FAQs

This is a special rate offering for residential Rate 110 customers. The rate incentivizes residential customers to use less energy during peak hours (3 p.m. to 7 p.m.) by increasing the rate they pay for every kilowatt-hour during that period. Customers who participate pay lower rates during off-peak hours. This gives customers more control over their electric bill and helps the utility reduce demand during times that most customers are using electricity. 

This benefits the customer because they can potentially pay a lower price for electricity 20 hours a day in exchange for higher pricing during a narrow, four-hour window. It benefits OPPD because it should help us reduce demand during peak hours during the summer, which ultimately benefits our system and reduces the need to build more generation or buy more energy. That creates a benefit for all ratepayers.  

We used a combination of technical expertise and our knowledge of our customer base to create a rate that will drive customer behavior, remain financially neutral to the district and benefit the customer with savings. 

This is a pilot. Initially, it will only be offered to customers who are currently using our standard Rate 110 and who have one of our modern meters, which represents about 8,500 customers. Customers choose whether to opt in and have the flexibility to opt out whenever. 

This pilot is for residential customers only with new meters 

Our analysis showed that the rate would be most effective in the summer hours, between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. when customers are getting home from work or gearing up for afternoon and evening activities. We’ll continue to evaluate other potential programs that would reward customers who use electricity in ways that benefit OPPD in the winter. 

This pilot is by invitation only. Customers need a modern, or smart, meter, which provides them online access to how they are using energy and helps us understand the success of the pilot. They also need to be on the standard rate 110, which is the case for most residential customers. 

We expect to roll this out on an opt-in basis in 2029 to all residential customers, pending pilot results and board approval. This matches our rollout of modern meters, which should be complete by then and enable all customers to participate, if they choose to do so. 

We’ve done extensive rate studies on this pilot, which indicate this should not negatively impact our budget. When customers use less energy, that reduces our revenue, but it also means we buy less energy in the marketplace and less fuel. Ultimately, this program could save OPPD and our ratepayers money by reducing the amount of generation we must buy or build to serve all customers reliably at peak times. 

We hope to get at least 300 customers to opt in, but we would be excited to get more. 

Absolutely. This is about customer choice.