Rate Options

There may be optional rate schedules available to help you lower your energy bills. You may want to consider the amount of energy you use, the time of day you use energy most or even if you have a low-emission vehicle. Please review these optional rate schedules to help determine the rate schedule that’s best for you.

There are two basic rate options for single-family, separately metered residential customers.

• E-1 rate schedule is for low-usage customers or those who cannot shift their electricity use.
• E-6 is an optional time-of-use rate schedule for individually metered customers who can minimize their loads during defined time periods.
• Rate options are also available for customers who fuel low-emission vehicles at home, and for customers who own and operate solar or wind facilities.
• In the future, SmartMeter™ technology will allow PG&E to create more options in pricing plans where energy is billed at different prices during different times of the day. With more options, you will be able to choose a rate plan that helps your household save money and benefit the environment.

Several general service rate schedule options are available to commercial, industrial, non-residential and non-agricultural customers.

• Time-of -use rate schedules are available for customers who can modify their electricity needs to avoid daily and seasonal peak periods.
• Other options include lower kilowatthour costs when coupled with a kilowatt demand charge.
• Rates are also available for customers who operate solar and wind facilities, and for those who use electricity for oil and gas extraction.

A variety of rate schedule options are available for the needs of agricultural customers.

• Rate options include horsepower requirements as well as operating hours, days and seasons.
• Time-of-use rate schedules may be beneficial to customers who can pump during non-peak periods. At least 70 percent of the electric usage on an agricultural account must be used for qualifying agricultural end-use as defined in PG&E’s Electric Rule 1 and applicability statements.

Common areas can be shared or used by occupants within a multi-family facility, and include, but are not limited to, outdoor lighting, hallway lighting, elevators, laundry rooms, recreation rooms, swimming pools and tennis courts.

• Common-area accounts that are separately metered by PG&E were granted a one-time opportunity by the California Public Utilities Commissions on January 16, 2003, to switch from the electric residential rate classification to the electric commercial rate classification. These customers may still change to a commercial rate schedule, but they may no longer return to a residential rate schedule.
• Customers with multi-family common use service constructed after January 16, 2003, have the option to take service on either a residential or general service rate schedule. If the general service rate schedule is chosen to establish service, they will have a one-time, two-month window of opportunity to return to a residential rate schedule, starting 14 months after service is established. Once the two month window has expired, these customers may still switch to a commercial rate schedule, but they may not switch back to residential.

As a result of the 2005 Federal Energy Policy Act, Daylight Saving Time has been extended to start on the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November. PG&E’s time-of-use meters are not currently programmed to recognize the extended dates. The time periods will begin and end one hour later for the period between the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in April, and for the period between the last Sunday in October and the first Sunday in November.

For more information, see extension of daylight saving time.