South Carolina Utility Guide

Dominion switches solar customers to Rate 5 TOU branded as You Shift/You Save Plan.

Time of Use rates can be beneficial for customers who can shift some of their energy usage away from on-peak hours, and utilize low-cost energy during discount hours.

Solar production will first power your home, and avoid grid purchases at the retail utility rate (the price per kWh you pay the utility). Any solar not immediately consumed or stored in a battery will be exported to the grid. Excess production will be tracked by Dominion for each TOU period.

Consumption from the grid will ‘net,’ or subtract, with excess Production for each TOU period. Excess On-Peak credits will net with On-Peak consumption 1-to-1. Excess Off-Peak credits will net with Off-Peak consumption 1-to-1. Any remaining solar credits will rollover to the next month until November.

Even if solar provides 100% of your electricity needs, you will still have a utility bill to recover fixed customer charges that all consumers contribute to operate the grid. Rate 5 has a $14 per month Basic Faculties Charge. In addition, you will have a separate LightReach bill for the solar system production.

After the November billing cycle, your Dominion will credit any remaining net excess credits at the avoided cost per kWh rate. This value changes annually is currently 3.8 cents per kWh.

Utility rates adjust over time. The terms above are effective as of October 1, 2025. To learn more, visit Dominion Energy.

Duke Energy switches solar customers to rate Residential, Solar Time of Use (R-STOU).

Time of Use rates can be beneficial for customers who can shift some of their energy usage away from on-peak hours, and utilize low-cost energy during discount hours. The easiest thing to remember in Duke is that peak is 6pm-9pm year round with the 3 months of winter also having 6am–9am peak.

Solar production will first power your home, and avoid grid purchases at the retail utility rate. Any solar not immediately consumed or stored will be exported to the grid.

Electricity supplied to your home by Duke and excess solar production sent to the grid will be netted within each TOU pricing period 1-to-1. Excess On-Peak credits will net with On-Peak consumption. Excess Off-Peak credits will net with Off-Peak consumption.

At the end of the monthly billing period, any remaining solar credits will be credited at the current Net Excess Energy Credit rate of approximately 3.8-4 cents per kWh depending on the utility’s annual avoided cost.

Example Monthly NEM Billing

There are a few solar fees that apply to Duke Energy solar customers

A Minimum Monthly Bill will apply in months when the distribution costs and the $13-15 Basic Facilities Charge do not total to at least the $30 Minimum Charge. It could apply in months where net consumption from the utility is low. Some months the minimum charge will not apply when the grid charges are already over $30.

Customer and distribution costs, like the existing Basic Facilities Charge, apply toward the minimum bill calculation. The Non-Bypassable Charge and supply charges do not count toward the minimum bill.

To learn more about Residential Solar Choice and the R-STOU Time of Use rate, visit Duke Energy’s website and give their solar bill savings estimator a try.

Utility rates adjust over time. The terms above are effective as of October 1, 2025.

Battery control events often occur on very hot or cold days in Jan/Feb or July/August, although it could be anytime. Duke and your battery manufacturer will send you texts or notifications when an event is about to occur. You do not necessarily have to reduce consumption, but it’s possible it corresponds with Critical Peak Pricing events (high kWh rates) where you would want to reduce home consumption when possible.