RESIDENTIAL TIME-OF-USE RATE SCHEDULE RT-25
When does peak hit on South Carolina Public Service Authority’s RESIDENTIAL TIME-OF-USE RATE SCHEDULE RT-25? Peak hits 6am–9am in Nov–Mar, 3pm–6pm in Apr–Oct — every day.
- peak37.44¢
- off-peak11.56¢
What does RESIDENTIAL TIME-OF-USE RATE SCHEDULE RT-25 cost a year?
| Household | Uses | A month | Per year | Works out to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment One or two people, no central air, no electric heat | 4,866 kWh | $83 | $997 | 20.5¢ / kWh |
| Family home Three or four people with central air conditioning | 9,453 kWh | $147 | $1,762 | 18.6¢ / kWh |
| Home with an EV Same house, plus an electric car charging overnight | 13,103 kWh | $182 | $2,184 | 16.7¢ / kWh |
Estimates, not quotes. We run three made-up but realistic households through this tariff hour by hour for a full year — including the way air conditioning loads the afternoon and an EV loads the small hours. Your own bill depends on when you actually use electricity, which is exactly the thing a per-kWh number hides.
What you actually pay
| Period | Rate | Applies when |
|---|---|---|
| peak | 37.44¢ | 3pm–6pm, April–October |
| peak | 37.44¢ | 6am–9am, November–March |
| off-peak | 11.56¢ | 9am–6am, November–March; 6pm–3pm, April–October |
Plus a fixed charge of $20 per month.
Should you be on RESIDENTIAL TIME-OF-USE RATE SCHEDULE RT-25?
This is a time-of-use plan, which means the clock decides your bill as much as the meter does. At the worst hour you pay 37.4¢ a kWh; at the best hour, 11.6¢ — 3.2× apart for identical electricity.
That gap is worth real money only if you can move load into it. Every kilowatt-hour a day you shift from 6am to midnight is about $94 a year. A dishwasher run is roughly 1.5 kWh; an EV commute charge is 8 to 12. If your day is fixed — you are home in the evening and the air conditioner runs when it runs — a plan like this costs you more, not less.
Before a single kilowatt-hour moves, this plan charges $240 a year in fixed fees. On the apartment above that is 24% of the whole bill; on the house with a car charging in it, 11%. Fixed charges are invisible in a cents-per-kWh comparison and they punish small users hardest — if you use very little electricity, the headline rate is the least important number on this page.
Expect the bill to move with the calendar. The same family home costs about $207 in July and $111 in February — a $96 spread driven by heating and cooling far more than by anything you chose. Budget against the July figure, not the average, and a summer bill stops being a surprise.
Other South Carolina Public Service Authority plans
Who can be on South Carolina Public Service Authority’s RESIDENTIAL TIME-OF-USE RATE SCHEDULE RT-25?
Eligibility is not our judgement — it is written into the tariff South Carolina Public Service Authority filed. This is what that document says:
This Schedule is applicable to private residences, single family dwelling units, and farms. Energy delivered to each residence, dwelling unit, or farm shall be separately metered, and shall include energy used for incidental, non-commercial purposes (e.g., swimming pools, garages and workshops). This Schedule is not applicable to recognized boarding or rooming houses or commercial establishments. Energy taken under this Schedule may not be resold or shared with others. The Authority, at its sole option, may place under this Schedule RT-17 Customers having tankless electric water heaters or other types of loads that are estimated by the Authority to have an annual load factor less than 35%.
Shortened — the clause runs longer in the filing. Quoted from the filed tariff. Your utility decides eligibility, not us; check with them before you switch.
If this is new to you
- When is electricity cheapest? Off-peak hours explained
Overnight, usually. All weekend, often. The exact hours are in your tariff, not in a rule of thumb.
- Should you switch to a time-of-use electricity plan?
A wide peak-to-off-peak gap is a lever, not a saving. Levers need something to move.
- When should you charge an electric car at home?
The single biggest load most homes can move, and the easiest to automate.
- Why is my electric bill so high in summer?
Usually three causes at once, and only one of them is your air conditioner.
Where this comes from
- Effective
- 2025-04-01
the date this tariff took effect
- Covers
- delivery + supply
the ZIP-code service map lists this territory as bundled, so the utility sells delivery and supply together
- Enrollment
- open to new customers
Tariff document: https://www.santeecooper.com/Rates/_pdfs/Residential/RT-25.pdf