Southern California Edison’s peak hours run from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on summer weekdays under its standard time-of-use plan, and that five-hour window carries the highest per-kilowatt-hour rate of the year from June through September.1Southern California Edison. Time-of-Use Residential Rate Plans Different SCE plans use slightly different peak windows, and the simplest way to lower your bill is to push laundry, dishwashing, EV charging, and pool-pump cycles outside those hours.
When Peak Hours Actually Fall
SCE no longer uses the old tiered system where your rate climbed as total monthly usage climbed. Rates now depend on the time of day, the day of the week, and the season. Running the dryer at 2:00 p.m. on a Saturday is noticeably cheaper than running it at 6:00 p.m. on a Tuesday in August. Every plan also carries a daily base services charge of $0.79 regardless of how much you use.1Southern California Edison. Time-of-Use Residential Rate Plans
The peak window itself varies by plan:
- TOU-D 4-9 PM: peak runs 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on summer weekdays. This is SCE’s standard residential TOU plan.1Southern California Edison. Time-of-Use Residential Rate Plans
- TOU-D 5-8 PM: peak runs 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on summer weekdays. The window is shorter, but the per-kWh peak rate tends to be steeper to compensate.1Southern California Edison. Time-of-Use Residential Rate Plans
- TOU-D-PRIME: peak window matches 4-9 PM, but off-peak rates are the lowest of any SCE residential TOU plan. Enrollment requires owning or leasing an EV or plug-in hybrid, a residential battery storage system, or an electric heat pump for water or space heating.2Southern California Edison. Time-of-Use Rate TOU-D-PRIME
Weekends carry lower pricing on all of these plans, and overnight hours drop even further.
Summer Peak Costs More Than Winter Peak
SCE splits the year into two billing seasons. Summer runs June 1 through September 30, and winter covers October 1 through May 31. The clock on the peak window stays the same, but the per-kWh rate charged during that window is substantially higher in summer. Identical daily habits in July produce a noticeably larger bill than in January.
The reason is grid strain. Air conditioning loads spike across Southern California, SCE pays more on the wholesale market to secure generation, and that procurement cost flows into the summer peak rate. Winter demand is lower and heating loads in SCE’s territory are mild. Summer is when shifting usage away from the peak window pays off the most.
Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak Windows
Outside the peak block, SCE splits remaining hours into off-peak and super off-peak. Off-peak generally covers late evening, early morning, and weekend daytime hours during summer. Rates are moderate.
Super off-peak is the cheapest electricity SCE sells. During winter, super off-peak runs from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. every day, weekends included.3Southern California Edison. Your Guide to Time-of-Use Late-night hours fall into super off-peak territory year-round. These windows exist because solar generation often floods the grid with more power than the region needs. If you can set the dishwasher, EV charger, or pool pump to run during super off-peak hours, you capture the lowest rate available on any TOU plan.
Baseline Credits That Lower the Effective Rate
Every SCE TOU plan includes a baseline credit of $0.10 per kilowatt-hour applied to the first block of monthly usage.1Southern California Edison. Time-of-Use Residential Rate Plans The size of that block depends on your baseline region, set by the CPUC based on local climate. Hotter inland zones get a larger daily kWh allowance than coastal ones. All-electric homes receive a separate, typically larger allocation because they heat with electricity rather than gas.4Southern California Edison. Tiered Rate Plan for Energy
Your monthly baseline equals the daily allocation times the number of days in the billing period. Usage inside the allowance gets the $0.10/kWh credit. Usage above it is billed at the full TOU rate for whatever time period you ran it in. Efficient homes and smaller households see the biggest benefit, because more of their consumption stays inside the credited block.
Medical Baseline Allowance
Households with someone who depends on electrically powered medical equipment, or who needs extra heating or cooling for a medical condition, can qualify for a Medical Baseline allowance. This adds 16.5 kWh per day on top of the standard allocation, enlarging the share of your bill that receives the $0.10/kWh credit.5Southern California Edison. Medical Baseline Allowance Application
Qualifying equipment includes respirators, oxygen concentrators, hemodialysis machines, and motorized wheelchairs. Heating and cooling allowances cover patients with paraplegia, quadriplegia, multiple sclerosis, compromised immune systems, or any life-threatening illness where temperature control is medically necessary. Devices used only for therapy don’t qualify.6Southern California Edison. Medical Baseline Allowance Application If 16.5 kWh per day isn’t enough, SCE can review a request for a higher amount at 1-800-655-4555.
CARE and FERA Discounts
Income-qualified households can stack a discount on top of any TOU plan. CARE (California Alternate Rates for Energy) provides a 30 to 35 percent discount on your electric bill, applied to the whole bill rather than peak-hour charges alone.7California Public Utilities Commission. CARE/FERA Program That matters, because the discount still reduces what you owe even on a month when your usage pattern wasn’t well matched to peak windows.
FERA (Family Electric Rate Assistance) covers households whose income lands slightly above CARE limits. It offers an 18 percent discount, requires three or more people in the home, and uses thresholds based on 250 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.7California Public Utilities Commission. CARE/FERA Program Thresholds update each year, so a household that didn’t qualify before may qualify now.
Picking or Switching Your Plan Without Guessing
SCE’s online Rate Plan Comparison Tool takes your actual usage history and estimates what each plan would cost. That’s the right place to start, because the best plan depends on when your household uses electricity, not on which plan sounds appealing.8Southern California Edison. Rate Plan Comparison Tool
A few rules apply when you switch:
- Your account needs at least five months of continuous usage history before you can change plans.
- Some plans lock you into a 12-month commitment once you enroll.
- Certain plans allow one additional switch inside that 12-month window; the comparison tool shows which.
- Changes take effect within one to two billing cycles, not immediately.8Southern California Edison. Rate Plan Comparison Tool
A household that runs heavy air conditioning from 4 to 9 p.m. in summer will struggle on TOU-D 4-9 PM. A household that charges an EV overnight and uses a heat pump midday is a candidate for TOU-D-PRIME. The comparison tool exists so you can see which pattern yours actually fits before you commit.