SMUD Peak Hours in 2026: 5 to 8 p.m. Weekdays, and Summer Time-of-Day Rates

SMUD's peak hours are 5 to 8 p.m. on weekdays. Weekends and holidays are off-peak all day. From June 1 through September 30, weekdays also carry a mid-peak price from noon to 5 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to midnight, and the peak price more than doubles to 37.65 cents per kWh. Summer pricing ends September 30.

This page is one part of our tracker of California electricity rates.

These hours belong to the plan SMUD lists as its standard residential rate, Time-of-Day (5-8 p.m.). Prices below are SMUD's 2026 prices as posted on its rate pages, checked September 23, 2026. SMUD is a community-owned utility, so its hours are shorter and its prices lower than the 4-to-9 p.m. plans at PG&E, SCE and SDG&E; the statewide peak-hours comparison lines them up.

SMUD time-of-day periods by season

The season line is the one that catches people. A weekday afternoon kWh costs 12.85 cents on May 31 and 21.39 cents on June 1, and the weekday evening kWh jumps from 17.76 to 37.65 cents. The reverse happens on October 1, which is why the first bill after September usually drops even if the weather stays warm.

SMUD holidays that count as off-peak

SMUD treats these 11 days as off-peak all day: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Indigenous Peoples' Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. That is three more than the eight holidays PG&E and SDG&E use for their time-of-use plans: SMUD adds Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth and Indigenous Peoples' Day. Juneteenth falls inside the summer season, so it spares a summer weekday from the 37.65-cent peak.

What an hour of summer peak costs

Our own arithmetic shows the spread. A central air conditioner drawing 3 kW for the three peak hours uses 9 kWh. On a summer weekday that costs about $3.39 at 37.65 cents; the same 9 kWh before noon costs about $1.40 at 15.50 cents. Over 22 summer weekdays the gap is roughly $44 a month for that one habit. Pre-cooling the house in the morning and letting the thermostat drift up from 5 to 8 p.m. is the lever SMUD's own structure rewards.

Other SMUD plans and their hours

Fixed Rate. No peak hours at all, at a price SMUD says averages about 4% more than the standard plan. It can suit a household that is home and cooling all summer afternoon and cannot move that load.

Critical Peak Pricing. SMUD can call Peak Events of one to four hours, one per day and no more than 50 hours a season, from June 1 to September 30, on any day including weekends and holidays. During an event you pay $0.50 per kWh on top of the normal price for that hour. In exchange, summer off-peak drops to 13.50 cents and mid-peak to 19.39 cents. You enroll through SMUD's My Energy Optimizer program; customers on the Medical Equipment Discount or Budget Billing cannot join.

EV charging and solar on SMUD

SMUD takes 1.5 cents per kWh off everything used between midnight and 6 a.m. for households with a registered plug-in electric vehicle, so the cheapest SMUD power is overnight. Solar customers on SMUD's Solar and Storage Rate earn 9.6 cents per kWh for power sent to the grid, less than every retail price in the tables above, so solar pays off mainly through power you use yourself. A battery that covers 5 to 8 p.m. in summer avoids the 37.65-cent hours. The rules behind both, including who qualifies, are in SMUD's solar export rate and battery incentive. Local numbers are in the Sacramento solar and bill guide.

SMUD rate increases in 2026 and 2027

SMUD's board approved a 3% increase on January 1, 2026 and another 3% on January 1, 2027. SMUD estimated they add $4.35 and then $4.48 a month for an average residential customer. Before that, rates rose 2.75% on January 1 and May 1 of both 2024 and 2025. SMUD cites reliability work, state compliance, vegetation management and wildfire insurance, and inflation. The hours themselves did not change.

If your SMUD bill still looks high

Check the summer months first, then the $27 fixed charge and your plan. Our guide to high SMUD bills walks through each cause, including SMUD's Energy Assistance Program Rate for income-qualified households. To see how SMUD compares with the investor-owned utilities, read how California electricity rates rank, or compare with LADWP's rates and peak hours, the other large city-owned utility.