APS Time-of-Use Rates Decoded: How to Save $100+/Month with Smart Energy
APS Time-of-Use pricing means the cost of electricity changes throughout the day. For Arizona homeowners, that asymmetry is the biggest lever on a monthly bill, bigger than solar panels, bigger than insulation, bigger than swapping out appliances. This guide covers all the current 2026 rate tiers, the differences between APS's rate plans, the math behind why batteries pay back so fast in APS territory, and the honest caveats most articles skip. Everything below cites APS's published rate schedules and recent Arizona Corporation Commission decisions.
APS Saver Choice Plus rates (2026)
Saver Choice Plus is APS's most popular residential TOU plan and the default for solar and battery customers. The 2026 schedule:
| Period | Summer (May-Oct) | Winter (Nov-Apr) | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peak | $0.3439/kWh | $0.2145/kWh | 4-7pm weekdays |
| Off-Peak | $0.1235/kWh | $0.1035/kWh | Most other hours |
| Super Off-Peak | $0.0935/kWh | $0.0935/kWh | 10am-3pm weekdays (solar window) |
| Export (Net Billing) | ~$0.076/kWh | Any time | |
Source: APS Saver Choice Plus rate schedule as of April 2026. Rates reset annually through Arizona Corporation Commission filings. Peak rate has roughly doubled since 2020.
The four APS residential rate plans, briefly compared
Most APS residential customers can choose from four plans. Saver Choice Plus gets the spotlight on this site because it is the most TOU-friendly and is required for new solar interconnections, but the others matter for households that cannot shift load:
| Plan | Structure | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Saver Choice (standard TOU) | Peak vs off-peak only, no super off-peak | Households that can shift some load away from 4-7pm but do not have solar or batteries |
| Saver Choice Plus | Peak, off-peak, and super off-peak. Required for new solar. | Solar and battery customers, anyone willing to pre-cool |
| Saver Choice Max | Highest peak rate, lowest off-peak rate. Bigger spread. | Battery owners who can fully shift load. Higher risk if you cannot. |
| Premier Choice (legacy) | Older plan structure with demand component. | Households grandfathered in. Typically not advantageous for new enrollees. |
Specifics, eligibility, and rate values are set by APS rate filings and change over time. Use APS's online Plan Compare tool to see what each plan would have cost based on your actual past-12-months usage.
The key insight: the spread
The difference between peak and off-peak rates is the entire opportunity. In summer, a single kWh of usage can cost between $0.0935 (super off-peak) and $0.3439 (peak), a 3.7x range on the same physical electricity. Three concrete spreads to internalize:
- Peak to off-peak: $0.2204/kWh. The amount a battery earns by shifting one kWh from on-peak to overnight charging.
- Peak to super off-peak: $0.2504/kWh. The maximum daily arbitrage opportunity, available only on weekdays.
- Self-consumption vs export: $0.267/kWh. Every kWh you use yourself instead of exporting earns 4.5x more under net billing.
Multiply those spreads by the kWh you can shift, and you have the rough monthly savings opportunity. A typical Phoenix home using 30 kWh during the peak window in summer is paying about $10/day at peak rates. Shifting half of that to off-peak saves roughly $100/month. Shifting all of it to super off-peak saves roughly $230/month.
What a typical APS bill actually looks like
Reading your APS bill is more useful than people realize. The detail page (in the APS app or paper bill) breaks usage into peak, off-peak, and super off-peak kWh. A baseline 1,500 kWh summer month for a household that has not yet shifted load typically lands like this:
| Period | kWh | Rate | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peak (4-7pm weekdays) | 300 | $0.3439 | $103.17 |
| Off-peak (most hours) | 900 | $0.1235 | $111.15 |
| Super off-peak (10am-3pm weekdays) | 300 | $0.0935 | $28.05 |
| Service charge | - | - | $15.50 |
| Estimated total | 1,500 | - | ~$258 |
Illustrative summer bill before any TOU optimization. Actual totals include monthly adjustments, taxes, and franchise fees. The peak row is the place where load shifting and batteries produce the biggest dollar-per-kWh impact.
Look at the subtotal column. Peak is only 20% of the kWh but 40% of the variable cost. That ratio is exactly why optimizing peak usage matters so much more than cutting overall consumption uniformly.
Strategy 1: shift usage (free, no equipment)
Run dishwashers, laundry, pool pumps, and EV charging during off-peak or super off-peak hours. Avoid running the dryer or oven from 4-7pm. This alone can save $30 to $60 per month for a typical household. See our complete APS peak hours schedule for exactly when to shift each appliance.
Strategy 2: solar self-consumption (requires solar)
Solar produces most energy from 10am to 3pm. That window is super off-peak when grid power is only $0.0935/kWh. Without a battery, excess solar exports at just $0.076/kWh under net billing. The same kWh is much more valuable consumed in your own home during peak hours. The economics shift sharply once you understand that exporting during midday is essentially giving APS your solar at wholesale prices and buying it back at retail rates four hours later.
Strategy 3: battery arbitrage (requires battery)
This is the strongest single move on APS. A battery charges during off-peak ($0.1235) and discharges during peak ($0.3439). For a 13.5 kWh battery at 90% round-trip efficiency, that is about $2.68 per day in summer, or roughly $60 per month from arbitrage alone.
Add VPP earnings ($12 to $42 per month depending on participation) and total battery value reaches $70 to $100 per month. Use our battery calculator to see your specific numbers based on system size and usage profile.
When TOU is not the right plan
Honest caveat: APS TOU plans are not automatically better for every household. Some families cannot shift load. Two parents working from home during the 4-7pm window, kids using AC and electronics, dinner cooking on an electric range, and EV charging starting at 5pm. That kind of usage profile pays the peak rate on a meaningful chunk of consumption and would have done better on the older flat-rate Premier Choice plan.
APS provides a Plan Compare tool inside the online account dashboard that shows what your last 12 months of usage would have cost on each plan. Run it before switching, especially if your usage skews heavily toward the early-evening window. Switching is free once per 12 months, but a wrong choice can cost hundreds of dollars before the next switching window opens.
How rates have changed (and why that matters)
APS rates have risen materially since 2020 as part of multiple ACC rate cases, with summer peak rates climbing the fastest. The 2024-2026 rate updates pushed Saver Choice Plus summer peak from roughly $0.24/kWh to the current $0.3439/kWh. The same updates also widened the peak-to-off-peak spread, which mathematically increases the value of every TOU optimization, every battery cycle, and every load shift you do.
For someone modeling solar or battery economics over a 15-year horizon, the right assumption is not flat rates. The trend has been higher peaks with widening spreads. Rates reset periodically through ACC filings, and historically the direction has been upward. A battery that pays back in 4-5 years today is likely to pay back even faster in 2027-2028 as the next rate cycle settles.
Tools to save more on APS TOU rates
These tools help shift usage away from APS's $0.3439/kWh peak window. The fastest way to lower a bill without major equipment:
Smart thermostat: automate pre-cooling
Pre-cool the house during APS super off-peak ($0.09/kWh, 10am-3pm), then coast through the $0.34/kWh peak window. Saves $50-100/month in summer with no daily attention after setup.
ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium
~$220 — automates pre-cooling, learns your schedule. Pays for itself in one APS summer.
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Smart plugs: schedule appliances around peak
Automatically turn off high-draw devices at 4pm and back on at 7pm. Useful for pool pumps, space heaters, and dehumidifiers.
Smart Plugs with Energy Monitoring
~$25 for a 4-pack — WiFi-connected, schedule from your phone, track energy usage per device.
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The bottom line
APS TOU rates create a natural arbitrage opportunity. The wider the peak-to-off-peak spread, the more valuable each load shift and each battery cycle becomes. Arizona's extreme summer demand drives some of the highest peak rates in the country, which is exactly why batteries pay back faster here than almost anywhere else. The cheapest move is free (shift load), the next cheapest is $200 (a smart thermostat), and the highest ROI move is a battery installed under the current incentive stack before any of those programs change.