Updated August 2, 2026. This post originally covered the April 2026 rate change. SDG&E published a new EV-TOU-5 schedule effective August 1, 2026, so the figures below are the current ones, not the April ones.
The current EV-TOU-5 rates
These are SDG&E’s published rates for bundled (non-CCA) residential customers, effective August 1, 2026.
| Period | When | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Super off-peak | Weekdays 12am-6am and 10am-2pm; weekends 12am-2pm | 13.1¢/kWh |
| Off-peak | Weekdays 6am-10am, 2pm-4pm, 9pm-12am; weekends 2pm-4pm, 9pm-12am | 49.6¢/kWh |
| On-peak | Every day 4pm-9pm | 80.2¢/kWh |
Two things worth noticing. The overnight window runs about 6 times cheaper than the 4pm-9pm peak, so when you charge matters far more than it used to. And super off-peak isn’t only overnight: weekdays include 10am-2pm, and weekends run midnight straight through to 2pm. If you work from home or charge on a Saturday morning, that midday window is the same cheap rate.
These rates don’t include the monthly residential Base Services Charge that SDG&E introduced in October 2025. If you’re with a CCA, your delivery rates differ and your generation is priced by the CCA, so read your own bill rather than this table.
What the gap is worth
Rough arithmetic, using the rates above. A 40-amp Level 2 charger draws about 7.7 kW continuous. At 9 hours of charging a week, that’s roughly 3,600 kWh a year.
- All of it in the super-off-peak window: about $470 a year
- All of it during the 4pm-9pm peak: about $2,880 a year
So the scheduling decision is worth somewhere around $2,400 a year at that usage. Your own number depends on your mileage, your charger’s amperage, and how much of your charging you can actually shift overnight. The point isn’t the exact figure. It’s that the gap is now wide enough that a charger without a schedule is an expensive charger.
Why this matters for a San Diego panel decision
If you’re adding an EV charger to a home with a 100-amp panel, there are two ways forward.
Path A: upgrade to 200-amp service. Costs more up front, and you can charge whenever you want without thinking about it. See what a panel upgrade in San Diego involves and what drives the price.
Path B: keep the 100-amp panel, add load management, charge in the cheap window. Costs less up front, and on EV-TOU-5 the throttling only bites during daytime top-up charging that most overnight chargers never do. Our EV panel upgrade bottleneck guide walks through the whole capacity question.
For a lot of 1970s-90s homes in Chula Vista, Spring Valley, and La Mesa, where the existing 100-amp panel is otherwise healthy, Path B does the job. The load calculation follows NEC 220.87, and the pros we send quote both paths so you can compare them side by side instead of taking anyone’s word for it.
Enrolling
Existing SDG&E residential customers switch to EV-TOU-5 through their online account. Confirm the current terms, including how the Base Services Charge applies to your account, with SDG&E directly before you switch.
Next steps
If you’re planning a charger install, ask about Path A versus Path B when you get the quote. Our EV charger installation page covers both. If you haven’t looked at rebates yet, we keep a running breakdown of every EV charger rebate available in San Diego for 2026. Or call (858) 988-5580.
Source: SDG&E electric vehicle pricing plans, rates effective August 1, 2026, verified August 2, 2026. Utility pricing changes through CPUC rulings, sometimes mid-year. Check the source before making a decision based on these numbers.