Rate RTA Energy
When does peak hit on Alabama Power Co’s Rate RTA Energy? Peak hits 5am–9am in Nov–Mar; 1pm–7pm in Jun–Sep — on weekdays.
- peak31.36¢
- mid13.36¢
- off-peak11.23¢
Weekends are off-peak all day — the cheapest time to run anything you can schedule.
What does Rate RTA Energy cost a year?
| Household | Uses | Per year | Works out to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment One or two people, no central air, no electric heat | 4,866 kWh | $942 | 19.4¢ / kWh |
| Family home Three or four people with central air conditioning | 9,453 kWh | $1,609 | 17.0¢ / kWh |
| Home with an EV Same house, plus an electric car charging overnight | 13,103 kWh | $2,023 | 15.4¢ / kWh |
Estimates, not quotes. We run three made-up but realistic households through this tariff hour by hour for a full year — including the way air conditioning loads the afternoon and an EV loads the small hours. Your own bill depends on when you actually use electricity, which is exactly the thing a per-kWh number hides.
What you actually pay
| Period | Rate | Applies when |
|---|---|---|
| peak | 31.36¢ | 1pm–7pm, June–September |
| mid | 13.36¢ | 5am–9am, November–March |
| off-peak | 11.23¢ | 9am–5am, midnight–midnight, November–March; midnight–midnight, April–May, October; 7pm–1pm, midnight–midnight, June–September |
Plus a fixed charge of $26.5 per month.
Should you be on Rate RTA Energy?
This is a time-of-use plan, which means the clock decides your bill as much as the meter does. At the worst hour you pay 31.4¢ a kWh; at the best hour, 11.2¢ — 2.8× apart for identical electricity.
That gap is worth real money only if you can move load into it. Every kilowatt-hour a day you shift from 1pm to midnight is about $73 a year. A dishwasher run is roughly 1.5 kWh; an EV commute charge is 8 to 12. If your day is fixed — you are home in the evening and the air conditioner runs when it runs — a plan like this costs you more, not less.
Before a single kilowatt-hour moves, this plan charges $318 a year in fixed fees. On the apartment above that is 34% of the whole bill; on the house with a car charging in it, 16%. Fixed charges are invisible in a cents-per-kWh comparison and they punish small users hardest — if you use very little electricity, the headline rate is the least important number on this page.
Expect the bill to move with the calendar. The same family home costs about $214 in July and $95 in February — a $118 spread driven by heating and cooling far more than by anything you chose. Budget against the July figure, not the average, and a summer bill stops being a surprise.
How it compares to Alabama Power’s other plans
Measured against the other residential plans this utility files, a family home lands 4th cheapest of 4. The cheapest option, Family Dwelling Service (Demand Option), would run about $567 a year less.
Against Family Dwelling Service, which looks like the plan you land on by default, this one comes out $45 more per year (3%). We infer the default from the tariff structure rather than a flag in the data, so confirm it against your own bill before you switch.
If this is new to you
- What is a time-of-use electricity rate?
The same kilowatt-hour, priced differently depending on when you use it.
- Should you switch to a time-of-use electricity plan?
A wide peak-to-off-peak gap is a lever, not a saving. Levers need something to move.
- When should you charge an electric car at home?
The single biggest load most homes can move, and the easiest to automate.
- Why is my electric bill so high in summer?
Usually three causes at once, and only one of them is your air conditioner.
Where this comes from
- Effective
- 2025-01-01
the date this tariff took effect
- Covers
- delivery + supply
우편번호 매핑에서 이 지역 서비스 종류가 Bundled — 배달과 공급을 함께 판다
- Enrollment
- open to new customers
Tariff document: https://www.alabamapower.com/content/dam/alabama-power/pdfs-docs/Rates/rta_energy.pdf