SCE peak hours, off-peak hours, and what each one costs

The short answer

SCE peak hours are 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays if you are on TOU-D 4–9 p.m. or on TOU-D-PRIME, and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays if you are on TOU-D 5–8 p.m. Summer runs June through September, when those windows are priced as on-peak. October through May the same evening window becomes mid-peak, which is cheaper than summer on-peak but still the most expensive block of the winter day.

Weekends are never on-peak. On all three plans the evening window drops to mid-peak on Saturdays and Sundays.

SCE off-peak hours are everything else: in summer, midnight to 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. to midnight (midnight to 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. to midnight on the 5–8 plan). In winter the overnight hours are off-peak and the middle of the day is super-off-peak, the cheapest electricity Edison sells.

The three plans side by side

The 5–8 p.m. plan is not the cheap one. It has the shortest peak window, and people assume that makes it the bargain. Edison prices those three hours at 72¢ — the highest number on this page. It only pays off if you can genuinely keep the house quiet from 5 to 8.

TOU-D 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The most common residential plan.

Summer weekdays, June through September

• 12 a.m.–4 p.m.Off-peak, 33¢
• 4 p.m.–9 p.m.On-peak, 59¢
• 9 p.m.–12 a.m.Off-peak, 33¢

Summer weekends

• 12 a.m.–4 p.m.Off-peak, 33¢
• 4 p.m.–9 p.m.Mid-peak, 44¢
• 9 p.m.–12 a.m.Off-peak, 33¢

Winter, October through May, every day

• 12 a.m.–8 a.m.Off-peak, 36¢
• 8 a.m.–4 p.m.Super-off-peak, 32¢
• 4 p.m.–9 p.m.Mid-peak, 50¢
• 9 p.m.–12 a.m.Off-peak, 36¢

TOU-D 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

A shorter peak window, but the most expensive one.

Summer weekdays, June through September

• 12 a.m.–5 p.m.Off-peak, 34¢
• 5 p.m.–8 p.m.On-peak, 72¢
• 8 p.m.–12 a.m.Off-peak, 34¢

Summer weekends

• 12 a.m.–5 p.m.Off-peak, 34¢
• 5 p.m.–8 p.m.Mid-peak, 51¢
• 8 p.m.–12 a.m.Off-peak, 34¢

Winter, October through May, every day

• 12 a.m.–8 a.m.Off-peak, 37¢
• 8 a.m.–5 p.m.Super-off-peak, 32¢
• 5 p.m.–8 p.m.Mid-peak, 55¢
• 8 p.m.–12 a.m.Off-peak, 37¢

TOU-D-PRIME

For homes with an EV, a home battery, or an electric heat pump. New solar customers on the Solar Billing Plan are required to be on it. Cheapest off-peak of the three.

Summer weekdays, June through September

• 12 a.m.–4 p.m.Off-peak, 26¢
• 4 p.m.–9 p.m.On-peak, 61¢
• 9 p.m.–12 a.m.Off-peak, 26¢

Summer weekends

• 12 a.m.–4 p.m.Off-peak, 26¢
• 4 p.m.–9 p.m.Mid-peak, 39¢
• 9 p.m.–12 a.m.Off-peak, 26¢

Winter, October through May, every day

• 12 a.m.–8 a.m.Off-peak, 30¢
• 8 a.m.–4 p.m.Super-off-peak, 24¢
• 4 p.m.–9 p.m.Mid-peak, 45¢
• 9 p.m.–12 a.m.Off-peak, 30¢

The super-off-peak window most people miss

From October through May, all three plans add a super-off-peak block in the middle of the day — 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., or 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the 5–8 plan. It is the cheapest electricity Edison sells all year: 32¢, 32¢, and 24¢ on the three plans respectively.

There is no super-off-peak in summer. From June to September the daytime is plain off-peak, and the only cheap hours are the ones nobody is awake for.

SCE off-peak hours on weekends

Saturdays and Sundays have no on-peak hours at all. In summer the evening window is priced as mid-peak (44¢, 51¢ and 39¢ on the three plans) and every other weekend hour is off-peak. In winter, weekends are priced exactly like weekdays. If a big load can wait for the weekend, summer is when that pays.

The cheapest time to use electricity on SCE

October through May: the middle of the day, in the super-off-peak window. June through September: any off-peak hour, overnight or before 4 p.m., since there is no cheaper daytime block. For an EV, charge overnight or at midday and never between 4 and 9 p.m. Homes with an EV, a battery or a heat pump can choose TOU-D-PRIME, which has the lowest off-peak price of the three plans: 26¢ in summer and 24¢ super-off-peak in winter.

What actually moves your bill

The gap between off-peak and on-peak in summer is the whole game. On the 4–9 plan it is 33¢ against 59¢ — running the dryer at 2 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. costs about 44% less per kilowatt-hour. On the 5–8 plan the same swap is 34¢ against 72¢, a difference of more than half.

The things worth moving out of the evening window, in rough order of how much they draw:

• EV charging. The single biggest one. Charge overnight or midday, never at 6 p.m.
• Pool pump. Run it in the morning. It is a big load with no reason to be on in the evening.
• Dryer and dishwasher. Both have delay timers. Use them.
• Pre-cooling the house. Drop the thermostat a few degrees before 4 p.m. and let it drift up during peak, rather than running the compressor hard at 6 p.m.

Air conditioning is the hard one, because in Fontana, Riverside and the High Desert the hours you most need it are exactly the hours Edison charges most for it. That is not an accident — the peak window exists because everyone’s AC is running then.

Why this window is the case for a battery

Solar alone does not solve the 4-to-9 problem. Production falls off through the late afternoon and is finished well before 9 p.m., which means the panels are quietest exactly when the price is highest. Without storage you generate cheap midday power, export it for very little, and then buy back expensive evening power.

A battery shifts that. It stores the midday surplus and discharges it across the peak window, so the expensive hours are covered by your own stored electricity rather than Edison’s. That is the reason every system we place in the Inland Empire pairs panels with a Powerwall for solar battery backup. It also matters which plan you land on: Edison requires new solar customers on the Solar Billing Plan to take TOU-D-PRIME, the plan with a 61¢ summer peak and the cheapest off-peak hours.

One caveat we would rather say up front: shifting usage and adding storage reduce the per-kilowatt-hour part of your bill. They do not touch the Base Services Charge, the flat monthly amount Edison charges for the connection. We wrote about that separately in what actually changed on your Edison bill in 2026.

How to find out which plan you are on

It is printed on your bill, and it is in your account on sce.com under rate plan. Edison also publishes a rate plan comparison tool that runs your own usage history against each plan, which is more reliable than any estimate we could give you. If you are about to add solar or a battery, check it before you decide anything — the right plan for a house with storage is often not the right plan for the same house without it.

Questions people ask about SCE peak hours

What a battery does to these hours

If your summer bill is mostly the 4-to-9 window, that is the part a solar-and-battery system is built to cover. On the $0-down plan there is nothing upfront: you pay for the power the system makes, not for the panels. Send one Edison bill and we will show you what it would carry through your evening peak, and what would stay on your Edison bill.

Sources

Every price on this page is Edison’s own published figure. Customers whose generation comes from a community choice aggregator, such as Desert Community Energy in Palm Springs, pay a different generation rate; check your own bill.

• Southern California Edison — Time-of-Use Residential Rate Plans (rate tables for all three plans)
• Southern California Edison — Understanding the Base Services Charge
• Southern California Edison — Rate Plan Comparison Tool

Published September 12, 2026; updated and rates re-checked October 15, 2026. Edison changes these, and when it does this page changes. For your own rate plan and bill, Edison is the authority — we are a solar broker, not a utility.