Time-of-Use / Off-Peak Mining Scheduling Calculator
Almost every mining calculator assumes a single flat electricity price. This one does not. Enter your utility’s time-of-use rate windows (super-off-peak, off-peak, mid-peak, on-peak) and a miner, and see whether load-shifting your hashing to the cheap hours actually beats running 24/7 — including the honest trade-off: fewer running hours means cheaper power but less Bitcoin mined. Rates shown are illustrative presets; always verify the current rate with your own utility.
Quick answer
Running a Antminer S19k Pro (2,760 W, 120 TH/s) 24/7 on the illustrative Ontario Time-of-Use (RPP) plan blends to 10.8¢/kWh and nets -$1.45 CAD/day. At today's live hashprice this miner only breaks even below 8.61¢/kWh, so shifting it to the cheapest 12 hours changes net to $0.33 CAD/day (+$1.79 CAD vs 24/7) while mining about 50% less BTC. Load-shifting helps only when the hours you cut cost more power than the miner earns — it is not free money, and with a flat rate it never helps. Rates here are illustrative; verify the current rate with your utility.
Method: power cost = kW × hours × rate, summed across your time-of-use windows; revenue = your share of the live network hashrate × the daily block reward × BTC price (gross of pool fees). Break-even rate is the ¢/kWh at which an hour of mining earns exactly what its power costs. Rates are illustrative snapshots, not a live tariff — verify with your utility. Not financial advice.
Illustrative Ontario regulated (RPP) winter weekday: off-peak overnight & evening, mid-peak midday, on-peak morning and early evening. Regulated prices change seasonally (OEB) — verify the current rate with your utility.
| Strategy | Uptime | Eff. rate | BTC/day | Revenue/day | Power/day | Net/day | Net/month | Break-even hashprice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Run 24/7 | 24 h | 10.8¢ | 0.00006235 | $5.70 CAD | $7.15 CAD | -$1.45 CAD | -$44.17 CAD | $59.62 CAD/PH/day |
| Run cheapest 12 h/day | 12 h | 7.6¢ | 0.00003117 | $2.85 CAD | $2.52 CAD | $0.33 CAD | $10.17 CAD | $41.95 CAD/PH/day |
| Profit-optimal (12 h/day) | 12 h | 7.6¢ | 0.00003117 | $2.85 CAD | $2.52 CAD | $0.33 CAD | $10.17 CAD | $41.95 CAD/PH/day |
Shifting from 24/7 to the cheapest 12 hours improves daily net by $1.79 CAD ($54.35 CAD/month) — from -$1.45 CAD to $0.33 CAD/day while mining 50% less BTC (fewer running hours = less hashing). Cheaper power and less BTC always move together; whether net rises or falls depends on whether the hours you cut were losing money.
Profit-optimal: run only the 12 hours priced below the 8.61¢/kWh break-even (net $0.33 CAD/day, $10.17 CAD/month). The remaining hours cost more in power than the miner earns, so running them drags your total net down. Here, load-shifting genuinely beats 24/7 — but it means accepting a lower hashrate for the day.
Method & caveats. Daily power cost = miner kW × hours × each window's rate, summed across your time-of-use windows (they must total 24 h). The blended rate is the hours-weighted average you pay running 24/7. Revenue is your share of the live network hashrate (~871 EH/s) × the fee-inclusive daily block reward × the BTC price, from D-Central's live hashprice feed (snapshot 2026-07-27) — it is gross of pool fees (a pool fee lowers revenue slightly and raises the rate you need to break even). The break-even rate is the ¢/kWh at which one hour of mining earns exactly what its power costs; run hours below it, shut off above it. Scheduling to fewer hours always mines proportionally less BTC — it only raises your net when the hours you drop cost more in power than they earn, which is why a flat rate never rewards load-shifting. The rate presets are illustrative snapshots (roughly 2025), not a live tariff feed; utility prices change by season, tier and region — verify the current rate with your utility before acting. This models residential time-of-use scheduling of the kind D-Central's home-mining automation (Home Assistant + DCENT_OS) can execute. Once you know your effective rate, run the full payback in the ASIC ROI & payback calculator. Not financial advice.
Frequently asked questions
Does scheduling a home miner to off-peak hours beat running it 24/7?
Only sometimes, and this calculator shows exactly when. Running fewer hours always mines proportionally less Bitcoin, so load-shifting raises your net profit only if the hours you switch off cost more in electricity than the miner earns in that hour. If your miner is profitable even at your on-peak rate, shutting it off just gives up Bitcoin; if it loses money at peak, cutting those hours raises your net. With a flat rate, shifting never helps because every hour costs the same.
What is the break-even electricity rate for my miner?
It is the price per kWh at which one hour of mining earns exactly what its power costs. The calculator computes it from your miner's wattage and the live hashprice: break-even rate equals your hourly revenue divided by your miner's kilowatts. Run any hour priced below that rate and you profit on power; run an hour above it and you lose money. At today's low hashprice that break-even rate is low, which is why efficient miners and cheap overnight windows matter so much.
What is a blended or effective electricity rate?
When your utility charges different prices at different times of day, the blended rate is the hours-weighted average you actually pay running a constant load 24/7. For example, twelve hours at 7.6 cents, six at 12.2 and six at 15.8 blends to about 10.8 cents per kWh. Scheduling the miner into only the cheapest windows lowers the effective rate you pay, but also lowers your uptime and Bitcoin output.
How does Hydro-Quebec Rate Flex D affect a home miner?
Rate Flex D gives a low reward price most of the winter in exchange for roughly 55 cents per kWh during called peak events. Those events land on the coldest days, for up to about 100 hours each winter, and they are dynamic rather than a fixed daily schedule. That is precisely when a miner's waste heat is most useful, so scheduling the machine off to dodge the peak means surrendering the heat you are paying Quebec's regulated rate for. The calculator models a peak-event day so you can see the trade-off; verify current terms with Hydro-Quebec.
Are the electricity rates in this calculator accurate for my utility?
No. The presets are clearly-labelled illustrative snapshots of common time-of-use structures (Ontario TOU and ULO, Hydro-Quebec Flex D, PG&E EV2-A, Georgia Power and Xcel Colorado EV plans), not a live tariff feed. Real prices change by season, tier and region and are set by your utility and regulator. Always enter your own current rates from your bill, and verify the plan details with your utility before making a decision.
Where do the revenue numbers come from?
Revenue is your share of the live Bitcoin network hashrate multiplied by the fee-inclusive daily block reward and the current BTC price, from D-Central's live hashprice feed. It is gross of pool fees, so a real pool fee lowers revenue slightly and raises the electricity rate you need to break even. The figures are a live snapshot that moves with difficulty and price; treat them as planning estimates, not guarantees, and never as financial advice.
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Last reviewed July 26, 2026.