OUC Approves PeakSHIFT Plan to Modernize Pricing, Promote Affordability, Protect Reliability, and Enhance Sustainability

Plan Integrates Customer and Stakeholder Input

News Highlights

• Orlando Utilities Commission's Board of Commissioners today approved PeakSHIFT, a multiyear plan to modernize OUC electric service pricing.
• Designed to promote affordability, protect system reliability, and enhance grid sustainability, the plan integrates extensive community input.

ORLANDO, Fla. - OUC-The Reliable One has been authorized by its Board of Commissioners to move forward with PeakSHIFT, a multiyear plan to empower customers with new opportunities to save money, better align costs with how electricity is used, and optimize OUC's reliable, affordable, and sustainable power grid.

"PeakSHIFT will better equip OUC to meet current energy challenges, integrate cleaner energy resources, and keep the grid reliable for future generations. As we implement this modernized pricing structure, we will continue to engage with customers and our community to ensure that their electricity remains affordable, reliable and sustainable," said Clint Bullock, OUC General Manager & CEO.

Background

OUC announced a proposal to modernize pricing structures on May 30, 2024, and conducted a public workshop on June 13, 2024, to unveil the initial PeakSHIFT proposal and its four component programs:

• SunChoice Solar: Enables customers to subscribe to solar-generated electricity without upfront costs and at economical large-scale solar farm pricing.
• DemandLevel Pricing: Reduces variable non-fuel energy cost per kWh by 14% (~1 cent) and adds a tiered fixed charge to encourage reducing distribution peak demand (the point where each residential and small commercial customer's usage is at its highest 15-minute average within the month), rebalance costs and reflect individual customers' usage of the electric grid.
• TruNet Solar: Adjusting compensation for future rooftop solar to reflect industry changes and address systemwide cost equity concerns to ensure affordability of rates for all OUC customers.
• Shift & Save: Introducing an industry-proven, time-of-day pricing plan to enable customers to save money by shifting part of their electricity usage to "off-peak" periods for those that want additional incentives to save money.

Inviting and Integrating Community Input

Prior to planning the PeakSHIFT program, OUC conducted a Time-of-Day pilot program that ran from April 2021 to March 2022. More than half of the participating customers reported saving money and 86.2% of participants were satisfied or very satisfied by the pricing structure.

To solicit community comments and suggestions about the PeakSHIFT proposal, , OUC actively engaged with customers, community groups, governmental agencies, energy industry experts, environmental and renewable energy advocates, and other stakeholders. Through numerous meetings and an online feedback form (available at OUCPeakSHIFT.com), input was analyzed and integrated into an updated proposal. The Board of Commissioners was briefed on the revised PeakSHIFT plan at the Commission's November 5 meeting.

The revised plan adopted "grandfathering" provisions in the TruNet Solar plan to enable existing rooftop solar customers - and any new solar interconnection applications received by June 30, 2025 - to retain the current net metering rate for existing customers for a 20-year grandfathering period.

DemandLevel, scheduled to start in March 2026, was revised to include a 14% lower variable cost per kilowatt (kWh) and a revised fixed price of $5, $10, or $15 per month based on each customer's monthly (rather than annual, as in the initial proposal) peak usage to provide a more precise gauge of customer power usage.

Shift & Save, scheduled to start in January 2027, will enroll all customers in time-of-day pricing plan that provides them the option to save money by shifting part of their electricity usage into "off-peak" periods. Customers may opt out of the program.

SunChoice Solar was approved by the OUC Board of Commissioners in September and was effective on October 1, 2024, to enable all OUC customers with the option to subscribe to solar energy.

Customer Bill Impacts

OUC residential electric rates are well below the state and national average. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's newly released data (11/6/24), OUC residential electric customers paid an average of 12.6¢/kWh in 2023, compared to the Florida average of 14.3¢/kWh and the national average of 16.8¢/kWh.

PeakSHIFT is designed to keep rates low and provide customers with new opportunities to save. OUC is committed to providing affordable electricity as demonstrated by its record of cutting rates. OUC approved reducing fuel rates by 5%, effective July 1, 2024. It was the third fuel rate decrease since June 2023.

PeakSHIFT is designed to be "revenue neutral," which means that it is not intended to make more money for OUC. About 50% percent of customers will see no change or a decrease in their monthly bill even without shifting usage to off-peak periods. About 80% percent of customers will see a decrease or increase of $3 in their monthly bill, assuming the customer doesn't change their usage. Customers who make slight adjustments will see greater savings. Those who may see an increase are those who put higher demands on grid infrastructure and greater usage during peak hours due to their usage of the grid. The overall goal is to benefit all OUC customers by keeping rates affordable for all customers by optimizing the grid as we meet the growing demands of our region.

OUC is committed to educating our customers about PeakSHIFT and will spend the next 24 months working to inform them and demonstrate opportunities to save.

"As a municipal public power utility, OUC's rates are not aimed at making profits for investors or shareholders. Our rates are designed to equitably finance the costs of reliably serving our customers' needs and delivering value to the community. We continually refine our pricing structure to reflect changes in customer demand, ensure equitable rate design and cost recovery, and adapt to advances in technology to provide customers more options to lower electric bills. These innovations are another demonstration of OUC's culture of evolving responsively to benefit our customers and our Central Florida community," said Bullock.

"OUC has been the City of Orlando's biggest partner on our journey to becoming the most sustainable city in the southeastern U.S. Their record of balancing affordability, along with reliability and sustainability over the course of our long-term partnership is evident that they do the right thing for their customers and our community. I am confident that PeakSHIFT is the best path forward for our residents on all these accounts," said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

For more information, please visit: OUCPeakSHIFT.com.

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About OUC-The Reliable One
For more than 100 years, OUC-The Reliable One has provided exceptional value to its customers and community through the delivery of sustainable and reliable services and solutions. The utility provides electric, water, chilled water, lighting and solar services to more than 400,000 accounts in Orlando, St. Cloud and parts of unincorporated Orange and Osceola counties. As OUC prepares for the next century, it remains committed to a goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 while supporting the Central Florida community with conservation, sustainability and energy efficiency resources. Visit www.ouc.com to learn more.

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