Are electricity rates really cheaper at night?

Question

I've always heard this from people but I never belived it. It seems like a myth to me. Thier explanation is that less people are using power from the grid so its cheaper. I always thought the power companies always charged a flat rate per kilo watt hour. Which is it?? Thanks!

Answer 1

Residential rates are almost always constant (same day or night). Commercial rates may differ during peak hours.

Answer 2

My utility is We Energies in Wisconsin. They have offered time of use rates to residential customers for many years. Monday thru Friday 7AM to 7PM (35% of the week) I pay about 20 cents per kWh. The rest of the time and all day on major hollidays, I pay 4 cent per kWh. For peak times, I can choose 7-7, 8-8 or 9-9. For rates I can choose 4 & 20 cents or 6 & 15 cents. Flat rate any time is 11 cents. Once you choose TOU you can go back to flat rate anytime, but if you go off TOU you must stay off for a year. I assume there are similar restrications on changing rates and times.

They have a more complex program that they are testing with consumers that has peak, mid and off peak rates plus summer and winter rates.

Answer 3

It depends on your electric utility.

Most offer "time of use" (TOU) rates for commercial/industrial customers, but some also offer it to residential customers.

Historically the cost to electricity is cheaper during the night because of the laws of supply and demand.  During the day the loads are higher and extra generators are brought "on-line" to meet the demand.  In the middle of the night loads are lower and they need to throttle back the generators.

Generating stations that use steam turbines do not like to ramp the loads up and down.  That causes extra wear and tear on the equipment.  In the case of nuclear plants, they're designed to run "flat-out" until the next refueling outage.

To avoid reducing load, generating stations are willing to sell their "off-peak" energy for little more than the cost of fuel.

To encourage customers to shift their usage patterns to use "off-peak" energy, these TOU rates provide substantial discounts for usage during nights (and in some cases weekends).

The next extension of this is "real time pricing" were the cost of electricity is dynamically changing every hour throughout the day.  This requires a more sophisticated electric meter that records your usage for each hour of the month.  Computer programs apply the hourly costs of electricity to your usage and generate the bills.  Depending on your usage patterns, these "market based" rates can save a substantial amount of money (20+%)compared to traditional flat rates.

Call your local electric company and ask them about time-of-use or real-time-pricing rates that might be available.

Answer 4

I agree with you. I checked my bill, and there is no mention of that, and any night rate reduction would be mentioned there.

What I have understood is that it's only for users who have special appliances, like hot water heaters, that run only at night, and who negotiate the reduced rate with the utility company.

Answer 5

i agree with both answers above me, normally not for residential connections those

industrial power is however different

let me try explain

this applies mostly to h.t. consumers 11 kv, 33 kv and above

also varies regionally & by utility company

for example at my workplace,

23:00 hrs to 6:00 hrs > off peak ~ 0.7 x normal tariff

6:00 hrs to 17:00 hrs > normal tariff

17:00 hrs to 23:00 hrs > peak ~ 1.4 x normal tariff

called t.o.d metering (time of day)

>> so yes, night tariff 11 pm to 6 am is cheapest at 0.7 times normal tariff & prohibitive in evenings 5 pm to 11 pm at 1.4 times normal tariff

also finds mention in wikipedia,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity...

EDIT:

thanks for the thumbs up

but the 2 thumbs down leave a bad taste & Thomas has a very good one at that !

also, a very pertinant and interesting question