Duke Energy Florida’s EV off-peak charging program has issued $1.5 million in bill credits since 2022 launch
Running since 2022, the program is open to all Duke Energy Florida residential customers has paid out a collective $1.5 million in bill credits to enrolled EV drivers across the company’s 13,000-square-mile Florida service area. The utility is now reminding eligible residential customers that the program is still open — and that signing up costs nothing but a shift in when you plug in.
Program reaches $1.5 million in credits paid to EV customers
That $1.5 million isn’t a projection — it’s already been paid out. Duke Energy Florida confirmed the milestone as part of a broader push to remind customers that the Off-Peak Charging Credit program is still accepting enrollments. Running since 2022, the program is open to all Duke Energy Florida residential customers, not just a select group.
Florida’s EV landscape makes the program especially relevant. The state ranks second in the nation for EV registrations, meaning a large share of Duke Energy Florida’s 2 million customers could potentially qualify. Households with up to two EVs can enroll both vehicles under a single account — which multiplies the savings for families running more than one electric car.
Florida’s outsized EV population — second only to California in registrations — makes demand-side management programs like this one particularly consequential.
How the off-peak credit system works
The mechanics are pretty simple. Own an EV, charge it with a Level 2 charger, and you can earn a $7.50 credit on your monthly electric bill — as long as charging happens during designated off-peak hours.
Those windows are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., Monday through Friday. Weekends and holidays? All hours qualify. That’s a fairly wide range, making it easy to fit charging into a normal daily routine without much disruption.
The credit isn’t huge on its own, but it stacks up. Over 12 months, a single enrolled vehicle earns $90 back. Two EVs enrolled brings that to $180 per year — just for adjusting when you plug in. You can apply and find more details at duke-energy.com/OffPeak.
Why Duke Energy structured the program around demand management
The credit isn’t charity — it’s a trade. Duke Energy Florida designed the program to shift EV charging load away from peak demand periods, when the grid faces the most strain.
Demand typically spikes in the early evening, when people get home from work and fire up appliances, air conditioning, and electronics all at once. A wave of EV drivers plugging in during that same window adds significant pressure. Spreading that load across off-peak hours eases the burden considerably.
That matters at scale. Duke Energy Florida owns 12,300 megawatts of energy capacity and serves customers across a 13,000-square-mile area. Managing when demand hits — not just how much there is — can reduce the need to bring additional generation capacity online during peak hours, a cost the utility wants to avoid. Sharing some of those avoided costs with customers who help is the logic behind the credit.
The off-peak windows also happen to align with times when renewable generation is more available. The midday window from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays overlaps with peak solar output hours in Florida, making it a natural fit for cleaner charging.
Context: Duke Energy Florida’s broader EV and grid investment strategy
Duke Energy Florida is a subsidiary of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. The parent company serves 8.7 million electric customers across six states — North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky — and owns a combined 55,700 megawatts of energy capacity.
Duke Energy has described its current direction as an “energy modernization strategy,” focused on electric grid upgrades and efficient generation resources to handle growing demand. The Off-Peak Charging Credit program fits within that framework as one tool for managing the grid as EV adoption climbs.
For Duke Energy Florida specifically, the program is one of several money-saving options available to EV drivers. The company hasn’t detailed all of them in this announcement, but the Off-Peak Charging Credit is the one that’s generated $1.5 million in customer payouts so far.
Florida’s outsized EV population — second only to California in registrations — makes demand-side management programs like this one particularly consequential. As more drivers switch to electric vehicles, the timing of when they charge becomes a meaningful grid variable, and financial nudges are a relatively low-friction way to address that.
What EV drivers in Duke Energy Florida’s service area should know
The core takeaway is simple: if you’re a Duke Energy Florida residential customer with an EV and a Level 2 charger, you may be leaving $90 or more per year on the table by not enrolling. The program has already paid out $1.5 million collectively, and the company is actively encouraging eligible customers to sign up.
Enrollment is open now. Up to two EVs qualify per account, and the off-peak charging windows are broad enough to work around most schedules. The application process starts at duke-energy.com/OffPeak — there’s no cost to join. The only requirement is changing when you plug in.
Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.
