# Rate Schedules and Tariffs

> Choosing between general service, time-of-use and real-time pricing with your own interval data.

Utilities publish more than one tariff for the same service territory, and being on the wrong one is among the most common avoidable overcharges in commercial billing. A general service schedule, a time-of-use schedule and a real-time pricing option will each price the same load differently, and the switching rules — notice periods, minimum stay, eligibility thresholds by demand level — are set out in the tariff book rather than on the bill. This section explains how to read a rate schedule, how to model your own interval data against alternative tariffs before committing, what standby and supplemental service cost a site with on-site generation, and how riders and surcharges attach on top of whichever schedule you land on.

## Articles in this section

- [How to Choose the Right Electricity Rate Schedule](https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/how-to-choose-a-rate-schedule): Being on the wrong tariff is among the most common avoidable overcharges in commercial billing. Modeling your own interval data against the alternatives settles it in a day.
- [Critical Peak Pricing for Commercial Customers](https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/critical-peak-pricing-explained): A few event days a year at a very high price, paid for by a discount on every other day. Whether that suits a site comes down to how many kilowatts it can drop when an event is called.
- [Demand-Heavy and Energy-Heavy Tariffs — Which Fits Your Load](https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/demand-vs-energy-heavy-tariffs): Two schedules can collect the same revenue from a utility's customers and treat your particular load very differently. One number tells you which side you are on.
- [How to Read a Utility Tariff Book](https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/tariff-book-how-to-read): The tariff is the contract, it is public, and almost nobody opens it. A method for extracting the six things that actually determine what you pay.
- [Real-Time Pricing — Who It Suits and Who It Ruins](https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/real-time-pricing-explained): Hourly wholesale-linked prices reward a site that can move load and punish one that cannot. The annual average is not the number that decides it.
- [Standby and Supplemental Charges for On-Site Generation](https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/standby-charges-onsite-generation): A site that makes some of its own power still needs the grid to be there when the generator is not. Standby tariffs price that readiness, and they decide many project cases.
- [Switching Rate Schedules — Notice, Minimum Stay and Eligibility](https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/rate-switching-rules): The modeling says switch. The tariff says how, when, and for how long you are committed. Reading the second document after the first is how a good analysis becomes a bad year.
- [Time-of-Use Rates for Commercial Accounts](https://thedemandcharge.com/articles/time-of-use-rates-commercial): The same kilowatt-hour costs different amounts depending on when it arrives. Whether that helps or hurts depends entirely on how much timing latitude your operation really has.

---

Canonical URL: https://thedemandcharge.com/topics/rate-schedules  
Site index for agents: https://thedemandcharge.com/llms.txt