Peninsula Light Company (PenLight) Rate Selection Guide
Peninsula Light Company (PenLight) is a member-owned electric cooperative serving roughly 35,600 members across Gig Harbor, the Key Peninsula, and surrounding islands in western Pierce County, Washington. The co-op deployed LTE-enabled Aclara smart meters territory-wide in 2019-2020, exposing daily and 15-minute usage through NISC SmartHub and the MyMeter dashboard, but it offers no Green Button, official API, or formal third-party data program — third parties negotiate access directly with Member Services.
Market Overview
Member-owned cooperative; board-set rates, no retail supplier choice in Washington.
Need to pull your actual usage data to compare rates? See the Peninsula Light Company (PenLight) Data Access Guide →
Current Rate Schedules
Peninsula Light Company (PenLight), the member-owned cooperative serving Gig Harbor and the Key Peninsula in Pierce County, Washington, publishes its rate schedules as PDFs on its Member Rates & Fees page. Service classes are Residential (Schedule A), General Service (Schedule B), Small Commercial (Schedule C-1), and Large Commercial (Schedule C-2), with a BPA Power Cost Adjustment rider (Schedule G-2) passing through changes in Bonneville Power Administration wholesale costs. Hydropower-heavy BPA supply keeps PenLight rates well below national averages — residential energy runs as low as ~7¢/kWh and commercial accounts average roughly 7.9¢/kWh blended. Exact customer, energy, and demand charges by schedule are in the published rate PDFs; see tariff for current rates.
Effective: January 1, 2025 · Full Tariff Book →
| Schedule | Type | Applicability | Structure | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schedule B — General Service | commercial | General (non-residential, non-large-commercial) services such as small shops, community facilities, and mixed-use accounts | Monthly basic charge plus energy charge; BPA Power Cost Adjustment (Schedule G-2) applies; see tariff for current rates | — |
| Schedule C-1 — Small Commercial Service | commercial | Smaller commercial accounts in Gig Harbor, Fox Island, and Key Peninsula communities | Monthly basic charge plus energy charge; territory-average commercial energy runs ~7.9¢/kWh blended; see tariff for current rates | ~7.9¢/kWh blended commercial average (EIA-derived) |
| Schedule C-2 — Large Commercial Service | commercial | PenLight's largest commercial accounts (the co-op serves ~264 commercial meters; average commercial bill ~$2,500/month) | Monthly basic charge, energy charge, and demand-based billing for larger loads; see tariff for current rates | —+ Demand billing applies to large commercial; see tariff for current rate |
| Schedule G-2 — BPA Power Cost Adjustment | commercial | Rider applied across service schedules | Passes through changes in Bonneville Power Administration wholesale power costs; adjusts with BPA rate cases (typically every two years) | — |
Rate Recommendations by Use Case
Small retail / professional office in Gig Harbor
Downtown Gig Harbor storefronts, medical and professional offices, and marina businesses fit Schedule C-1 Small Commercial.
PenLight's BPA hydropower supply delivers some of the lowest commercial energy costs in the country (~7.9¢/kWh blended), so simple energy-only billing serves small accounts well.
- Download the C-1 rate PDF from the Member Rates & Fees page to confirm the basic and energy charges
- Watch the G-2 BPA Power Cost Adjustment — BPA rate cases reset roughly every two years
- Use PenLight's SmartHub tools to track usage and spot anomalies
Large commercial facility (grocery, school campus, large retail)
PenLight's largest accounts — averaging roughly $2,500/month — take Schedule C-2 Large Commercial with demand billing.
Demand-based billing on C-2 means peak kW management matters; low BPA energy rates make the demand component a proportionally larger share of the bill than at most utilities.
- Verify the C-1/C-2 boundary with PenLight member services — the right classification depends on load size
- Stagger HVAC and refrigeration starts to limit billed demand
- Ask about power factor provisions in the Rate Schedule Provisions document before adding large motor loads
Electrification / EV fleet planning
With clean, cheap hydropower and Washington's clean-energy mandates, PenLight territory is favorable for fleet electrification and heat-pump conversion projects.
Energy near 7–8¢/kWh makes electric operating costs highly competitive against fossil alternatives, and the carbon intensity of BPA hydro supply strengthens ESG reporting.
- Engage PenLight early on service capacity — large new loads may need transformer upgrades
- Schedule EV charging overnight to avoid stacking demand onto daytime peaks
- Confirm whether any time-of-use or load-management options exist for your class before sizing chargers
Cost Optimization Strategies
PenLight's BPA hydropower supply already gives members rates far below national averages, so optimization focuses on demand management for large commercial accounts, tracking the BPA pass-through, and capturing efficiency incentives — not on chasing rate arbitrage that doesn't exist in this simple schedule structure.
Demand management on Schedule C-2
For: Schedule C-2 large commercial accounts
Large commercial accounts pay for peak kW. With energy cheap (~7-8¢/kWh), the demand component is a relatively larger lever — sequencing equipment starts, controlling HVAC simultaneity, and load-shedding during building peaks reduces billed demand directly.
Track the BPA Power Cost Adjustment (Schedule G-2)
For: All member classes
PenLight passes BPA wholesale cost changes through via Schedule G-2. BPA resets rates in two-year rate cases, so monitor announcements (and PenLight board communications) to anticipate bill changes and time capital decisions.
Efficiency rebates and conservation programs
For: All commercial members
As a BPA-supplied utility, PenLight offers conservation incentives funded through BPA's energy-efficiency programs — typically covering lighting, HVAC, heat pumps, and weatherization. Stack utility incentives with Washington state programs for commercial retrofits.
Correct schedule classification
For: Accounts near the B / C-1 / C-2 boundaries
PenLight bills by classification (General, Small Commercial, Large Commercial). Accounts near the class boundary should ask member services to confirm the cheapest applicable schedule for their load profile — misclassification quietly overcharges.
Off-peak scheduling for new electric loads
For: Facilities adding EV charging or electrified equipment
While PenLight's standard schedules aren't time-differentiated, keeping new large loads (EV charging, electric process heat) off the building's coincident peak protects C-2 demand charges and defers service-upgrade costs.
To implement these strategies, you need your 15-minute interval data. Learn how to download Peninsula Light Company (PenLight) interval data →
Frequently Asked Questions
How do commercial members access usage data from Peninsula Light?▾
Register the account at https://penlight.smarthub.coop/ (web or mobile). The Usage Monitoring section shows consumption trends and daily smart-meter data, and the MyMeter dashboard at penlight.org/mymeter adds daily/monthly tracking and comparisons. After PenLight's 2019-2020 meter upgrade, re-registration may be required to see daily data.
Can I get 15-minute interval data from PenLight meters?▾
The LTE-enabled Aclara smart meters and NISC SmartHub platform are capable of 15-minute interval granularity, but the export procedure is not publicly documented. Daily summaries are directly viewable in SmartHub and MyMeter; for detailed interval exports, call Member Services at (253) 857-5950 and ask about CSV or other export formats.
Does PenLight support Green Button or an official API?▾
No. Green Button/ESPI is not documented anywhere in PenLight's public materials, and there is no official API or developer portal. An undocumented NISC SmartHub JSON API has been reverse-engineered by open-source projects (electric-usage-downloader, ha-smarthub-energy-sensor), but it is unsupported and can change without notice.
How does a consultant or aggregator get authorized access to a member's data?▾
There is no standardized Share My Data program. Contact Member Services at (253) 857-5950, propose a data-sharing agreement covering data scope, format, and time period, and provide written customer authorization. Expect to negotiate delivery mechanism, fees, and SLAs individually.
Does PenLight support EDI for billing integration?▾
EDI is not documented. No ANSI X12 transaction specifications (814, 820, 867, 810) or trading-partner enrollment exist on the utility's site. Business customers requiring EDI should ask Member Services about TPA requirements and whether the NISC platform can support EDI delivery for their accounts.
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