When demand for electricity is forecasted to be especially high, our electrical grid can undergo stress and become less reliable. To help reduce this stress, PSE offers a Peak Time Savings program – select hours during summer or winter weekdays when residential customers can voluntarily reduce electricity use to earn bill credits.
When you reduce your electricity use on Peak Time Savings days, you will earn $0.50 on your energy bill for each kilowatt-hour (kWh) you save during the specific period. The more electricity you save during the event, the more you can earn.
You can review notification preferences or opt-out of the program here.
Why Peak Time Savings?
Peak Time Savings helps reduce demand during times when the grid can be overloaded, helping keep the electricity system stable and reliable for everyone. Peak Time Savings also helps PSE to rely on more electricity sources like wind and solar in the future, rather than natural gas.
How can I best save a kilowatt-hour?
A kilowatt-hour measures the amount of electricity a device uses while it’s operating. A kilowatt of power consumed by a device over the course of an hour is a kilowatt-hour of energy. It’s also how you are billed for electricity use.
Here’s some estimated examples of how many kilowatts common devices use per hour:
- Clothes Washer - 0.35 kW to 0.5 kW
- Water Heater – 3 kW to 5.5 kW
- Dishwasher – 1.2 kW to 2.4 kW
- EV Charger – 1.4 kW to 11.5 kW
- A/C or Heat Pump Unit – 0.8 kW to 7.5 kW
- Electric Furnace – 10 kW to 30 kW
- Electric Oven – 1.2 kW to 4.4 kW
The best opportunity for savings comes from reducing the use of larger appliances like your home heating/cooling system, electric oven, clothes dryer, etc. By taking actions like adjusting your thermostat setting by a few degrees (higher in summer, lower in winter), you will likely earn bill credits during Peak Time Savings periods.
Learn more about energy saving tips to help you maximize your energy savings and bill credits with Peak Time Savings.
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What is Peak Time Savings?
Peak Time Savings is a voluntary program that rewards you with bill credits for reducing electricity usage during Peak Time Savings periods. If you use less energy during the event window compared to what you typically would have used, you earn credits on your next bill.
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When will Peak Time Savings periods occur and how often?
Peak Time Savings periods happen on select weekdays during the winter (November 1 – March 31) and summer (May 1 – September 30). On these Peak Time Savings days, peak periods will happen at most once per day between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. These peak periods typically last 2-4 hours and will never take place on holidays (see list below). There can be up to five Peak Time Savings events each season.
Holidays:
- New Year’s Day
- Memorial Day
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas
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Do I have to reduce my electricity usage during Peak Time Savings periods?
No – reducing electricity usage during Peak Time Savings periods is 100% voluntary. There is no requirement to participate.
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I never signed up for Peak Time Savings. Why am I receiving notifications? Can I opt-out?
To make it easy for everyone to save and participate at a large scale, eligible residential PSE customers are automatically enrolled in Peak Time Savings. You can always opt-out of receiving notifications by unsubscribing via links in related emails or following the opt-out steps in text and phone messages. Or simply visit PSE.com/ManagePeakTimeSavings to opt out.
You can also manage your notification preferences at the site above. Select or clear the checkboxes for how you’d like us to contact you and click Save. Make sure we have your correct email address and/or phone number so we can notify you about the next Peak Time Savings day.
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How are my bill credits calculated?
We look at your most recent 10 weekdays and select the 5 weekdays when you use the most electricity.
We focus only on the same time as the Peak Time Savings period. For example, if the Peak Time Savings period is from 5-7 p.m., we look at your usage from 5-7 p.m. on each of those weekdays.
We then average your usage during that time. That average is your typical use baseline we compare against your usage during a Peak Time Savings event.
On a Peak Time Savings day, if you use less electricity than your typical use baseline during event hours, the difference is counted as your electricity savings and you will earn $0.50 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in bill credits based on those savings.
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I use an EV charger at home. How does this work with Peak Time Savings?
EV charging can be one of the largest electricity uses in a home, and it often happens during the same hours when grid demand is highest. On a Peak Time Savings day, delaying EV charging until after the event is very helpful for the grid. A level 2 EV charger can be especially power hungry, using up to 11.5 kilowatts per hour. Shifting when you charge your EV can be a great way to earn bill credits. You can even use your charger’s scheduling app to make this even easier.
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Where can I see my Peak Time Savings bill credits?
Within a week after a Peak Time Savings day, you’ll receive a notification letting you know how you did. This includes your estimated electricity savings for the event and shows you how many bill credits you earned for participating.
You can also view your result any time by signing in to your PSE account and navigating to the My Usage section. Here you can use the Peak Time Savings web tool to see your performance and bill credits. Additionally, usage and cost graphs show information about bill credits earned during a Peak Time Savings day. This information can be viewed under the Bill View tab.
You will also see the bill credit show up on your bill in the next billing cycle, if you saved, under the Other Charges and Credits, ‘Peak Time Savings Credit (MM/DD/YY).
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Am I eligible for Peak Time Savings?
Peak Time Savings is available to residential PSE electricity customers whose electricity is billed by PSE and who have an AMI meter (advanced meter) that provides usage data at the sub-hourly level. If you’re enrolled in any of PSE’s Flex programs, you are not eligible for Peak Time Savings because you will be earning rewards and incentives for those programs separately.


