E-ELEC vs EV2-A vs E-TOU-C after the 2026 Base Services Charge
PG&E customers with an electric vehicle, a heat pump or a home battery can choose among several time-of-use plans. This page compares three of them: Electric Home (E-ELEC), the home charging plan EV2-A, and the time-of-use plan E-TOU-C. Since March 2026 these plans also carry a Base Services Charge, and their per-kWh prices were lowered to match. This page prices all three plans at the rates in PG&E's tariff sheets today, for three example households, and shows the arithmetic.
The households are made up. Their usage is realistic, but it is not anyone's meter data, and the answer for your home depends on when your home uses power. The usage tables below show which numbers matter, so you can compare them with your own.
What the Base Services Charge changed
The Base Services Charge is a fixed daily charge. For most customers (Income Tier 3 in the tariff) it is $0.79343 a day, which is $289.60 a year or about $24.13 a month. Customers on CARE (Tier 1) pay $0.19713 a day, about $6.00 a month, and customers on FERA or in qualifying affordable housing (Tier 2) pay $0.39688, about $12.07. PG&E says the charge is not a new fee and does not increase the revenue it collects; the money it raises is used to lower the per-kWh prices.
The daily amount is the same on E-ELEC, EV2-A and E-TOU-C. So between these three plans the charge is a wash: it adds the same $289.60 a year to each bill, and the ranking depends only on the per-kWh prices and when you use power. The same is true of the California Climate Credit ($36.18 per household, paid twice a year), which appears on all three schedules and is left out of the comparison below.
The three plans at today's rates
These are PG&E's total bundled rates (PG&E generation and delivery), in effect since June 1, 2026. Summer is June 1 through September 30; winter is October 1 through May 31. Every period applies every day, weekends and holidays included: peak is 4 to 9 p.m., part-peak is 3 to 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. to midnight, and off-peak is all other hours. E-TOU-C has no part-peak, so those hours are off-peak on it.
| Plan | Peak | Part-peak | Off-peak |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-ELEC summer | $0.55214 | $0.39026 | $0.33358 |
| E-ELEC winter | $0.32063 | $0.29854 | $0.28468 |
| EV2-A summer | $0.53809 | $0.42760 | $0.22558 |
| EV2-A winter | $0.41099 | $0.39428 | $0.22558 |
| E-TOU-C summer | $0.52240 | off-peak | $0.39940 |
| E-TOU-C winter | $0.39757 | off-peak | $0.36757 |
Prices are per kWh. Three differences decide most comparisons:
- EV2-A's off-peak price is the lowest on the sheet, $0.22558 in both seasons, about 21% below E-ELEC's winter off-peak. Its part-peak and winter peak prices are higher than E-ELEC's, so it pays when a large share of use falls between midnight and 3 p.m.
- E-ELEC's winter prices are flat and low, $0.28468 to $0.32063. A home that heats with electricity on winter evenings pays less for those hours here than on the other two plans.
- E-TOU-C is the only one with a baseline credit: $0.08140 off every kWh up to your baseline allowance, in either period. The allowance depends on your baseline territory, the season and whether your home is all-electric. In territory X, used for all the examples here, it is 9.8 kWh a day in summer and 9.7 in winter for a basic home, and 8.5 and 14.6 for an all-electric one (Code H, for a home whose primary heat is permanently installed electric heat). A small user gets the credit on nearly every kWh.
Not every home can choose every plan. E-TOU-C is open to residential customers generally. E-ELEC requires electric vehicle charging, energy storage, or a heat pump as the primary means of water heating or space heating or cooling. EV2-A requires a registered battery electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle charged at home, and is also available to customers with battery storage (as a limited pilot) or a heat pump used the same way; it is closed to homes using more than 800% of their annual baseline allowance. All three examples below qualify for all three plans.
Household 1: an all-electric home with a heat pump
A three-bedroom house with a heat pump for heating, cooling and hot water, and no EV. It uses 9,610 kWh a year, about 801 a month, peaking in winter. Its baseline code is H (all-electric).
| Window | kWh a year | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 12 a.m.–3 p.m. | 4,881 | 51% |
| 3–4 p.m. | 568 | 6% |
| 4–9 p.m. (peak) | 2,807 | 29% |
| 9 p.m.–12 a.m. | 1,355 | 14% |
| Plan | Year | Month | Extra |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-ELEC | $3,489 | $291 | +$50 |
| EV2-A | $3,439 | $287 | cheapest |
| E-TOU-C | $3,712 | $309 | +$272 |
Month is the yearly total divided by 12; Extra is the cost over the cheapest plan. Each total includes the $289.60 Base Services Charge. The E-TOU-C total is after a $373 baseline credit.
EV2-A wins, but only by $50 a year (about $4 a month) over E-ELEC. Half the home's use falls in EV2-A's cheap off-peak hours, which outweighs E-ELEC's lower winter evening prices. A home that runs more of its heating between 4 and midnight, or less overnight, could flip the order. Either way E-TOU-C is the most expensive, $272 a year more than EV2-A: its off-peak price is much higher than either plan's, and the baseline credit does not make up for it at this usage.
Household 2: an EV owner who charges overnight
A gas-heated house plus one EV driven about 10,000 miles a year. The car takes 250 kWh a month (3,000 a year), all charged between midnight and 6 a.m. on a timer. The house and car together use 9,340 kWh a year. Its baseline code is B (basic), because the heat is gas.
| Window | kWh a year | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 12 a.m.–3 p.m. | 6,097 | 65% |
| 3–4 p.m. | 366 | 4% |
| 4–9 p.m. (peak) | 1,975 | 21% |
| 9 p.m.–12 a.m. | 902 | 10% |
| Plan | Year | Month | Extra |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-ELEC | $3,373 | $281 | +$278 |
| EV2-A | $3,095 | $258 | cheapest |
| E-TOU-C | $3,677 | $306 | +$582 |
Each total includes the $289.60 Base Services Charge. The E-TOU-C total is after a $289 baseline credit.
This is the clearest result of the three. EV2-A is $278 a year cheaper than E-ELEC, about $23 a month, because the car's charging lands at the lowest price on the sheet. The timer matters: charging that starts at 9 p.m. instead of midnight puts the first three hours at part-peak, where EV2-A is the more expensive of the two.
Household 3: a small apartment
A one-bedroom apartment heated and cooled by a ductless heat pump, with nobody home most weekdays. It uses 3,090 kWh a year, about 258 a month. The heat pump makes it eligible for E-ELEC and EV2-A and gives it baseline code H. An apartment without a heat pump, an EV or storage can take E-TOU-C but not the other two.
| Window | kWh a year | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 12 a.m.–3 p.m. | 1,381 | 45% |
| 3–4 p.m. | 164 | 5% |
| 4–9 p.m. (peak) | 1,030 | 33% |
| 9 p.m.–12 a.m. | 515 | 17% |
| Plan | Year | Month | Extra |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-ELEC | $1,335 | $111 | +$67 |
| EV2-A | $1,342 | $112 | +$74 |
| E-TOU-C | $1,268 | $106 | cheapest |
Each total includes the $289.60 Base Services Charge. The E-TOU-C total is after a $251 baseline credit.
E-TOU-C wins by $67 a year. The reason is the baseline credit: this apartment uses less than its allowance in most months, so nearly every kWh gets the $0.08140 credit. Without it, E-TOU-C would cost $1,519, more than either of the other plans. At this size the Base Services Charge is about a fifth of the bill on every plan, which is why the totals sit close together: the spread from cheapest to most expensive is $74 a year.
What decides it for your home
- Use between midnight and 3 p.m. favors EV2-A. Overnight EV charging is the obvious case, but a heat pump water heater or a battery charging off-peak counts too.
- Use on winter evenings favors E-ELEC. Its winter prices are the flattest and lowest of the three in the peak and part-peak hours.
- Low total use favors E-TOU-C. The baseline credit is worth the most to a home that stays under its allowance.
- The Base Services Charge does not decide it. It is the same on all three, so compare the per-kWh side of the bill.
PG&E also offers a personalized rate comparison (linked from its residential rate plan pricing sheet). The tables here show which hours drive the result, which is a useful check on what it tells you.
Assumptions and limits
- Rates are PG&E's total bundled residential rates (PG&E generation and delivery), as published on the tariff sheets on October 24, 2026. Customers who buy generation from a community choice aggregator (CCA) pay the CCA's generation rates, a Power Charge Indifference Adjustment for their vintage and a franchise fee surcharge instead of PG&E's generation charge, so their totals and possibly their ranking differ. Rates change from time to time; the effective date is on each tariff sheet.
- The Base Services Charge is the Income Tier 3 amount. CARE and FERA customers pay a lower charge, and their other discounts are not modeled here.
- Bills are figured for calendar months with the season set by the month, and baseline allowances for territory X. Your bill period, territory and any medical baseline allowance will differ.
- Local utility users' taxes, franchise fees and other surcharges are not included. The California Climate Credit is left out because it is the same on all three plans.
- The three households are illustrative: made-up monthly totals and made-up shares of use in each time window. Real homes vary a lot, and the order of the plans can change with them.
- No solar or battery export is modeled. Net billing customers are required to take E-ELEC.
- This is an estimate for comparison, not a quote or advice from PG&E.
Method and sources
Each household has twelve monthly kWh totals and, for summer and winter, the share of its use in each of four windows: 12 a.m. to 3 p.m., 3 to 4 p.m., 4 to 9 p.m. and 9 p.m. to midnight. Those windows map onto every period of all three plans. Each month's kWh in each window is priced at that plan's rate for the season; E-TOU-C then subtracts the baseline credit on the smaller of the month's use and its baseline allowance (the daily quantity times the days in the month). The Base Services Charge is the daily rate times the days in the year. The figures are computed in the guide's data file and were checked against a separate model written in Python, which agreed to the cent.
- PG&E Electric Schedule E-ELEC, checked October 24, 2026: total rates and the Base Services Charge on Sheet 2 (effective June 1, 2026), time periods and seasons on Sheet 4, and eligibility on Sheet 1.
- PG&E Electric Schedule EV2, checked October 24, 2026: total rates and the Base Services Charge on Sheet 2 (effective June 1, 2026), time periods on Sheet 4, eligibility and the 800% of baseline limit on Sheet 1, and battery and heat pump eligibility on Sheet 7. Bills on this schedule are labeled EV2A.
- PG&E Electric Schedule E-TOU-C, checked October 24, 2026: total rates, the baseline credit and the Base Services Charge on Sheet 2 (effective June 1, 2026), baseline quantities and time periods on Sheet 5, and the all-electric (Code H) quantities on Sheet 6.
- PG&E, "PG&E's Restructured Electric Bill Debuts: Base Services Charge" (March 1, 2026), checked October 24, 2026: the charge started in March 2026, is about $24 a month for most customers, about $6 for CARE and $12 for FERA and deed-restricted affordable housing, and is not a new fee.
Rates on this page come from PG&E's electric tariff sheets for Schedules E-ELEC, EV2 and E-TOU-C, checked October 24, 2026. The households are illustrative, and the bills are computed on this page, not by a DecisionSheet calculator.