South Carolina · Cooperative · serves 43 ZIP codes
Berkeley Electric Coop Inc rate plans
One residential plan is currently open to new customers. It charges different prices depending on the hour, so when you use power changes the bill.
A household using 1,000 kWh a month pays about $1,493 a year on Residential Time of Day, the only residential plan here — $1,020 at 500 kWh, $2,439 at 2,000 kWh.
What does Berkeley Electric Coop Inc's residential rate cost?
Berkeley Electric Coop Inc files a single residential tariff, so there is no plan to choose between — everyone served here is on the same terms. That makes this page short on comparison and long on one question instead: what does that tariff actually do to a bill?
Priced hour by hour across a full year, a small apartment on this tariff comes to about $931 and a three-bedroom house with central air to about $1,292 — an effective 19.1¢ and 13.7¢ per kilowatt-hour once the fixed charge is spread across everything used.
With one plan and no hourly pricing, the only lever left is using less. Moving laundry or car charging to the middle of the night changes nothing here, which is worth knowing before you rearrange your evenings for no reason.
Expect the bill to swing with the weather rather than with anything you decide: the same house costs around $133 in July and $89 in February. Budget against the higher figure and the summer bill stops being a surprise.
How Berkeley Electric Coop compares across South Carolina
Run the same three-bedroom house with central air through its default plan at each of the 4 South Carolina utilities we cover, and Berkeley Electric Coop is the cheapest of the lot at about $1,292 a year; the state median is $1,667. The dearest, Dominion Energy South Carolina, charges $1,794 for identical use — a gap set by the address, not by anything either household did.
The other two households tell the same story in different sizes: a small apartment pays about $931 here against a state median of $985, and the same house with an electric car charging overnight about $1,580 against $2,081. Effective rate, fixed charge included, is 13.7¢ per kilowatt-hour for the family home.
Every South Carolina utility we cover, priced for the same three households →
Before you switch anything
- 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.
- How to compare electricity plans without getting it wrong
Six things that break a comparison, and the order to check them in.
Residential Time of Day
The only residential plan Berkeley Electric Coop currently files that we can price — everything about it is on this page.
When does peak hit on Berkeley Electric Coop Inc’s Residential Time of Day? One rate, every hour of the year.
- off-peak7.88¢
Weekends are off-peak all day — the cheapest time to run anything you can schedule.
What does Residential Time of Day cost a year?
| Household | Uses | A month | Per year | Works out to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment One or two people, no central air, no electric heat | 4,866 kWh | $78 | $931 | 19.1¢ / kWh |
| Family home Three or four people with central air conditioning | 9,453 kWh | $108 | $1,292 | 13.7¢ / kWh |
| Home with an EV Same house, plus an electric car charging overnight | 13,103 kWh | $132 | $1,580 | 12.1¢ / 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 |
|---|---|---|
| off-peak | 7.88¢ | 9am–6am, November–March |
| off-peak | 7.88¢ | 6am–9am, November–March |
| off-peak | 7.88¢ | 6pm–3pm, April–October |
| off-peak | 7.88¢ | 3pm–6pm, April–October |
Plus a fixed charge of $1.5 per day — so longer months cost more before you use a single kWh.
Should you be on Residential Time of Day?
The hour of day does not change what you pay here — the month does. Running the same house through the full year, July costs about $133 and February about $89. That $44 swing is part rate and part weather, and it is the reason a budget built on your spring bill will break in July.
Before a single kilowatt-hour moves, this plan charges $548 a year in fixed fees. On the apartment above that is 59% of the whole bill; on the house with a car charging in it, 35%. 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 $133 in July and $89 in February — a $44 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.
If this is new to you
- When is electricity cheapest? Off-peak hours explained
Overnight, usually. All weekend, often. The exact hours are in your tariff, not in a rule of thumb.
- 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
the ZIP-code service map lists this territory as bundled, so the utility sells delivery and supply together
- Enrollment
- open to new customers
Tariff document: https://berkeleyelectric.zohodesk.com/portal/en/kb/articles/what-are-the-seasonal-rates-times