News

Optional rate provides discounts for overnight energy use

We'd like your help in spreading the word to residential customers that could benefit the most from our tiered rate with time-of-day pricing.

On this new, optional rate plan, the price of electricity varies based on how much you use, and the time of the day you use it. It's a rate that suits those in the best position to shift some of their energy usage away from on-peak hours.

Here's how it works:

• Two-tier pricing still applies. All usage up to a certain threshold in each billing period costs a lower, Tier 1 price, and all usage above that threshold costs a higher, Tier 2 price.
• There's an overnight discount of -5 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for energy use between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
• There's an on-peak surcharge of +5 cents per kWh for electricity used from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• There's no discount or surcharge for usage between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., and 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., which are called off-peak hours.

A senior product manager with BC Hydro, Sarb Verma says this new optional rate is part of an evolution in offering more rate options for customers. What has long been a one-size-fits-all approach to residential rates is changing to meet the evolving needs of households.

Many Alliance members are in the unique position of dealing closely with residential customers who are having Level 2 EV chargers or solar panels installed.

"This is not an energy efficiency rate like the standard residential tiered rate that's been a signal to consume less," she says. "Customers are likely to consume pretty much the exact same amount under this rate, but it's aimed to just shift the load away from peak periods.”

In marketing time-of-day pricing, we're using four conservative estimates for potential savings from opting in and shifting customer home energy behaviours:

• Shifting charging an EV from after 5 p.m. to after 11 p.m. could save up to $125 a year.
• Shifting once-a-day dishwashing from 7 p.m. to after 11 p.m. could save up to $25 a year.
• Shifting twice weekly laundry from 7 p.m. to after 9 p.m. could save up to $25 a year.
• If you have a 7 kW solar installation, you're already limiting usage from the grid during on-peak hours and could save up to $52 a year on the optional rate.

All of the above are estimates and each customer may see different bill impacts.

We have an online calculator and self-serve tools to help

We've put together a suite of resources to help customers decide whether the optional rate will work for them, and then to manage their rate plan and usage. Customers always have the choice to change their rate plan back if the optional rate isn't working for them.

• Online rate estimator: Customers can log in and compare annual, estimated electricity costs on each rate plan based on their actual 12-month historical consumption data, and test how shifts in when they use electricity might change their costs.
• Tips to save: Customers can learn tips to shift energy use at home to save, and how to read time-of-day graphs in MyHydro.
• Online self-serve tools: Customers can change their rate online or contact our call centre and speak with a representative.
• Sign-up on move-in: We've integrated a seamless sign-up to the time-of-day rate option in our online moving request service.
• Consumption graph downloads: Customers can download historical hourly data to run their own analysis.