How time-of-use utility bills will work

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Customers have raised many questions about Puget Sound Energy's new time-of-use pricing and conservation-rebate program approved Wednesday by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.

The pilot program, which is voluntary, goes into effect Tuesday and runs until Sept. 30. Here are some questions and answers:

Q: Who is affected by these programs?

A: Both programs apply only to electricity customers of Puget Sound Energy, the investor-owned utility headquartered in Bellevue. Customers of Seattle City Light, Tacoma Power and other energy suppliers, as well as Puget's natural-gas customers, are not affected.

Q. How do I know if the new rates apply to me?

A. Call Puget's customer-service office at 888-225-5773. In short, only 300,000 of Puget's 920,000 electricity customers are in the time-of-use program. No commercial accounts are included at this time. Eventually, the utility may put all of its customers on time-of-use rates.

All of its electricity customers are eligible for the conservation credit.

Q: What are the new rates?

A: 6.2 cents per kilowatt hour from 6 to 10 a.m. and 5 to 9 p.m., the peak hours of use. 5.36 cents midday, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., and 4.7 cents from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and all day Sundays and holidays, the off-peak hours of use.

Customers who opt out or are not otherwise affected will pay an effective rate of 5.36 cents per kilowatt hour. Those who use more power will pay a slightly higher rate.

Q. The program is voluntary. How do I get out of it?

A. Call the utility and say you choose not to participate. If you don't, it will automatically put you on time-of-use rates. The June bill will be the first to reflect the new rates. If you opt out of the program, your rate will be the same as it is now.

Q. How does Puget know what time of day I am using electricity?

A. The company has installed electronic meters at selected homes and businesses. The meters read power use, and the data are transmitted every 15 minutes to Puget. The readings detect power use during four separate pricing periods, so customers can be billed based on their time of use.

Q. Won't Puget make a profit off the power I save them?

A. Possibly. When the utility has surplus power, it can resell it on the wholesale market. However, it must also buy power for customers when the company is short on energy. Making money off power sales theoretically helps the company avoid rate increases in the future. But Puget is not obligated to share wholesale-power revenues with customers.

Q: Will these programs benefit me?

A: It depends. The conservation credit will pay 5 cents for every kilowatt hour saved above a 10 percent reduction in power use for the same month last year. If you have always conserved, it may be hard to save enough to earn the credit.

The time-of-use rates may save you money if you shift significant power-consuming tasks, such as running the dryer or dishwasher in off-peak hours.

Q: Where can I get more information?

A: Call Puget Sound Energy and check the Personal Energy Management page of its Web site: www.pse.com. You may also contact the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission at 800-562-6150. The commission has extensive information about the program on its Web site at www.wutc.wa.gov.

Lynda V. Mapes can be reached at 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com.

Information in this article, originally published April 27, was corrected May 1. Due to an editing error, a previous version of this story misstated the price of power for Puget Sound Energy customers who opt out of Puget's new time-of-use rates. On average, customers who opt out will pay an effective rate of 5.36 cents per kilowatt hour. Those who use more power will pay a slightly higher rate.