Chugach Time-of-Use Pilot Opens Oct. 1 With Higher Daytime Rate

Chugach Electric Association will let members opt into a time-of-use pricing pilot starting Oct. 1, charging 21.595 cents a kilowatt hour for power used between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. and 10.833 cents overnight. The cooperative's standard residential rate is 16.182 cents at every hour.

A member who shifts laundry, dishwashing and vehicle charging into the overnight window stands to pay less; a member who signs up and changes nothing stands to pay slightly more. The on-peak charge sits 33.5 percent above the standard rate and the off-peak charge sits 33.1 percent below it. Because the on-peak window covers exactly half the day, the break-even point falls at 49.7 percent of consumption on-peak, meaning a household with usage spread evenly across 24 hours would pay about three hundredths of a cent more per kilowatt hour than under the standard rate. Chugach has not published that figure; the calculation is this desk's, run on the rates the cooperative published. Small general service accounts, the class covering small businesses, would pay 20.034 cents on-peak and 10.267 cents off-peak against a standard 15.145 cents, with break-even at 49.9 percent. Chugach's member-facing program page does not mention the small business class in its text.

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska approved the time-of-use structure in a November 2024 rate case decision. The RCA's notice on the underlying tariff filings, TA422-121 and TA544-8, states the schedule would be available to 500 residential or small general service customers. That cap does not appear on Chugach's program page, which says only that participation is "subject to eligibility requirements, and spaces are limited."

The cooperative states twice that the pilot carries no guarantee: "Energy bill savings are not guaranteed, and your monthly bill may be higher or lower depending on your individual usage patterns."

Chugach bars three groups from enrolling: members on budget billing, community solar subscribers, and members with net metering, who sell surplus power from their own generation back to the cooperative. Community solar tariff sheets effective Aug. 13, 2026, under Tariff Advice No. 592-8, cite a systems limit and say Chugach "reserves the right to modify" the exclusions as billing and metering systems are updated, subject to Commission approval. Chugach has not stated how applicants will be chosen if oversubscribed, how long the pilot runs, or what tariff a participant returns to when it ends.

The rates appear on Chugach's page only as images, one with exact figures and one rounded to about 22, 16 and 11 cents, neither carrying alternative text for screen readers. Chugach's 288-page operating tariff, revised effective Aug. 13, contains no time-of-use rate schedule; "Time of Use" appears once, as a disqualifier for a different program. The page's FAQ heading has no entries beneath it.

Chugach does not publish regulatory filings online, directing members to contact its Regulatory and External Affairs staff. This account rests on Chugach's program page and filed tariffs and the RCA's public notice; no Chugach official, board member or regulator is quoted in that material.

Members can compare pilot rates against their billing history starting Oct. 1 using the Compare My Rates tool in the My Account portal. Chugach notes a limit: "The comparison estimates energy charges only and does not reflect your total electric bill." Applying runs through the same portal: members log in, open the Time of Use Pilot Program widget, run the comparison and submit an application from there.