Time-of-use electricity rates explained
On a time-of-use rate the price of a kWh depends on when you use it: more during the utility's peak hours, less off-peak. In 2025, 11.3% of US residential customers were enrolled in some form of time-varying pricing, but the share ran from almost none in many states to 69.0% in Maryland (the highest1), and Maryland's figure is made of peak rebates rather than time-of-use prices.
Published November 14, 2026.
The short answer
A time-of-use (TOU) rate charges a different price per kWh at different times of day. EIA's glossary defines time-of-day pricing as a rate under which "the price per kilowatthour depends on the time of day." Hours your utility names as on-peak cost more and off-peak hours cost less; some rates add a middle "shoulder" period, and many set different hours or prices for summer and winter. The bill is still kWh times price, but your kWh are split by period first and each part is priced on its own.
Peak hours are not a national standard. Each utility sets them in its tariff, and EIA states plainly in its FAQ on rates and tariffs that it does not publish retail prices for peak or off-peak periods. A single peak window or peak price quoted for a whole state is, at best, one utility's tariff. What EIA does collect, on Form EIA-861, is how many customers each utility has enrolled in time-based programs. Those counts are the data story of this guide.
Four programs that EIA counts together
EIA's figure for "time-varying" enrollment adds up several programs that work differently on a bill:
- Time-of-use: fixed prices for fixed periods, set in the tariff and known in advance.
- Critical peak pricing: a normal or TOU price most of the year, with a much higher price during a limited number of announced peak events.
- Critical peak rebate (or peak time rebate): no higher price at all. A Department of Energy-funded study of Green Mountain Power defines it this way: "During peak hours customers earn rebates by reducing their electricity usage below a baseline level."
- Real-time and variable peak pricing: the price follows wholesale market prices hour by hour or day by day.
The distinction matters when you read enrollment figures. A rebate can only lower a bill; a TOU or critical peak price can raise it if use stays at peak. The same study found that both critical peak prices and critical peak rebates produced demand reductions during peak events.
Who is enrolled, state by state
In 2025, 11.3% of US residential customers were enrolled in time-varying pricing, according to EIA-861. The median state was at 1.8%1: a few states with large shares lift the national figure.
Source: EIA-861 2025, advanced meters, dynamic pricing and net metering. Residential customers enrolled in time-of-use, real-time, variable-peak or critical-peak pricing (EIA-861 Dynamic_Pricing), as a share of residential customers. Period: 2025.
Show the numbers
| State | On time-varying rates |
|---|---|
| Maryland | 69.0% |
| Colorado | 58.2% |
| Delaware | 54.5% |
| Missouri | 53.2% |
| Michigan | 39.0% |
| Arizona | 37.7% |
| California | 35.9% |
| Oklahoma | 33.1% |
| Montana | 17.0% |
| United States | 11.3% |
| Illinois | 10.2% |
| Louisiana | 9.8% |
| North Dakota | 8.7% |
| Arkansas | 7.8% |
| South Carolina | 7.7% |
| Iowa | 6.0% |
| North Carolina | 4.9% |
| Connecticut | 4.5% |
| Hawaii | 4.3% |
| Indiana | 3.9% |
| Minnesota | 3.2% |
Maryland ranked first at 69.0%, followed by Colorado (58.2%), Delaware (54.5%) and Missouri (53.2%). At the other end, Washington, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia reported close to zero (0.0%, 0.0% and 0.0%). Large states sit far apart: 35.9% in California, 1.3% in Texas, 0.2%1 in Pennsylvania, all for 2025.
Read the program type before the percentage
The top of that ranking mixes two different things. Maryland's 69.0% share in 2025 comes almost entirely from three utilities that reported their residential enrollment under critical peak rebates, not time-of-use prices: BGE with 1,178,391 customers (96.5% of its residential customers), Pepco with 395,081 (70.7%) and Delmarva Power with 129,180 (68.8%). Delmarva Power in Delaware reported the same program type for 262,638 customers, which is most of Delaware's 54.5%1. A Maryland household counted here pays the standard price per kWh and can receive a credit for cutting use during peak events.
Colorado (58.2%, the 2nd highest) is the opposite case. Xcel Energy in Colorado reported 1,375,000 residential customers, 99.6%1 of its total, on time-of-use pricing alone. The price per kWh there does change with the hour.
The largest enrollments reported to EIA for 2025 among utilities with 100,000 or more residential customers, with the program types each one reported:
| Utility | Customers enrolled | Share of its residential customers | Programs reported to EIA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southern California Edison | 2,680,506 | 57.9% | time-of-use and critical peak pricing |
| Consumers Energy | 1,646,325 | 99.0% | time-of-use, critical peak pricing and critical peak rebates |
| Xcel Energy (Colorado) | 1,375,000 | 99.6% | time-of-use |
| San Diego Gas & Electric | 1,200,084 | 87.1% | time-of-use, variable peak pricing and critical peak pricing |
| BGE | 1,178,391 | 96.5% | critical peak rebates |
| Ameren Missouri | 931,654 | 84.6% | time-of-use |
| APS | 746,931 | 58.0% | time-of-use |
| PG&E | 659,141 | 13.0% | time-of-use and critical peak pricing |
| SMUD | 583,470 | 97.0% | time-of-use and critical peak pricing |
| PSO | 504,772 | 99.7% | time-of-use |
| Pepco (Maryland) | 395,081 | 70.7% | critical peak rebates |
| ComEd | 382,255 | 10.2% | real-time pricing and critical peak rebates |
| SRP | 360,908 | 33.6% | time-of-use1 |
Two patterns stand out. Utilities in the same state can differ widely: in California, SCE reported 57.9% and PG&E 13.0%1. And ComEd, in Illinois, reported real-time pricing and critical peak rebates rather than a TOU rate, so its enrolled customers have either an hourly price that follows the wholesale market or a peak rebate, not a fixed time-of-use schedule.
A smart meter does not put you on time-of-use
Pricing by the hour needs a meter that records use by the hour, so smart meters (advanced metering infrastructure, AMI) come first. They are now common in most states; the median state had 91.6%1 of residential meters on AMI in 2025. Enrollment in time-varying pricing has not followed.
Source: EIA-861 2025, advanced meters, dynamic pricing and net metering. Each dot is a state (horizontal: Smart meters; vertical: On time-varying rates). Advanced (two-way) meters as a share of residential meters. Period: 2025. Residential customers enrolled in time-of-use, real-time, variable-peak or critical-peak pricing (EIA-861 Dynamic_Pricing), as a share of residential customers. Period: 2025.
Show the numbers
| State | Smart meters | On time-varying rates |
|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | 22.0% | 0.2% |
| New Hampshire | 22.1% | 0.1% |
| Connecticut | 22.3% | 4.5% |
| Nebraska | 32.8% | 0.3% |
| New Mexico | 36.6% | 1.1% |
| Rhode Island | 40.1% | 0.0% |
| Wyoming | 40.4% | 0.6% |
| West Virginia | 44.5% | 0.3% |
| Iowa | 46.3% | 6.0% |
| North Dakota | 68.3% | 8.7% |
| Ohio | 74.5% | 0.7% |
| Washington | 75.1% | 0.0% |
| Alaska | 78.1% | 0.1% |
| Vermont | 79.8% | 3.0% |
| Indiana | 81.6% | 3.9% |
| Idaho | 82.2% | 1.2% |
| Mississippi | 82.2% | 2.2% |
| Montana | 84.6% | 17.0% |
| New York | 85.8% | 1.9% |
| South Dakota | 87.2% | 3.1% |
| Missouri | 87.3% | 53.2% |
| California | 87.8% | 35.9% |
| Maryland | 87.8% | 69.0% |
| Utah | 87.8% | 0.4% |
| Kentucky | 88.3% | 0.3% |
| Arkansas | 91.6% | 7.8% |
| Wisconsin | 91.8% | 1.8% |
| Louisiana | 92.6% | 9.8% |
| North Carolina | 92.9% | 4.9% |
| South Carolina | 92.9% | 7.7% |
| Illinois | 93.3% | 10.2% |
| Kansas | 93.3% | 2.2% |
| Oklahoma | 93.3% | 33.1% |
| Oregon | 93.4% | 1.4% |
| Georgia | 93.5% | 1.7% |
| Minnesota | 93.6% | 3.2% |
| Arizona | 94.3% | 37.7% |
| Delaware | 94.3% | 54.5% |
| Virginia | 95.2% | 0.6% |
| Alabama | 96.1% | 0.3% |
| Hawaii | 96.1% | 4.3% |
| Florida | 96.2% | 0.1% |
| New Jersey | 96.2% | 0.3% |
| Tennessee | 96.2% | 0.3% |
| Texas | 96.4% | 1.3% |
| Nevada | 96.9% | 1.6% |
| Michigan | 97.2% | 39.0% |
| Colorado | 97.7% | 58.2% |
| Pennsylvania | 98.0% | 0.2% |
| Maine | 98.6% | 1.3% |
| District of Columbia | 99.7% | 0.0% |
Texas had 96.4% of residential meters on AMI and 1.3% of customers reported in time-varying pricing; Pennsylvania 98.0% and 0.2%. The opposite limit applies in Massachusetts (22.0% of residential meters on AMI), New Hampshire (22.1%) and Connecticut (22.3%1), where most homes did not yet have a meter that records use by the hour. The meter makes a time-of-use rate possible; whether one is offered, and whether it is the default or an option, is decided by the utility and, for investor-owned utilities, by the state commission.
| Maryland | 69.0% | 87.8% |
|---|---|---|
| Colorado | 58.2% | 97.7% |
| Delaware | 54.5% | 94.3% |
| Arizona | 37.7% | 94.3% |
| California | 35.9% | 87.8% |
| United States | 11.3% | – |
| Texas | 1.3% | 96.4% |
| Pennsylvania | 0.2% | 98.0% |
| Massachusetts | 0.2% | 22.0% |
Source: EIA-861 2025, advanced meters, dynamic pricing and net metering. On time-varying rates: 2025; Smart meters: 2025.
Peak hours and the peak month are different things
Peak hours are a few hours of the day. The peak month is the month a home uses the most. Nationally, use per home over the last 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026) peaked in July 2026 at 1,160 kWh and was lowest in April 2026 at 678 kWh, a ratio of 1.7 times2. On a TOU rate with seasonal prices, the months with the most use are the ones where the split between peak and off-peak kWh moves the bill most.
Monthly averages do not show peak prices. The highest US average price per kWh in that period was in April 2026 (18.86¢ per kWh) and the lowest in December 2025 (17.11¢ per kWh2). Average revenue per kWh is what customers paid in total divided by what they used, across every rate and every hour. In mild months, fixed monthly charges are spread over fewer kWh and lift the average; that says nothing about the price of an on-peak kWh in your tariff.
Peak prices are tied to capacity: a grid has to be built and paid for to meet the highest demand of the year. In the Green Mountain Power study above, the critical peak price was set in proportion to transmission and generation capacity costs. In the PJM region, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's 2026 retail price review estimates that capacity costs alone raised average wholesale costs by 0.9¢ per kWh3 in 2025 against 2024.
Deciding whether a time-of-use rate fits your home
- Find your utility's tariff. Peak hours, seasons and prices are in it; for investor-owned utilities the state public utility commission keeps the official copy; public power utilities and co-ops publish their own. Note whether the rate is time-of-use, critical peak pricing or a peak rebate.
- Download your interval data from the utility's website if you have a smart meter. Total the kWh that fall inside the peak window over a full year, not one month.
- Price the same year twice: once on the flat rate, once on the TOU rate, with the same fixed charges on both. The electricity cost guide shows the arithmetic.
- Look at what can move. Laundry, dishwashers, water heating, pool pumps and electric-vehicle charging can usually shift; cooling during a heat wave often cannot.
- Check the exit terms. Ask whether and when you can return to the flat rate. If you have rooftop solar, read how exported kWh are valued by period; see net metering.
Time-of-use questions
What are peak hours for electricity?
They are the hours your utility's tariff names as on-peak, and they differ by utility, season and sometimes weekday. EIA does not publish peak or off-peak hours or prices; the tariff on your utility's website, or the state commission's copy of it, is the only reliable source.
Is a time-of-use rate cheaper?
Only if enough of your use falls outside the peak window. A household that runs heating, cooling, laundry or vehicle charging mostly off-peak pays less than on a flat rate; one that cannot move use out of the peak window can pay more. Run your own hourly usage through both rates before switching.
How many people are on time-of-use rates?
EIA counted 11.3%1 of US residential customers in time-varying pricing in 2025. That figure also includes critical peak rebates and other dynamic programs, not only time-of-use rates.
Related guides
Sources
- EIA-861 2025, advanced meters, dynamic pricing and net metering; table Advanced_Meters, Dynamic_Pricing, Net_Metering 2025; 2025, final; released October 7, 2026. www.eia.gov
- EIA, Electric Power Monthly / EIA-861M sales and revenue by state; table sales_revenue.xlsx (EPM Table 5.6.A); January 2001 to 2026-08; months since January 2026 preliminary; released October 23, 2026. www.eia.gov
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Retail Electricity Price Trends and Drivers; table July 2026 update; 2025 data. eta-publications.lbl.gov
How every figure is built: methodology. Found an error? Write to [email protected]; corrections are listed on the updates page.