SparkRates Electric Rates

About SparkRates Electric Rates Android App

What does your electricity cost at this moment? What about later today, or tomorrow, or on Labor Day? These questions can be difficult to answer, as electricity prices can vary dramatically depending on:
1) Your utility company
2) Your rate plan
3) The time of year
4) The time of day (Time-of-Use or TOU)
5) How much energy you have used this month (Baseline Quantities and Tiers)
6) In some cases, even the outside temperature!

Not knowing the price of electricity at any given time can cost you hundreds of dollars per year on your electric bill. Time of Use (TOU) prices can change by a factor of 4 (or more) during a single day. The cheapest hours vary from day to day and throughout the year.

SparkRates gives you the real-time information you need to make smart decisions regarding your electricity use. Simply select your electric utility company and rate plan from the built-in database (no WiFi or data connection required), and SparkRates will immediately display today's prices in a colorful and easy to read format.

With this SparkRates data, you can decide when it makes sense to use your power hungry dishwasher or washing machine, and when is the best time to use that air conditioner, charge your EV or run your pool equipment.

If you'd like to plan ahead, SparkRates makes it easy to check the rates at any time on any day, include Time of Use (TOU) and usage tier details. One touch allows you to scroll forward or back by one day, and you can jump to any date with just a few touches on the calendar. This is great way for you to optimize the programming of your smart appliances and thermostat to operate during the lowest cost Time of Use (TOU) use periods.

Are you on the best rate plan? SparkRates can show you prices and Time of Use (TOU) schedules for any rate plan in our database. This information can help you make an informed decision on which rate plan to choose.

This SparkRates release (Version 1.0 California) includes most rate plans from the five largest California electric utility companies:
SCE (Southern California Edison)
PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric)
LADWP (Los Angeles Department of Water and Power)
SDG&E (San Diego Gas & Electric)
SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utility District)

Can't find the company or rate plan that you want? Choose "Add a Rate Plan" from the SparkRates settings menu to send your request to the SparkRates database team.

SparkRates has been designed with built in "hints" to get you started and has on-screen help icons to provide additional information. There is also a "Help" option in the SparkRates settings menu.

SparkRates will remember the most recent rate plan you've selected, and will automatically reset to use the current data & time if the app has been idle for a while. There is also a handy button to manually use the current date and time. By choosing "Set Rate Plan Default" from the SparkRates settings menu, you can choose which rate plan to display when SparkRates is opened. You can also decide how many decimal places to display in the rate table by choosing "Set Rate Precision" from the SparkRates settings menu.

We hope that you find SparkRates useful. The SparkRates team has plans to add more features and tools to future versions, and to expand our coverage areas beyond California. We would very much appreciate your comments, questions, suggestions and criticisms. Please choose "Send Feedback" from the SparkRates settings menu to send an email directly to the SparkRates engineers.

Thank you very much for downloading and using SparkRates.