FAQs | San Miguel Power Association, Inc.

A: Yes. Our time-of-use peak hours are from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week, even on weekends and holidays.

A: SMPA purchases power from Tri-State Generation and Transmission (Tri-State), a wholesale power supplier that provides electricity for 41 utility companies throughout Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, and Wyoming. Tri-State generates electricity through power plants and renewable energy sources and delivers it to member-owned electric co-ops, like SMPA. SMPA distributes this power to your homes and businesses.

A: Tri-State has to invest large amounts of money to be able to reliably provide electricity during a relatively small number of hours when its system is under the greatest strain. Similar to how prices increase when there is a high demand for Ubers during rainstorms, or when you fly home during the holidays, energy is more expensive when everyone wants to use it. Providing rates that reflect the cost of operating the electric system encourages more efficient use of the system. It also promotes fairness by ensuring that customers pay in proportion to how much they contribute to the costly system peaks.

A: SMPA’S Time-of-Use (TOU) rate offers members a discount on energy for 19 hours of the day, 11¢ / kWh (previously 13.5¢ / kWh). During the 5 hour “Peak” period of 4 PM to 9 PM, members see a higher rate. (22¢ /kWh).

A: Even if you use energy the same way under the Time-of-Use (TOU) rate as you did before, your energy bill will likely change only by few dollars each month. If you do want to take advantage of the lower off-peak rates, there are several small changes that can help you do so. Click here for a list of tips for keeping energy use down during on-peak hours.

A: The great thing about Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing is that you don’t need to buy fancy appliances to keep your energy use down. With TOU pricing, members have the opportunity to pay lower rates for energy by making a few small changes. View free changes on “MAKING TIME-OF-USE (TOU) WORK FOR YOU.”

A: No. We understand that people need to use energy during peak hours, and we’re committed to ensuring that power is available. With this new rate, the peak is recognized with a price signal, and budget-conscious consumers will want to reserve this time for the things that matter most—things like cooking dinner, doing homework online and enjoying streaming services in the hours before bedtime.

What is not as often realized, is that many homes have other significant electrical loads that can be moved away from the peak with relatively little change to the home occupants’ comfort and convenience. Among these are: heat tape, EV charging, space and water heating, laundry, dishwashing, etc. See the above section, “MAKING TIME-OF-USE (TOU) WORK FOR YOU” to learn more.

A: Peak shaving strategies reduce the need for generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure, especially that which sits idle during non-peak periods. Reduced infrastructure equates to less carbon emission. Infrastructure accounts for 79 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to UNEP, so reducing demand on the grid really makes an impact.

This shift also bolsters the market for solar energy plus storage, providing net-metered members a pathway to savings and environmental action that significantly reduces carbon emissions.

By actively managing our electricity consumption, we can help alleviate the strain on the power grid during peak periods and reduce the need to rely heavily on fossil fuel power plants. This, in turn, can lower carbon emissions and mitigate the environmental impact of electrical generation. When we keep peak energy use down, more of this energy can come from renewable sources like solar, hydro and wind power.

Time-of-use can also help members better understand and decrease their energy use. The less energy you use overall, the greener your household. SMPA also provides members the opportunity to reach 100% renewable energy through our Totally Green program that offsets the use of non-renewable energy.

A: Photovoltaic (PV) arrays generate savings by selling excess generation to the utility. However, this generation largely occurs outside of the peak period (4 p.m. to 9 p.m.) If this excess could be stored and re-deployed during the peak, there is potential that the system could provide substantially greater savings. This is one of the reasons that SMPA offers rebates for home battery solutions (see www.smpa.com/energy#berebates).

A: Most EVs and/or EV chargers (By the way... we have rebates on these.) come with options to set the vehicles to prefer off-peak charging. EV drivers will want to set these options to take advantage of SMPA’s TOU rate. This will lead to significant savings over a plan that includes on-peak EV charging.

A: Effective August, 2024, SMPA’s wholesale power provider, Tri-State Generation and Transmission (Tri-State) imposed a 6.2% rate increase on member systems, including SMPA. SMPA raised the member access charge, a fixed monthly fee, from $25/mo. to $28/mo.—still one of the lowest access charges in the region among similar electric cooperatives. This, combined with rate stabilization funds deferred from previous years, is meant to cover the increase.

The intent of the Time-of-Use (TOU) rate structure change is to incentivize member load shifting to less-expensive off-peak power and more accurately represent the cost of power in the consumer bill. Therefore, the need for increased revenue is not a driving factor of the change to TOU.

A: One of the primary ways that SMPA influences member behavior is through rebate offerings. We currently pay rebates for consumer equipment that can help with peak reduction, including home batteries, smart thermostats, electric thermal storage units, and electric vehicle charging equipment.

SMPA also provides education on these technologies as well as rebates and promotion of tools that improve energy-efficiency and beneficial electrification as well (see www.smpa.com/energy#berebates).

A: The bulk of our members work during the day and use a lot of power around dinner time, right in the middle of the designated on-peak period. If this sounds like you, don’t worry. Even if you do nothing to change your power use, your bill increase will likely be small, because the discount you receive on the other 19 hours of the day will help offset your on-peak power usage (the average SMPA household already uses 77% of its power off-peak).

If you are concerned about having enough money to pay your power bill, you can see if you are eligible for the SMPA I.Q. (CARE) program which can improve the energy efficiency of your home, decreasing your overall energy consumption.

A: The following could be reasons for your electricity use to change dramatically:

A significant change to your business hours, if your account is a business, for example, a restaurant.
You make significant changes to the electric appliances such as adding an electric vehicle, moving from gas heating to electric heat pumps, adding solar panels.
Your overall electric consumption increases or decreases significantly. Major additions of electric load that cause electricity demand to exceed 40 kw would automatically trigger your account to be moved from the non-demand rate to the demand rate.

If you believe the Time-of-Day Peak Power rate is no longer your best option because of the above reasons, or other reason, SMPA can help you with analyzing your other rate option. Keep in mind rate selections may require that you remain at that rate for up to 12 months before changing rates again.

If you think that you will be making any major changes to your electricity use, contact SMPA. We can help with rate selection based on your anticipated changes.

How Can Consumer Choices Lower Rate Pressure?

SMPA purchases power from wholesale power supplier, Tri-State Generation and Transmission, (Tri-State).

To serve consumer needs, both Tri-State and SMPA need to have enough infrastructure to power SMPA members as if every single light, fridge, freezer, TV, ski lift, and snow machine is turned on at the same time.

When we have very high demand--like from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., much of this infrastructure is in use (especially when it is cold outside) but, when we have very low demand, we need much less of it. Regardless, the power infrastructure still needs to be available to turn on at a moment’s notice. That means we need to pay Tri-State to keep the infrastructure up and running.

That’s where the opportunity lies. As a set of communities, we can help mitigate the growing cost of energy with just a few small changes. When you use the bulk of your energy during the 19 hours of off-peak time, you help make it more viable for SMPA to keep rates lower into the future.

It can also provide an opportunity for members to save money by shifting discretionary loads like laundry, dishwashing, EV charging, snow-melt systems, or water heating to the off-peak period.

A More Effective Grid

Our members are changing the way they use energy. The widespread adoption of electric technologies like heat pumps and electric vehicles requires us to evaluate new ways to best serve our members during this transformation. As a consumer-controlled cooperative, SMPA wants to support and enable the change that our members are presenting.

That means prioritizing intelligent grid solutions over building bulk new infrastructure, and engineering flexibility and responsiveness to maximize grid reliability to meet consumers evolving needs.

This shift also bolsters the market for solar energy plus storage, aiding the transition to a cleaner energy system. The changes are significant, but a consumer-base that proactively shifts demand to off-peak times can help make the difference. Time-of Use incentivizes this behavior for the benefit of all those who rely on the grid for safe, reliable, cost effective and environmentally-responsible electricity.

Learn more with our in-depth one-pagers:

Rate Analysis Grid of the Future Net Metering 1 Net Metering 2 Net Metering 3

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How Can Consumer Choices Lower Rate Pressure?

A More Effective Grid

Learn more with our in-depth one-pagers:

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