# Choosing Your Electricity Pricing

Set the electricity rate plan Hungry Machines optimizes against — a preset time-of-use zone, your own hourly rates, or live daily-varying wholesale pricing.

Hungry Machines saves money by moving energy use into your cheapest hours — so it needs to know **what you actually pay, and when.** That's the single biggest lever on your savings. Set it in the panel under **Settings → Pricing source**.

> **Note**
>
> If your electricity costs the same all day (a flat rate), there's no cheap-versus-expensive signal to shift load toward, so savings will be small no matter what. Hungry Machines works best on a time-of-use or daily-varying plan.

## Static (time-of-use zone)

The simplest option: pick a **preset rate plan** from the catalog. It covers common US utility time-of-use plans, each with its own off-peak, mid-peak, and peak windows. Choose the one that matches your utility and plan, and Hungry Machines optimizes against those rates.

On ComEd, that catalog includes the four **ComEd Time-of-Day Pricing** plans — pick the one matching your home type (single- or multi-family) and heating type (standard or electric heat).

### Your own hourly rates

If none of the presets matches your bill, switch on **hourly rate overrides** and enter your own price for each hour of the day in ¢/kWh. This is the most precise option — it's exactly what your plan charges.

> **Tip**
>
> Don't see your utility or region in the catalog? Email [info@hungrymachines.io](mailto:info@hungrymachines.io) and we'll look at adding it. In the meantime, the hourly override lets you enter your plan's prices directly.

## Dynamic (changes daily)

Some utilities bill residential customers on **wholesale prices that change every day** rather than a fixed time-of-use schedule. If you're on one of those plans, choose **Dynamic** and Hungry Machines follows the day-ahead prices for your grid region automatically.

Fields appear when you pick Dynamic:

- **Region** — your grid region. Supported regions today are **ComEd — Hourly Pricing** (Northern Illinois) and **Ameren Illinois** (Power Smart Pricing). More may be added over time.
- **Delivery plan** *(ComEd only)* — leave this on **Flat estimate**, or pick your **ComEd Delivery Time-of-Day** class (single- or multi-family, standard or electric heat) if you've enrolled in that program. Choosing a class prefills its four published period prices — Morning, Mid-Day Peak, Evening, Overnight — and every one is yours to edit: check them against the Distribution Facility Charge on a recent bill and adjust to match. It stacks with Hourly Pricing.
- **Delivery charge estimate** — a flat ¢/kWh you add on top of the wholesale price to approximate delivery, capacity, and taxes — the parts of your bill that aren't the raw energy price. Check a recent bill to estimate it. With a Delivery Time-of-Day class selected, this field only needs to cover what the delivery plan doesn't — taxes and supply riders — so it typically drops to around **2¢/kWh**.

> **Tip**
>
> On a daily-varying plan in a region that isn't listed yet? Email [info@hungrymachines.io](mailto:info@hungrymachines.io) — and until it's added, the **Static → hourly rate overrides** option is a good stand-in for a typical day.

## Which should I choose?

| Your situation | Pick |
|---|---|
| Your utility offers a named time-of-use plan and it's in the catalog | **Static** → the matching preset |
| You know your exact hourly prices but no preset fits | **Static** → hourly rate overrides |
| Your plan's prices change every day with the wholesale market | **Dynamic** → your region |
| Your electricity is a flat rate all day | Any option — but expect modest savings (there's little to optimize) |

## Next steps

- [Day-to-Day Use](/home-assistant/day-to-day/) — comfort and savings settings that work alongside your pricing.
- [Your Dashboard, at a Glance](/home-assistant/dashboard/) — the price bars behind your schedule chart come from the plan you pick here.

Canonical page: https://docs.hungrymachines.io/home-assistant/pricing/