Tips to save with time-of-day pricing
- Dishwasher: load first, run later
If you're on time-of-day pricing, maximize savings by running your dishwasher at 11 p.m. Many dishwashers have a delayed start feature which makes this easy. Load it when you're done cleaning up after dinner, then hit delay start.
If your dishwasher doesn't have this feature, make sure not to run your dishwasher during on-peak hours of 4 to 9 p.m. and you'll avoid the higher pricing.
And to use less energy overall, check out other tips to save in the kitchen.
- Laundry: avoid on-peak hours
Tackle your loads of laundry during the day before 4 p.m. or in the evening after 9 p.m. to be charged at the standard, off-peak rate and avoid the higher pricing.
If you're an early riser, you might have time to get one load out of the way before 7 a.m. to take advantage of discounted pricing.
To learn how to reduce electricity use, explore our energy-saving laundry tips.
- Pre-heat or Pre-cool your home before 4 p.m.
Comfort and health permitting, you can also adjust your thermostat to use less energy during on-peak hours.
This is easy if you have programmable or smart thermostats that you can schedule. Even better, many smart thermostats have a one-click setting that'll automatically optimize the schedule to save money according to our time-of-day pricing periods.
If you have manual thermostats, you can do it yourself.
- In the winter, pre-heat your home to your desired temperature before 4 p.m. Then at 4 p.m., turn it down two or three degrees below to save energy until 9 p.m.
- In the summer, pre-cool your home with your air conditioner the same way. And from 4 to 9 p.m. turn the setpoint up a few degrees higher to save energy.
