Oregon Schedule 29 Time of Use option

About this option

Schedule 29 is best for non-residential customers with low load-factors that don’t use a lot of energy (kWh) relative to their peak demand (kW).

• This option typically doesn’t work well for customers on Schedule 23. 
• For customers on Schedule 28, load factor (how much energy you use divided by the maximum amount you could use for your peak demand if you ran at that level in every hour) generally needs to be less than 5% to save money on Schedule 29. 
• For customers on Schedule 30, load factor generally needs to be less than 40% to save money on Schedule 29.

Customers on Schedule 29 can save money by shifting energy use away from on-peak hours during the summer and winter months. 

From April through October, on-peak hours are 4-8 p.m. weekdays.

From November through March, on-peak hours are 6-10 a.m. and 5-8 p.m. weekdays.

Pricing

Most general service customers pay demand charges based on their highest measured monthly demand in kilowatts (kW) plus they pay energy charges based on their total monthly usage in kilowatt-hours (kWh). On Schedule 29, participants will not pay a traditional demand charge but will instead be charged a higher rate for their first block of energy kWh and a lower rate for all additional kWh. The number of kWh in the first block will be determined for each customer, each month, based on that customer’s monthly demand in kW. Specifically, the first block will be calculated as 50 kWh per kW of demand.  

Customers on Schedule 29 will reduce their bill if they can reduce their highest measured monthly kW demand or otherwise increase their utilization of energy for each kW by using power more steadily over time rather than in shorter bursts at a higher level. 

Additionally, Schedule 29 rewards customers for shifting energy usage to off-peak hours.  All off-peak energy will receive a credit per kWh to offset some of the energy charges. Customers can save money by shifting usage away from on-peak periods and into off-peak periods. In the summer months of April-October, Schedule 29 on-peak hours are 4p.m. to 8p.m. M-F, excluding holidays. In the months of November through March, on-peak hours are from 6a.m. to 10a.m and 5p.m. to 8p.m. M-F, excluding holidays. Off-peak hours are all remaining hours.

How billing works (rates in effect March 1, 2021)

Let’s look at a customer with monthly usage of 100 kW of demand and 50,000 kWh of energy where 75%  or 37,500 kWh of that usage occurring during off-peak times.

On the traditional Schedule 28 for a general service customer of this size, the bill would be calculated as shown in the following table:

On the new Schedule 29 for general service, this customer would not pay load size or demand charges, but the first block of kWh would be based on the customer’s demand size. The first block of kWh for the example customer would be their measured demand of 100 kW times 50 kWh per kW:  100 X 50 = 5,000 kWh in the first block.  Below is a summary of how the bill would be calculated:

In this example, the customer would pay less under Schedule 29 than under the traditional general service schedule. The customer could also save an additional amount by shifting more of their energy usage to off-peak times.

Notes:

• Rates used in this example are approximate rates from March 2021 for secondary voltage and are used for comparison purposes only. Estimated rates are subject to change and may not reflect all charges applicable to customers. For current rates, please see the Oregon price summary.
• Schedule 29 participants are excluded from participation in net metering.