Recently, the Ontario Energy Board announced a new ultra-low overnight rate option (source). Briefly, the new rate allows for ultra-cheap 2.5 c/kWh overnight (11 pm to 7 am), while charging substantially higher on-peak rates of 25 c/kWh (4 pm-9 pm). We find that with some adjustments, there are some savings to be had with my Monthly Electricity bill. Upgrading our dryer to one with a delay function, and perhaps a home-battery system are good options to cash in on the new rate.
Lets look at the new rate option in more detail. Currently I have a time-of-use rate, where I get some discount for using electricity outside of peak hours. The new rate takes this a step further, lets compare the two rates:
| Time | TOU (summer) | TOU (winter) | New Ultra-low nightly rate |
| Overnight 11 pm-7 am | 7.4 | 7.4 | 2.4 |
| 7 am to 11 am | 10.2 | 15.1 | 10.2 |
| 11 am to 4 pm | 15.1 | 10.2 | 10.2 |
| 4 pm to 5 pm | 15.1 | 10.2 | 24 |
| 5 pm to 7 pm | 10.2 | 15.1 | 24 |
| 7 pm to 9 pm | 7.4 | 7.4 | 24 |
| 9 pm to 11 pm | 7.4 | 7.4 | 10.2 |
| Weekends + Holidays 7 am to 11 pm | 7.4 | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| Weekends + Holidays 11 pm to 7 am | 7.4 | 7.4 | 2.4 |
As you can see, the main difference here is a much lower nightly rate, in return for a much higher afternoon peak rate. There is potential here to save a fair bit of money if most of your usage happens outside of the 4 pm to 9 pm window. I certainly can program my car as discussed here, to charge in the dead of night. Usually I plug in around the 20-40 % mark, so the 8 hours between 11 pm and 7 am is ample to charge up.
Our clothes dryer is not terribly smart, but it is old, and we could do with a new one, shopping for one with a timer function of some sorts, would allow us to save even more by shifting our usage to the ultra-cheap dead-of-the-night time period.
Similarly, we can adjust our programmable thermostat to be very conservative during the pricey 4-9 pm Weekday window. Tricks can include for example pre-cooling the house when electricity is cheaper. I find for example that I really appreciate the air conditioner at night as I like a cool sleep environment. I can wait until 9pm to kick the AC into high-gear.
The Kitchen is our problem spot. With all electric appliances, I need to cook dinner smack in the middle of super-expensive-peak rate. A small battery could allow me to shift this too, there are several such products on the market, many of which also allow for solar-charging. I figure I would need a few kWh capacity (my french fries routine is about 1 kWh), along with burgers or something on the pan for another kWh or so.
Even outside of monetary motivations, grid-power overnight is much cleaner. Consider this screenshot from gridwatch showing some daily statistics on Ontario’s grid, one day in September of 2022. As you can see, carbon emissions are much lower overnight.
The right thing to do seems to be shifting as much of your energy use as you can to the overnight hours. That way we can drastically reduce the carbon emissions associated with our electricity usage. Why not get paid for it? I think Ill be making the switch once Toronto Hydro allows me.
Electric car adventures 