Peak Time

Premium DemandGuard

A Peak Time automation manages your battery reserve during your utility’s time-of-use (TOU) peak hours — automatically raising and lowering the reserve so your battery is ready when electricity costs the most.

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What it does

Peak Time automations run two actions:

1. At peak start: Raises battery reserve to your specified percentage (e.g., 30%), so the battery doesn’t discharge below that level during peak hours
2. At peak end: Optionally lowers battery reserve to a different level (e.g., 0%), allowing the battery to discharge fully again

Optionally, it can disable Storm Watch during the peak window to prevent Tesla from charging your battery to 100% when you’re trying to preserve it for peak hour discharge.

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When to use it

Peak Time is the right automation if your utility charges time-of-use rates with distinct peak periods. Common scenarios:

• Your utility charges peak rates from 4–9 PM on weekdays — set a Peak Time automation to reserve 30% battery at 4 PM, then release it at 9 PM
• Your summer rate schedule differs from winter — set active months accordingly
• You want to prevent Storm Watch from filling up your battery right before a peak period starts

Tip

Check your utility bill or utility’s website for your exact peak rate hours. Set your automation’s start time 1–2 minutes before the utility’s window to ensure the reserve is in place before peak starts.

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Creating a Peak Time automation

1. Go to Automations and click + Add Automation

2. Select the Peak Time tab

3. Give your automation a name

4. Set your peak window:

   • Start Time: when your utility’s peak period begins
   • End Time: when the peak period ends

5. Configure Battery Reserve (optional but recommended):

   • Enable the battery reserve toggle
   • Set Reserve at Start (percentage to hold during peak hours)
   • Set Reserve at End (percentage to revert to after peak ends — typically 0%)

6. Toggle Disable Storm Watch During Peak if you want to prevent Storm Watch from charging your battery during peak hours

7. Set the schedule: choose days of the week and months that match your utility’s peak schedule

8. Click Create Automation

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Settings reference

Setting	What it does	Default
Name	Label for this automation	Required
Description	Optional note	Empty
Start Time	When peak period begins	14:00 (2 PM)
End Time	When peak period ends	18:00 (6 PM)
Battery Reserve at Start	Reserve % when peak begins	Off
Battery Reserve at End	Reserve % when peak ends	Off
Disable Storm Watch During Peak	Prevents Storm Watch from activating during peak hours	Off
Days of Week	Which days the automation runs	Mon–Fri
Months	Which months it’s active	All months

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Example configurations

Classic evening TOU protection

• Start: 16:00 (4 PM) — Set reserve to 30%
• End: 21:00 (9 PM) — Set reserve to 0%
• Days: Mon–Fri
• Months: All

This keeps your battery at least 30% charged during peak hours so it can power your home through the evening, then releases the reserve at 9 PM so overnight charging and morning solar can fill it back up.

Summer-only peak protection

• Start: 15:00 (3 PM) — Set reserve to 50%
• End: 20:00 (8 PM) — Set reserve to 0%
• Days: Mon–Sat
• Months: Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep

Some utilities have much higher peak rates in summer. You can run a more aggressive reserve only during those months.

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Plan requirements

Peak Time automations require a Premium or DemandGuard subscription.

If you’re on the free plan and try to save a Peak Time automation, you’ll see an option to upgrade. See Subscription Tiers.