Daytime super off-peak rates coming to SDG&E and community choice customers
Customers of San Diego Gas & Electric - as well as the two community choice energy programs serving San Diego County - will be able to consume electricity at the lowest available price during more convenient midday hours.
Effective May 1, “super off-peak” pricing goes into effect throughout the year for SDG&E consumers enrolled in time-of-use plans from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The change means you can run your appliances, such as dishwashers and air conditioning, as well as charge electric vehicles, at a much lower cost.
Time-of-use plans vary, but as an example, one of the most common pricing plans that SDG&E residential customers are enrolled in is called TOU-DR1. Customers pay 43.1 cents per kilowatt-hour from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, but as of May 1, the price will drop to the super off-peak rate of 34 cents per kWh. That’s 21.1% less expensive.
“This change gives customers more control,” SDGE’s chief customer officer Dana Golan said in a statement. “Expanding super off-peak hours year-round gives people more options to save in ways that work for their households.”
Previously, SDG&E’s super off-peak weekday window was limited to the months of March and April, but the change extends it to all 12 months.
As in the past, super off-peak pricing is also available from midnight to 6 a.m. Monday through Friday and on weekends and holidays from midnight to 2 p.m.
Customers in San Diego County who receive their electric generation service from San Diego Community Power and the Clean Energy Alliance also benefit from the expansion, as the two community choice aggregation, or CCA, programs made similar changes.
Community Power officials said Monday that weekday super off-peak weekday pricing from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for its time-of-use customers has already rolled out and went into effect on March 1. The organization serves about 955,000 customer accounts in the cities of San Diego, Chula Vista, La Mesa, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, National City and the unincorporated communities of San Diego County.
"By expanding these hours, we're giving San Diegans more opportunities to lower their bills while using cleaner power,” Lucas Utouh, Community Power’s senior director of data analytics and customer operations, said in an email.
The Clean Energy Alliance, which serves more than 255,000 customers in the cities of Carlsbad, Del Mar, Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos, Solana Beach and Vista, said it added a super off-peak window from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays, effective April 1.
“This expansion is a clear win for our customers,” Greg Wade, CEO of the Clean Energy Alliance, said in a statement. “More low-cost hours during the day means more flexibility to shift energy use and lower bills, while also taking advantage of the clean solar energy our region generates.”
Growing the super off-peak hours aligns with the time when the most renewable energy - solar production, in particular - is available on California’s electric grid. The move came as part of SDG&E’s most recent general rate case, determined and approved by the California Public Utilities Commission.
By contrast, rates are highest between 4 and 9 p.m. That’s when California’s power system is under the most stress because managers of the grid at the California Independent System Operator have to coordinate a reduction in solar output as the sun goes down with an increase in electricity demand, as people come home from work and turn on their appliances. It’s particularly challenging in the summertime when consumers crank up their air conditioners.
Michael Powers, founding partner of Oceanside-based Stellar Solar, said lower midday pricing will give ratepayers some much-needed flexibility to shift their electricity usage away from the 4 to 9 p.m. block.
“Previously, any kind of heavy electricity use, in particular like electric vehicles, people had to wait until after midnight” to get the lowest price per kilowatt-hour on weekdays, Powers said. “By giving people an opportunity from 10 to 2 to utilize those very low rates to charge your car, run your air conditioning to pre-cool your house … that’ll be helpful.”
The expansion comes as utility rates across California keep rising.
According to a report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office, average electricity rates among SDG&E, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison have grown much faster than inflation, rising between 48% and 67% from 2019 through 2023.
Expanded super off-peak weekday hours will apply to SDG&E’s commercial customers, too.
SDG&E customers who are not on a pricing plan with super off-peak hours can review their current plans and make comparisons by visiting myenergycenter.com.
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This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 2:52 PM.