Overview
TOU when paired with solar has the potential of adding thousands to your lifetime solar savings, as well as reducing your investments break even point. These savings can far outweigh the previous federal tax credit, discover how one simple step can change the power of your home energy investment.
What Is Time-Of-Use [TOU]
Time-Of-Use [TOU] energy rate structures have been standard practice for states like California and Arizona for decades. TOU was introduced to Minnesota in 2020 and, now in 2026, has finally been implemented in almost all utilities across the state as a free opt-in program for home owners.
Time-Of-Use is a utility energy rate program where the price you pay for electricity is different based on the time of day, weekday, or season.
Utility companies started using these rate programs to encourage consumers to shift their energy usage to different times during the day and to help share the higher costs associated with meeting peak energy demands. Programs like these can help shift energy loads so that black and brown outs occur less frequently for local communities.
For example, Xcel Minnesota’s free opt-in TOU program first breaks TOU energy pricing into summer rates and winter rates, just like standard energy rate systems. Then they break each day, Monday-Friday, into 3 different time periods. These are called:
On-Peak
When energy usage is in the highest demand for utility companies and when energy rates under TOU are priced highest.
Mid-Peak
This pricing is usually the same as standard pricing and is what you pay for most daylight hours.
Off Peak
The lowest rate you would pay for energy, usually during the night.
For weekends, energy pricing is set to Off-Peak and Mid-Peak rates. To read more about Xcel Energy TOU program visit their Minnesota TOU Page.
On its own TOU wouldn’t save a Minnesota resident any money, actually it would most likely do the opposite, especially if this homeowner didn’t change their lifestyle to actively use energy during Mid-Peak or Off-Peak hours.
When alone TOU is in no way a money saving tool for the average Minnesotan resident, but when paired with solar it has the potential to become a significant cost saving advantage in today’s energy market.
TOU With A Real MN Solar Customer
Solar remains a worthwhile investment. It can give you added home energy security, greater energy independence, increase your home’s value, all while providing huge energy cost savings.
By adding TOU, you can push your energy savings a step further and even make a significant impact on your solar investments breakeven point.
You can see this impact through a previous Powerfully Green Solar customer and their journey to maximize cost savings and energy independence in their home.
They started by investing in solar. They were using the standard energy rate system through their utility provider, Xcel Energy. As you can see this alone had a considerable impact on their monthly energy cost dropping their bills from $154 to just $21 a month.
With their permission we ran their energy information through our energy pricing optimization model. We modeled 4 possible options to help this customer continue reducing energy costs while also moving toward a higher level of energy independence. Our model included:
- Solar with Standard Pricing
- Solar + TOU
- Solar + Home Battery
- Solar + Home Battery + TOU
The results showed that Solar with TOU had an undeniable impact on their overall cost savings compared to all other options.
By opting into TOU this customer will see their monthly energy bill drop from around $21 a month, to a credit that will average about $32 per month.
This small change had a huge impact on their systems lifetime savings, increasing it by over $42,000! Not only that but they reduced their breakeven point by more than 3 years.
This is a huge win for Minnesota homeowners that are looking to lower their costs and gain energy independence from their local utility grids’ growing prices.
If you want to see what the impact of Solar+TOU could have on your monthly energy bill, click the link below to schedule an energy consultation.