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.