Time-of-day pricing
Time-of-day pricing is an option for residential customers that works best for those who have some flexibility in when they use electricity, and those who charge an electric vehicle (EV) at home between 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. It’s available with either the tiered rate or flat rate plan.
On time-of-day pricing, the price for electricity is highest in the evening and lowest overnight.
Estimate your costs
Log in and use our rate estimator to compare your costs on each rate plan based on your past usage.
How time-of-day pricing works
On time-of-day pricing, we apply a discount of 5 cents per kWh to all electricity that was used overnight (11 p.m. to 7 a.m.) and a surcharge of 5 cents per kWh to all electricity that was used during the on-peak period (4 to 9 p.m.).
No discount or surcharge is applied during the other hours of the day.
Benefits of time-of-day pricing
Time-of-day pricing can help you save if you:
- Have an electric vehicle (EV) that you can charge at home overnight.
- Can shift some of your household electricity use to overnight.
Doing this also helps us balance our electricity system’s capacity throughout the day, reducing the need to build new infrastructure.
What you’ll see on your bill
On-peak surcharge |
+5 cents per kWh of electricity used during the on-peak period: 4 to 9 p.m. local time |
Overnight discount |
-5 cents per kWh of electricity used during the overnight period: 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. local time |
Off-peak |
No discount or surcharge for electricity used during the off-peak period: 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 9 to 11 p.m. local time |
For help understanding your bill, check out these resources:
- Get to know your bill
- Sample bill on the tiered rate with time-of-day pricing [PDF, 272 KB]
- Sample bill on the flat rate with time-of-day pricing [PDF, 264 KB]
Change your rate
Want to update your account? It's quick and easy to change your rate online.
Eligibility
This rate plan is available to almost all residential customers.
The following residential account types are not eligible:
- Common areas of multi-residential buildings.
- Customers who don’t have a connected smart meter that communicates remotely with BC Hydro.
Electric vehicle metering only
If you have a separate electricity meter at home that’s specifically used for charging an EV, you have the option to add time-of-day pricing for your EV meter only, keeping your main household meter out of time-of-day pricing.
To add a separate electricity meter to your home, hire a contractor and follow our express connection process.
- Sample bill with household and separate meter on time-of-day pricing [PDF, 278 KB]
- Sample bill with only the EV meter on time-of-day pricing [PDF, 272 KB]
Please note that if your main household meter is on a tiered rate plan, your EV meter cannot be on a flat rate plan, or vice versa.
Do you live in an apartment or condo building?
We generally don’t recommend time-of-day pricing for customers in apartment or condo buildings. Unless your electricity use includes EV charging, the opportunity to save money on this plan is limited for smaller dwellings. Apartment or condo buildings may also have noise restrictions that would limit residents from running their dishwasher or doing laundry in the late evening and overnight.
For other ways to save in apartments, check out programs like Peak Saver and Team Power Smart to earn rewards on your bill. We’re also continuing to develop additional residential rate plans.
In the Electric Tariff, the tiered rate with time-of-day pricing plan is a combination of rate schedules 1101 and 2101, and the flat rate with time-of-day pricing plan is a combination of rate schedules 1151 and 2101. Please note that in the event of differences between the details noted on this page and the official Electric Tariff issued by BC Hydro, the official Electric Tariff will prevail.