OUC PeakSHIFT Programs

Your Power, Your Choice

Update

What is PeakSHIFT?

OUC PeakSHIFT is our updated pricing approach—designed to give you more control over your bill while supporting a more efficient, affordable electric grid. When we reduce the cost of building and maintaining the energy system, those savings go right back to you.

Explore the Programs

Solar Programs

SunChoice
October 2024

Community solar participation opportunity

Learn more

TruNet Solar
July 2025

Updating OUC’s rooftop solar payment model

Learn more

DemandLevel

Fall 2026

Launch of demand-based pricing

Learn more

Shift & Save

Off-peak discounted electricity pricing

Coming Soon

PeakSHIFT is all about reducing demand on the energy grid.

What is Electric Demand?

Electric demand is the total amount of electricity you use in any one moment—in other words, the peak amount you are pulling from the electrical grid at one time. Everything that draws electricity adds to your demand.

When you run multiple appliances at the same time—like your oven, dishwasher, pool pump or clothes dryer—you create high electric demand. So the more energy you use in a short period of time, the higher your electric demand will be.

How is That Different From Consumption?

Consumption is how much electricity you use over a period of time. It increases as you use electricity each day. This is the measurement you are likely most familiar with, as it is the main one on your monthly bill.

Demand is measured in units called kilowatts (kW), but consumption is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh) since it tracks over a length of time.

Think of it Like Driving a Car

Consumption is like your total mileage over a month—it adds up with every trip.
Demand is like your speed—it changes from moment to moment, depending on how hard you press the accelerator.

The period when you use the most electricity (the highest speed) is known as peak demand.

How does PeakSHIFT help?
By reducing demand spikes across our system, PeakSHIFT reduces or delays the need to add expensive new power sources, helping keep costs down for all.

How will PeakSHIFT programs impact my bill?

PeakSHIFT changes how your bill is calculated, not how much OUC collects. It’s intended to share costs more fairly and help hold down future increases—not to bring in more money for OUC.
About half of residential customers will see no change or even a lower bill, and OUC’s rates remain below state and national averages.
Customers who use more energy may see small increases, but simple habits – like running major appliances at different times – can help manage costs.
As the PeakSHIFT programs are launched, you’ll start to see a few updates on your bill, including:

Program	Update	Explanation
DemandLevel	Electricity price (consumption) per kilowatt-hour lowered by 14%. New monthly charge of $5, $10 or $15 based on how much energy your home demands at once.	Price lowered to offset new DemandLevel tiered charges. Lower energy price helps balance new charge.
TruNet Solar	Existing customers grandfathered at full retail rate for 20 years. New customers credited for energy exported to grid at community solar energy rate until July 1, 2030, then at retail fuel rate.	Addresses cost inequalities and helps keep costs low for all customer
Shift & Save	Electricity discounted during off-peak hours.	Enables customers to save money by shifting electricity use to off-peak times.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I learn more?

About Electric Demand:
Learn more about electric demand and how it affects you.
Your Usage Dashboard: Access myOUC Usage Dashboard to get details on your electric and water usage, and your electric demand.
Savings Solutions: Find out how energy efficient your home or business is and improvements you can make to lower your bill. Learn more .

Are you part of a nonprofit, community group, or neighborhood association interested in sharing information about OUC’s PeakSHIFT program with your members? Our public engagement team would be happy to help. Reach out using the email below — we love connecting with local groups.

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What is peak demand?

Peak demand is the maximum amount of electricity each individual customer uses at any one time.

For example, imagine you need to run both your dishwasher and your clothes dryer. They consume the same amount of electricity whether you use them at the same time or one after the other. However, using them both at the same time creates much higher demand on the system.

Why is OUC changing how it compensates solar energy system owners?

Currently, OUC credits owners at the retail rate of electricity. This is the same price OUC would charge for that electricity, which includes costs for transmission lines, grid maintenance and other expenditures needed to sustain operations. Owners of rooftop solar do not need to pay for this overhead, meaning that the retail rate overvalues this electricity.

This overvaluation was intentional! It was designed as a generous incentive to encourage the installation of more rooftop solar arrays on customers’ properties. Back then, it took 20-30 years to pay back a rooftop solar array! But as installation costs have fallen and energy prices have risen, the estimated payback period for rooftop solar has dropped to just seven years (if the system is sized appropriately for residential consumption), meaning that the incentive is no longer needed.

OUC will adjust solar compensation to match current economics, ensuring that customers without solar panels are not paying to subsidize those who do.

How does high peak demand result in higher electric prices?

As an example, OUC is served by utility-scale solar farms, natural gas combined-cycle power plants and coal-fired power plants.

At low demand levels, the solar farm will be dispatched first, as the fuel (sun) is free but there are operating costs of labor and maintenance to convert electricity generated into a usable form to power your home or business.

As demand increases, natural gas power plants are next to be turned on, because its fuel is among the most cost-competitive resources on the grid today.

Once demand reaches its highest levels, the coal-fired power plants will be turned on as the fuel is more expensive and coal-plants are older and therefore more expensive to operate.

In addition to these resources, OUC also has peaker plants, power plants that grid operators call on at times of particularly high electricity demand on the grid.