Superior Water and Light Co rate plans

What does Superior Water and Light Co's residential rate cost?

Superior Water and Light Co 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 $680 and a three-bedroom house with central air to about $1,209 — an effective 14.0¢ and 12.8¢ per kilowatt-hour once the fixed charge is spread across everything used.

The one lever you do have is timing. This tariff charges 16.0¢ at its most expensive hour and 7.6¢ at its cheapest, so every kilowatt-hour a day moved from 9am to midnight is worth roughly $31 a year. Car charging, a water heater on a timer and laundry are the loads that move; cooking and air conditioning largely are not.

Expect the bill to swing with the weather rather than with anything you decide: the same house costs around $142 in July and $76 in February. Budget against the higher figure and the summer bill stops being a surprise.

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.