Set your thermostat around TEP's peak hours
If you're on a TEP time-of-use plan, when you cool matters as much as how much. The summer weekday peak is 3 to 7 p.m.
What to watch for: This is TEP's own one-minute explainer. The setpoint the narrator uses is an example, not a rule. Pick the number that keeps your household safe.
Why does this matter in Tucson?
Tucson Electric Power lists Time-of-Use as one of its residential plans, alongside Basic, Peak Demand and Demand TOU. On TEP's Time-of-Use plan, the summer on-peak window runs May through September, Monday to Friday, 3 to 7 p.m. From October through April it's Monday to Friday, 6 to 9 a.m. and 6 to 9 p.m.
Those summer hours land on the hottest part of a Tucson day, so a schedule that does most of the cooling before 3 p.m. and lets the house drift up a little during the peak shifts load out of the expensive window. Trico Electric Cooperative serves northwest Tucson and Marana south to Green Valley and Sahuarita. If Trico is your utility, these TEP hours don't apply, so check your own bill.
What you'll learn
- TEP's on-peak hours for summer and winter, and how to tell which plan you're on
- How to pre-cool before the summer peak and ride it out
- Why winter mornings matter more if you heat with a heat pump
- When comfort and safety come before the bill
How do you do it, step by step?
- Check your bill or TEP account for your rate plan name. These hours apply to Time-of-Use; other plans price power differently.
- Set the thermostat clock and day correctly. A wrong day of the week breaks every weekday schedule.
- Summer weekdays: schedule your coolest setpoint for the hours before 3 p.m. so the house and furniture start the peak cold.
- From 3 to 7 p.m., raise the setpoint a few degrees and keep doors and blinds on the sunny side closed.
- After 7 p.m., bring the setpoint back down. Leave weekends on your normal schedule, since the peak is weekdays only.
- Winter with a heat pump: avoid a deep overnight setback that makes the system recover during 6 to 9 a.m. A big recovery can bring on backup strip heat on some systems. Ask the pro how yours is set.
- Keep the fan on Auto unless a pro has told you otherwise.
When should you stop and call a pro?
- The house never recovers to the setpoint after 7 p.m. on a normal summer day.
- The thermostat goes blank, reboots, or ignores its schedule.
- The heat pump runs aux or emergency heat for long stretches on mild mornings.
Someone at home is older, very young, or medically fragile? Comfort comes first. The CDC advises older adults to stay in air-conditioned spaces in hot weather. Skip the peak setback on those days.
Read next
Sources and official pages
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