Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing is an electricity tariff structure that charges different rates per unit of energy depending on the time of day, with higher rates during peak-demand periods and lower rates at off-peak hours.
Why it matters for energy costs
TOU is the tariff structure that makes battery time-shifting economically meaningful. Under a flat-rate tariff, every kWh drawn from the grid costs the same regardless of when you draw it; there is no financial benefit to deciding when to charge or discharge a battery. Under TOU, a gap opens between peak and off-peak rates. That gap is the arbitrage window a battery exploits: charge when rates are low, discharge when rates are high. The wider the gap in your local schedule, the stronger the economic case for adding storage. (Source: IEA Demand Response)
For commercial sites, TOU combines naturally with demand-charge billing, so the same battery controller addresses two cost levers at once: capping the demand spike (Срезание пиковых нагрузок) and moving energy from expensive to cheap hours (Смещение нагрузки). Consult your own tariff schedule to confirm the peak windows and rate differentials that apply to your site.
Time-of-Use in practice
Key numbers
A battery cycling once per day for TOU time-shifting uses roughly 365 cycles per year. Genixgreen LiFePO4 systems are rated for 6000+ cycles to the 80 percent capacity end-of-life point, giving well over a decade of daily TOU use. Systems run at a nominal 51.2 V, scale from about 5 kWh to 16 kWh for homes and into the MWh range for commercial sites, and deliver usable energy of about 85 percent of nameplate capacity. System round-trip efficiency for a full charge-and-discharge cycle is about 90 percent: that loss is the inherent cost of the time-shifting transaction, so the tariff gap must exceed it for storage to make economic sense.
TOU vs flat-rate billing
On a flat-rate tariff, every kWh is priced identically and storage adds no time-based arbitrage value. TOU introduces a time dimension that changes the calculus entirely. As utilities introduce time-varying pricing, battery storage gains an economic layer on top of backup and Собственное потребление value. Markets with regulated flat rates, common in some regions during periods of energy-price control, limit residential TOU time-shifting; commercial demand-charge structures may still apply. In Ukraine, verify the current tariff schedule with your local distribution network operator before sizing a system for time-shifting rather than pure backup.
How Genixgreen uses Time-of-Use
Genixgreen has built LiFePO4 storage in its own factory since 2011 and ships to 100+ countries, with local stock in Odesa for delivery across Ukraine. Genixgreen LiFePO4 systems are designed to pair with compatible hybrid inverters whose controllers schedule charging during low-rate windows and discharging during peak-rate windows, automating the TOU arbitrage cycle with no manual intervention.
Related terms
- Срезание пиковых нагрузок: cuts the demand-charge spike during the same peak window TOU defines
- Смещение нагрузки: moves consumption across time; TOU is the rate structure that makes it financially worthwhile
- Собственное потребление: maximizes on-site solar use, often layered with TOU scheduling
- Explore the Genixgreen product range for LiFePO4 systems compatible with TOU controller programming
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