Planning for Peak Time Events

Having a successful Peak Time Rebates season is easy! It’s all about shifting your energy use away from those times when energy is in high demand.

The summer season kicks off June 1 and runs through Sept. 30, 2023.

Ready, Set, Save

Once you’re enrolled, we’ll contact you by text or email with upcoming Peak Time Event notifications. The day before and the day of a Peak Time Event, you'll get a notification about when the event will start and end and how you can reduce your energy use with simple changes.

Read Peak Time Rebates terms and conditions.

Peak Time Rebates Summer Sweepstakes terms and conditions.

How to shift and reduce energy use during Peak Time Events

Regardless of how much you save, when everyone works together to shift their energy consumption, it helps use more sustainable energy resources, lowering costs and continuing to provide you with reliable energy. Your participation is completely voluntary and there’s no cost to be a part of Peak Time Rebates.

Get savings tips

Reduce your energy use during Peak Time Events and live an energy-efficient lifestyle.

Check the list

This handy checklist makes it easy to reduce your energy use during peak times. 

Get everyone involved

Use this fun activity sheet to get the entire household looking for ways to save energy. 

Stay safe

During Peak Time Events, your health and safety should always come first. On extremely warm days, please be sure to keep the temperature in your home safe by exercising discretion during Peak Time Events. Consider health impacts when reducing energy use and stay safe when the weather heats up.

Peak Time Rebates Events - Frequently asked questions

Your energy use “baseline” is calculated from your average use over the past 10 days for the same hours of the day as the Peak Time Event. This excludes weekends, holidays and any other past Peak Time Event days. You can earn $1 for every kilowatt hour (kWh) you reduce below that baseline during the Peak Time Event. 

Peak Time Events can be called in the morning between 7 and 11 a.m. and in the late afternoon between 3 and 8 p.m. During the summer season, Peak Time Events will most commonly occur in the late afternoon. In the winter, you might notice more morning events. The events can be two to five hours in length, but most often last for three hours. You'll receive a notification the day before the event with the specific times it will occur.

Yes. To be enrolled in Peak Time Rebates, you need to provide PGE with either an email address and/or a mobile phone number to receive Peak Time Event notifications. You can choose to receive notifications by email, text or both — it’s up to you. If you provide a phone number and reply STOP to text notifications, you'll be unenrolled from Peak Time Rebates. To update your notification preferences for Peak Time Rebates, visit portlandgeneral.com/ptrenroll or call PGE Customer Service at 800-542-8818.

When you enroll in the program, you have the choice to be notified by email and/or text. After each Peak Time Event, you will receive a message one to three days later to let you know if you earned a rebate and for how much. If you earned a rebate, this amount will appear as a credit on your next bill.

Your participation is completely voluntary. Once you’re enrolled, you’re eligible for a bill credit during any event where you successfully reduce your energy use. If you aren’t able to save energy during an event, you’ll still be enrolled and have other opportunities to participate in the future. Your health and safety should always come first, so please consider any health impacts when reducing your energy use.

If you’re a customer who doesn’t use much electricity on a daily basis, it may be more difficult to reduce your use during Peak Time Events. Turning off lights or waiting to charge your phone won’t make much of an impact during a Peak Time Event. You can make the biggest impact by reducing the use of major appliances, using less hot water and turning your thermostat down a few degrees if you have electric heat or air conditioning.

Peak Time Rebates will appear in the “Additional Charges/Credits” area of your bill as “peak time credits.” Rebates should appear on the next bill you receive after the Peak Time Event.

Unfortunately, no — you can't be in both programs at once. However, if you have a smart thermostat, you may want to consider joining the PGE Smart Thermostat program, where you can earn $25 per season for participating. For more information, go to portlandgeneral.com/thermostat.

There is no cost to you to enroll in Peak Time Rebates. Your electric bill will be calculated based on your energy use and may go up or down based on how much electricity you use.