Time-of-Use Electricity Plans in Pennsylvania (2026)
PECO, Duquesne Light, and the FirstEnergy Pennsylvania utilities offer 98 time-of-use tariffs between them. See when peak hours land and whether TOU pencils out for your household.
If I switched to TOU in Pennsylvania, when are peak hours?
Across the 5Pennsylvania utilities offering time-of-use plans, peak windows fall on weekday afternoons — most schedules concentrate peak pricing between roughly 2pm and 7pm, with off-peak running overnight and on weekends. There are 98 current TOU tariffs on file in the URDB. The exact peak window varies by utility; see each utility's heatmap below.
Time-of-use electricity in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania utilities approached time-of-use slowly compared with Ohio, but coverage has grown sharply since 2020. URDB now documents 98 current TOU tariffs across PECO, Met-Ed, Duquesne Light, West Penn Power, and Penelec. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PaPUC) approves each utility's TOU design as part of the default service plan process.
Is time-of-use worth it in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania TOU customers who benefit most are EV owners, heat pump households (which can pre-heat during off-peak hours), and pool/spa owners running pumps overnight. Time-shifting a household's biggest loads to overnight hours is the difference between TOU saving you money and costing you money.
The honest answer for most households is: it depends on how much of your usage you can move. Time-of-use plans are a swap — you accept a higher rate during peak hours in exchange for a lower rate during off-peak hours. If your home runs heaviest during peak hours and you can't shift it, you'll lose money. If you can shift even 30-40% of your usage into off-peak windows, you'll usually come out ahead.
Good candidates for TOU
- EV owners who charge overnight
- Households with battery storage
- Remote workers with flexible schedules
- Pool/spa pumps on timers
- Smart thermostats with pre-cooling
Poor candidates for TOU
- All-day occupied homes (retirees, families with young kids)
- Older A/C systems that run constantly in summer
- Resistive electric heat in winter
- Households without smart appliances or schedule flexibility
Run the math first. Look at your last 12 months of usage hour-by-hour if you have a smart meter, or estimate the percentage of your usage that already falls in off-peak hours. If less than 50% is off-peak, TOU probably costs you money. Our Bill Grade tool evaluates this for free.
Pennsylvania utilities with time-of-use plans
Each utility's count of currently filed TOU tariffs in URDB. Click through to the utility page for full plan details and live rates.
| Utility | TOU plans | Fixed $/mo | Default ¢/kWh | Tariff source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PECO Energy | 27 | $8.45 | 13.4¢ | Tariff PDF |
| PPL Electric Utilities | — | $14.13 | 12.8¢ | Tariff PDF |
| Met-Ed (FirstEnergy) | 5 | $9.16 | 13.1¢ | Tariff PDF |
| Duquesne Light | 31 | $12.50 | 14.2¢ | Tariff PDF |
| West Penn Power | 21 | $5.00 | 11.7¢ | Tariff PDF |
| Penelec (FirstEnergy) | 14 | $9.16 | 12.9¢ | Tariff PDF |
When does peak time hit on each Pennsylvania utility?
Below: each utility's most recently filed TOU schedule, rendered as a 7-day × 24-hour heatmap. Colored cells mark the peak hours you pay the most for. Data sourced directly from each utility's filed tariff via NREL URDB.
Why peak hours exist on Pennsylvania's grid
Pennsylvania is part of PJM. Like Ohio, summer is the peak season, with weekday afternoon-to-evening peaks. Most Pennsylvania TOU schedules concentrate peak pricing in a 4-hour to 6-hour weekday window.
TOU rates exist because wholesale electricity costs vary hour by hour. The retail price most households pay is a blended average across the entire month — cheap and expensive hours mixed together. A TOU rate unblends them: you pay closer to the actual hourly cost. That's good news if your usage skews to cheap hours, bad news if it skews to expensive ones.
Run your own TOU savings estimate
Plug your monthly usage and your typical schedule into our TOU visualizer to see if a time-of-use plan would have saved you money over the past year. The tool pulls real peak-hour schedules from your utility's URDB-filed tariff.
Frequently asked questions
What is a time-of-use electricity plan in Pennsylvania?
A Pennsylvania TOU plan charges different per-kWh rates by time of day. Most Pennsylvania utilities and competitive suppliers concentrate peak pricing in a four to six hour weekday window, typically 2pm to 7pm or 3pm to 8pm. Off-peak overnight rates can run 40 to 60 percent below the standard Price to Compare. The PA PUC reviews and approves the peak-period definitions in EDC tariff filings for PECO, PPL, Duquesne Light, Met-Ed, Penelec, and West Penn Power. A TOU plan pays off only if the volume of usage you move off-peak is large enough to offset higher peak-hour pricing.
Who benefits most from a time-of-use plan in Pennsylvania?
EV owners. A Pennsylvania household charging an EV overnight on a TOU rate can pay 5 to 7 cents per kWh for the charge versus 11 to 14 cents on the Price to Compare. Heat pump owners benefit in shoulder seasons when the unit runs hardest before noon and after 8pm. Pool pump operators come next — running the pump overnight is straightforward and saves real money. Solar households with batteries that discharge during peak and recharge overnight see large savings. Families home all day with air conditioning running through peak afternoon hours usually lose money on TOU compared to a flat Price to Compare rate.
How do I know if my Pennsylvania utility offers a time-of-use plan?
PECO, PPL Electric, Duquesne Light, Met-Ed, Penelec, and West Penn Power all file residential TOU tariffs with the PA PUC. The URDB lists 98 active Pennsylvania TOU rates across default service and competitive suppliers. PAPowerSwitch.com, the PA PUC’s shopping site, flags competitive suppliers offering TOU products with peak and off-peak rates listed alongside the Price to Compare. Your EDC may also publish TOU pilot programs and EV-specific rates on its residential rate page. Enrollment usually requires a smart meter, which all six major Pennsylvania EDCs have largely completed installing.
What appliances should I shift to off-peak hours on a Pennsylvania TOU plan?
EV charging is the highest-leverage move. A Level 2 charger overnight shifts 30 to 60 kWh per session entirely into the off-peak window. Clothes dryers pull 3,000 to 5,000 watts; running them after 7pm matters. Dishwashers can be loaded during the day and started on a delay timer for after peak. Pool pumps belong overnight, not during summer afternoons. Electric water heaters can recover overnight on a timer. Heat pumps can pre-warm or pre-cool before peak. The hardest load to shift is air conditioning during a summer afternoon, but pre-cooling to 70 degrees before 2pm and letting the house drift up to 76 by 7pm helps.