-peak hours.

With TOU rate plans, rate charges change between the longer winter period (October-May) and shorter summer period (June-September). As a result of these seasonal pricing differences, it is likely that on a TOU rate plan, your winter bills will be lower than you are used to, while your summer bills will be higher. Be sure to pay attention to the seasonal and monthly breakout of your projected costs in the Rate Plan Comparison Tool.

Each customer has two baseline allocations, one for summer and one for winter usage. Baseline allocation is the same as the baseline allowance found on the standard residential rate plan. Your allowance can be found by reviewing the “details of your new charges” section of the bill statement. Under “additional information” you will see your summer baseline allowance, your winter baseline allowance, or both, depending on which month’s bill you review. For more information about baseline, view the “about baseline” section of the standard domestic rate plan page here.

TOU-D-4-9PM, TOU-D-5-8PM, and TOU-D-PRIME—as well as discontinued TOU rate plans TOU-D-A and TOU-D-T—are also subject to a minimum bill charge averaging out to about $10 a month. This means that if the delivery portion of your bill does not meet the minimum bill amount of 32¢ per day, a charge will be added to your bill for the difference to reach approximately $10. The delivery charges and the daily basic charge of 3¢ per day apply towards your minimum bill charge.

Medical Baseline customers have an additional 16.5 kWh allocated to their baseline usage on a daily basis, in addition to their applicable seasonal baseline for the operation of life-support devices and other qualifying equipment.

A Heat pump water heater (HPWH) can be three times more efficient than a conventional water heater. It works similarly to a refrigerator, except in reverse. While a refrigerator removes a heat pump, a water heater takes the heat from the surrounding air, and an HPWH takes the heat from the surrounding air and transfers it to water in an enclosed tank.  Effective October 1, 2022, customers who own a Heat Pump Water Heater are also eligible for an additional baseline allocation if they are on TOU-D-4-9PM or TOU-D-5-8PM. Customers receiving a basic baseline allowance will receive an incremental allowance of 1.9 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per day in the Summer and 2.6 kWh per day in the Winter, and customers receiving an All-Electric baseline allowance will receive with an incremental allowance. This additional allocation provides a credit to help offset the charges you pay for the HPWH electricity usage. If you are already enrolled on an eligible TOU rate and have recently installed HPWH, please call us at 1-866-743-1645 to get this allocation enabled.

Several new incentives in California make heat pump water heaters more affordable than ever. To find incentives available in your area, visit The Switch Is On website.

Baseline Allocation

An amount of electricity (measured in kilowatt hours) that is provided to households at a lower rate than electricity used above this threshold.

Baseline allocations are determined by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) based on the number of days in the billing period, the season, the climate, and whether your primary source of heat is electric.

Baseline Allocation (Daily/Monthly)

Since billing periods can have different numbers of days, the baseline allocation is defined initially as a daily allocation. This is then calculated into an allocation for the entire billing period, which is sometimes called a “Monthly Baseline Allocation” for convenience.

Baseline Credit

A discount that reduces total electricity charges. A baseline credit is calculated per kilowatt hour (kWh) used and is capped by the monthly baseline allocation.

Daily Basic Charge

A flat, daily charge that is billed on a monthly basis, regardless of customer use or activity.

Kilowatt Hour (kWh)

A unit of measurement for electrical energy consumption over time that we use to compute billing. One kilowatt hour is equivalent to using 1,000 watts for 1 hour.

Minimum Daily Charge

A flat, daily charge that is applied if a customer’s total delivery charges fall below a minimum in a billing period (about $10 for a typical residential user). This charge supports the maintenance and operation of providing electricity.

Tier

An amount of energy allocated to a customer in a billing period at a specific price. If a customer uses more energy than what is allocated, they are charged at a higher rate on the next tier.