Off-peak hours times: how to find yours
Your off-peak hours are not necessarily your neighbour’s, nor those quoted in an article online. Here is where to read them and what to do when they change.
There is no national timetable for off-peak hours (heures creuses) on the standard Off-peak option: each meter gets its own slots, set by Enedis, the distribution network operator, according to the load on the local grid, for a total of 8 hours a day. Two homes on the same street can therefore have different windows, such as 22:00 to 06:00 for one and midnight to 07:00 plus 13:00 to 14:00 for the other. Your exact hours appear on your bill, in your supplier’s online account and, with a Linky smart meter, among the screens the meter scrolls through. They matter because the gap between a peak and an off-peak kWh reaches €0.0553 on the regulated tariff of 1 August 2026: three kWh a day run at the wrong time cost €61 a year. The Tempo option is the exception, with off-peak hours fixed by the tariff from 22:00 to 06:00 for everyone.
What moving a load into off-peak hours saves
Saving per year
€61
| Per month | €5 |
| Gap per kWh, peak against off-peak | €0.0553 |
| kWh moved over the year | 1,095 |
| Price of an off-peak kWh | €0.1589 |
Off-peak option of the regulated tariff, prices incl. tax from 1 August 2026.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
Three places to read your slots
The simplest is your bill. It repeats the details of your supply point: subscribed power, tariff option and, for the Off-peak option, the exact windows assigned by Enedis. The same information sits in your supplier’s online account, in the contract details; that is often where it shows up first when it changes.
The third source is in your home: the Linky meter. Its scroll buttons bring up several screens, including the consumption readings for each period. The reading that is moving belongs to the current period. Checking the meter just before and just after the time you think your slot starts confirms the real timing, something no article or neighbour can do for you.
Enedis’s own online area gives access to your consumption curve, but Enedis itself points you to your supplier and your bill for the times. If two sources disagree, the contract is what counts.
Why your hours differ from your neighbour’s
Off-peak hours have never been a national timetable. From the start the network operator placed them where local demand was lowest. The substation feeding your district does not carry the same load as the next town’s: a business park busy at noon, an all-electric village in the evening, a town where street lighting and water heaters come on together. Enedis therefore spreads the slots so that every water heater in an area does not switch on in the same minute.
The regulator puts figures on this variety: before the reform, of 14.5 million homes on the Off-peak option, 5.7 million had their off-peak hours split between night and day, and 8.8 million had them at night only. Daytime windows were often badly placed, early in the morning or early in the evening, which is why they are gradually moving to the afternoon.
Tempo, a case apart
On Tempo the question does not arise. The text that frames the option sets eight off-peak hours from 22:00 to 06:00, everywhere, all year. What varies is the colour of the day and so the price of those hours. A Tempo household has no timetable to check, only a colour to watch: see tomorrow’s Tempo colour.
Work out what a well-timed load is worth
A kWh used off-peak costs €0.1589 including tax on the regulated tariff, against €0.2142 at peak. The gap looks small; repeated every day, it is not. Enter what you could move:
What moving a load into off-peak hours saves
Saving per year
€61
| Per month | €5 |
| Gap per kWh, peak against off-peak | €0.0553 |
| kWh moved over the year | 1,095 |
| Price of an off-peak kWh | €0.1589 |
Off-peak option of the regulated tariff, prices incl. tax from 1 August 2026.
Which appliances to schedule, and how
The water heater
It is the largest programmable use in a home without electric heating. Most water heaters (ballons d’eau chaude) are connected to a day/night switch driven by the meter: set to automatic, they heat during your off-peak hours, whatever those are. Check the switch position in the fuse box: on “marche forcée”, forced on, the heater runs all the time and the option loses its point.
Washing machine, dishwasher, tumble dryer
Use their delayed start. Set it so the whole cycle fits inside the slot: a two-hour programme started in the last off-peak hour of the night finishes at peak. If part of your off-peak hours falls in the afternoon, that is the best time for a wash, with someone around to hang it out.
Charging a car
The car, the wall box or the manufacturer’s app all accept a charging schedule. Set it to your night slot with a quarter of an hour’s margin at each end: the car’s clock and the meter’s are not always in step to the minute. The guide charging an electric car compares the cost of a charge by option.
Timer plugs and programmable radiators
Timer plugs and programmable radiators only know the time they are given. They are the ones to go through one by one when your slots change. Keep a list: the day your supplier’s letter arrives, it is ready.
Read your two meter readings to measure your off-peak share
Knowing your slots is not enough: you also need to know how much you use inside them. An Off-peak option bill carries two separate registers, one for peak hours, one for off-peak hours. Take an annual bill with 2,600 kWh at peak and 1,400 kWh off-peak: the off-peak share is 35 %. That figure, rather than a percentage read in an article, is the one to enter in the comparison tool.
| Reading | kWh over a year | Price per kWh incl. tax | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peak hours | 2,600 | €0.2142 | €557 |
| Off-peak hours | 1,400 | €0.1589 | €222 |
| Total consumption | 4,000 | €779 |
Do the same sum on two bills, one from winter and one from summer: if the off-peak share drops in summer, a manually timed appliance has often slipped out of your slots. Without an annual bill, the consumption history in your online account gives the same two totals month by month.
Mistakes that keep coming up
- Assuming off-peak hours start at 22:00 for everyone: true on Tempo, rarely on the Off-peak option.
- Forgetting the clock change on a mechanical timer: the meter switches between summer and winter time by itself, the timer does not, and an hour’s drift pushes a cycle out of the slot.
- Leaving the water heater switch on “marche forcée” after a repair: the heater then also runs at peak.
- Setting an appliance to start at the beginning of the slot but forgetting how long it runs: a three-hour drying cycle overruns.
- Relying on the slots of a previous home after moving: they belong to the meter, not to you.
If you have just moved to France
Newcomers often bring habits from another country where night rates start at a fixed time for everyone. In France the timetable belongs to the meter (compteur) at your address, and the contract that goes with it is in the name of whoever holds the electricity account, often you as tenant. When you open the account, ask the supplier for the off-peak slots of the supply point, or read them on the first bill. If the water heater sits in a shared cupboard or a basement, check that it is wired to your own meter’s contact and not on a separate timer left by the previous occupant.
When your hours change
Under the reform now under way, your supplier must warn you at least a month ahead, and the change is made remotely through the meter. Appliances wired to the meter contact follow by themselves; those running on a clock do not. A forgotten appliance keeps starting at the old time, now a peak hour, and the difference shows on the next bill. The rules, the timetable and the cost of a forgotten timer are on the new off-peak hours page.
Do your off-peak hours justify the option?
The Off-peak option has carried the same standing charge as Base on the regulated tariff since 1 August 2026, but its peak kWh is dearer than the Base kWh. It only wins if enough of your use really falls inside your slots. The Base, Off-peak or Tempo comparison works it out with your off-peak share, and the guide appliance consumption helps estimate what each appliance weighs.