Each charge measures something different, and each gives you different ways to manage your total bill.
Pays for keeping power available to your home or business at all times—the “always on” electric system. Covers poles, wires, crews, trucks, staffing, safety, and restoration readiness.
Total electricity you use across the month. Under the new structure, the kWh rate is reduced and separated from demand.
Your highest usage average over 1 hour during our peak period.
Peak hours: 5–9 p.m., Monday–Saturday (excluding Sundays and major holidays).
Think of it like traffic. Most of the day, the road is clear. But during rush hour, when everyone is using power at the same time, the system has to handle that peak demand. That’s why your electric system is built to handle those busiest moments—even if they only happen for a short time.
And those peak periods can drive a significant portion of the overall cost to deliver power.
Your Demand Charge reflects the highest level of energy you use during peak hours (5–9 p.m.).
The good news: small timing changes can make a big difference. Avoid stacking high-energy activities during peak hours, and you can help lower your overall bill.
Starting with your April 1 bill (received in May), you will see your specific peak demand reading. While the proposed rate structure would not take effect until July 1, this information is provided to help you understand how your bill may change.
Use the SDCEA rate calculator to test how different usage and timing scenarios affect your estimated bill.
Your electricity bill isn’t set in stone—test scenarios and see your options. Calculator estimates charges only. Taxes, fees, and riders may not be included.
See how homes like yours use electricity and how the new rate may affect you.
Working Mom Sarah Johnson
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Retired Juan Myers
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Solar User Mia Andersen
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Seasonal User Jake Stewart
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The Service Availability Charge recovers what it costs SDCEA to provide electricity at our members’ homes and businesses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This charge covers the costs of maintaining our electric system, linemen restoring outages, the fixed costs of our buildings, vehicle maintenance, property taxes, finance, supplies and equipment, software, and staffing to operate the company. These costs are fixed, in that they are necessary to make service available on our system as a whole—whether a member uses their electricity one month a year or 12 months a year.
kWh (energy) is the total electricity used during the month. Under the new structure, the residential kWh rate is reduced. kW (Peak Demand) is your maximum electricity energy need during defined peak hours in the billing cycle. It is about the biggest ‘stack’ of usage, not how many total hours you used power.
SDCEA’s peak hours are 5–9 p.m., Monday–Saturday (excluding Sundays and major holidays).
Beginning with the bill you receive May, will see a line with your demand reading and the date and time that demand was recorded on your bill. You may also contact our office for this reading if you have questions about it.
Enter your usage values and test different demand (kW) scenarios to see different bill impacts based on how you use energy. This calculator is a tool to help you estimate the cost of energy on upcoming bills, not give you an exact total.<
