California time-of-use hours by utility

Every California electric utility we track with at least one active time-of-use rate plan, with peak and off-peak hours verified against the published tariff. Periods only — no price values.

16Utilities covered
84Active TOU plans
2,443ZIP codes covered

Every TOU schedule on this page verified since

Frequently asked

  1. What are the typical time-of-use on-peak hours in California?

    Across the 20 residential TOU plans tou.tools tracks in California, the most common on-peak window is 4 PM – 9 PM (11 plans); others run 5 PM – 8 PM and 5 PM – 9 PM. Every hour outside the on-peak (and any mid-peak) window is billed as off-peak. Exact boundaries vary by utility and plan — see each utility's schedule above.

  2. Which electric utilities in California offer time-of-use rate plans?

    tou.tools tracks 16 California utilities with at least one active TOU rate plan — 84 active schedules in total. The largest by customers served are Pacific Gas & Electric Co., Southern California Edison Co, and Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. They span investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities, and political subdivisions. The full list above is sorted by customers served.

  3. Do California time-of-use peak hours apply on weekends?

    It depends on the plan. Of the 20 residential TOU plans we track in California, 12 apply on-peak periods every day including weekends, while 8 restrict on-peak to weekdays and treat weekends as off-peak. Many tariffs also treat observed holidays as off-peak; the Days column in each schedule above shows the exact rule.

  4. Do California time-of-use hours change by season?

    Some do. Of the 20 residential TOU plans we track in California, 11 shift their period boundaries between seasons (typically summer and winter), while 9 keep the same hours year-round. Each schedule above lists its exact season dates.

  5. When is the cheapest time to charge an EV in California?

    tou.tools tracks 18 EV-specific rate plans in California (BEV, DT, EV, EV-D, EV-TOU, EV-TOU-2, EV-TOU-5, EV2-A, TOU-A-1-EV, TOU-A-2-EV, TOU-A-3-EV, TOU-D-1-EV, TOU-EV-1, TOU-EV-2, TOU-EV-3, TOU-EV-7, TOU-EV-8, and TOU-EV-9). On EV time-of-use plans the lowest-cost window is generally the overnight super-off-peak or off-peak period; charging then avoids the on-peak window. See the EV plan schedules for the exact hours.

  6. How do I find which California utility serves a specific address or ZIP code?

    tou.tools maps 2,443 California ZIP codes to the utilities that serve them. Because service territories can overlap, a ZIP may return more than one candidate utility; supplying a full street address resolves it to a single utility via a geocoded point-in-territory lookup. The REST API and MCP server both return the matching utility and its current TOU period.

For developers & agents

Time-of-use periods for all of California, one API.

Resolve any California ZIP or address to its utility and get the current period plus the next transition — over REST or MCP.