With a few days of eGauge power tracking under my belt, I began to look into the other half of our solar equation: the Time of Use electric billing. Duke Energy (formerly Progress Energy) be installing a new meter for us after our solar panels get installed. We’ll be billed at a much, much different rate once that happens.

Power companies offer optional Time Of Use (TOU) rates for customers who would like to shift their power consumption to off-peak times. This benefits the power company because it doesn’t have to spin up new power plants to handle the peak demand. Demand-generated electricity is very expensive compared to a plant that’s already online, so power companies obviously want to avoid it.
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