TOU structure basics
Utilities and some retail suppliers define on-peak, off-peak, and shoulder periods with different $/kWh rates. Delivery utilities in several states moved commercial customers to mandatory or optional TOU schedules.
EIA FAQ 627 separates supply shopping from delivery tariff rules—TOU on delivery continues regardless of retail supplier.
Laundromat load shifting reality
Honest assessment of what can move vs what cannot.
| Load | Shift potential | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Customer washes | Low | Demand follows foot traffic |
| Water heat recovery | Moderate | Pre-heat off peak if storage allows |
| HVAC precool/preheat | Moderate | Thermal mass strategies limited in strip stores |
| Lighting | Low on customer floor | Back room schedules possible |
| Dryers (gas heat) | Low | Electric motor kWh modest per IOU 0.35 kWh/load |
TOU and demand charges together
Oncor uses 15-minute demand intervals; Pepco DC examples use 30 minutes at or above 25 kW. TOU affects energy $/kWh by hour; demand charges bill peak kW separately. Optimizing one does not automatically optimize the other.
TOU evaluation checklist
Request hourly interval data from utility before switching TOU schedules if optional.
- Map store traffic by hour for one month.
- Overlay tariff on-peak windows on traffic chart.
- Model bill under current vs TOU schedule with same kWh total.
- Identify one or two controllable loads to test shift.
- Revisit after equipment or hour changes.
Tariff election and opt-out windows
Some utilities require TOU election for new commercial accounts; others offer optional TOU with opt-out period. Missing opt-out window may lock TOU for twelve months.
Compare twelve-month bill simulation on historical interval data before electing TOU—not one month snapshot.
Supply contract TOU adders may stack on utility delivery TOU—total structure is combined.
Limited load shift tactics that may work
Pre-heating storage water off-peak for morning rush shifts kWh to cheaper hours if storage adequate—requires recovery testing.
Precooling thermal mass before on-peak window may trim peak HVAC draw—limited in strip stores with low mass.
Battery storage shifts energy arithmetically but capital cost rarely suits small laundromats—evaluate as special case not default.
Applying this guidance at your laundromat
Start with a written baseline: twelve months of utility bills for each meter, vend counts or card-system totals for the same period, and an equipment inventory listing washer and dryer model numbers, water heater or boiler type, and approximate install year. This guide targets the query time of use rates laundromats for U.S. coin laundry owners.
The core question here is specific: Owner must know TOU periods on delivery tariff and what loads can realistically shift. Use that sentence as a checklist header and verify each item against your store's actual bills, contracts, and maintenance records—not assumptions from another market.
Content focus: TOU as tariff consumption structure—not supplier quote feature alone. Coin Laundry Association 2024 survey data reports mean operating hours of 16.6 per day and notes that 53% of members rank utility costs among their top business concerns—measurement and documentation therefore deserve the same discipline as cash reconciliation.
Separate on-site consumption from the other side of the bill. Retail supply contracts price the kWh or therms you burn; they do not replace dryer maintenance, water heat tuning, or demand management on applicable tariffs. Lower usage reduces total spend at any supply rate.
Schedule review by 2027-03-12 or sooner if you replace major equipment, change operating hours, add a store, or receive a utility rate-case decision affecting delivery charges. Update relatedGuideSlugs topics in your internal playbook when those events occur.
Keep a single folder—physical or cloud—per store with the last three years of utility PDFs, supply contracts, letters of authorization, combustion test reports, and lint duct cleaning invoices. Future buyers, lenders, and your own renewal negotiations all move faster when records are complete.
When sharing data with brokers or suppliers, redact unrelated account numbers but preserve meter identifiers and rate class labels exactly as printed on the utility bill. Errors in those fields delay switches in choice markets and produce quotes that do not bind to your actual service point— wasting the notice windows described in many commercial supply contracts.
- Verify rate class and meter identifiers on bills match supplier and broker files for time of use rates for laundromats.
- Compare month-over-month usage at similar vend counts before attributing bill changes to rates alone.
- Note whether your territory uses interval demand billing and request interval data if peaks are unknown.
- Document who authorized any contract signature, thermostat change, or setpoint adjustment with date.
- Re-read parent topic context under Energy procurement or Energy consumption before mixing shopping with efficiency projects.
- If interval demand data is available, chart the highest kW intervals against store video or POS timestamps to identify repeatable peak drivers.
- Contact your utility account representative once per year to confirm rate schedule name, demand threshold, and any pending tariff riders—even when you are not switching supply.
- Note whether bills combine supply and delivery on one page or separate sections—comparison errors are common when statement formats change between renewal cycles or after supplier switches.
