Get Paid to Switch Off Your Irrigation Pumps: The 2026 California Demand Response Guide That Turns Your Power Bill Into a Paycheck

4 days ago

25 min read

California orchard at golden hour as a farmer switches off an irrigation pump control panel under power lines, irrigation pump demand response

Back in 2010, Brad Gleason was farming about 7,000 acres of pistachios and almonds in California's San Joaquin Valley. He signed two 250-horsepower irrigation pumps up for a program that paid him to switch them off on a handful of hot afternoons. By the program's own estimate, his cash incentive came to about $9,500 a year.

"Like clockwork, the pumps turn off and we start earning incentive dollars," he said.

So can you still get paid to switch off your irrigation pumps in 2026? Yes. The simplest door in California is the Emergency Load Reduction Program (ELRP). It pays $2 for every kilowatt-hour you cut between 4 and 9 pm, May through October, with no penalty if you sit an event out. Bigger money comes from PG&E's and SCE's interruptible programs and from capacity bidding through an aggregator. Those pay more, and some bite hard if you miss.

The short answer

Who pays: PG&E, SCE and SDG&E customers can be paid through ELRP, interruptible programs, capacity bidding and time-of-use rate options.
The safest start: ELRP pays $2 per kWh cut, 4 to 9 pm, May to October, up to 60 hours a year, no penalty. The pilot runs through 2027.
The hours that matter: PG&E's agricultural peak price runs 5 to 8 pm every day (rates effective 1 March 2026). Paid event windows mostly run 4 to 9 pm.
The trap: PG&E's Base Interruptible Program charges $6.00 for every kWh you use above your promised level during an event.
The bonus: The money you earn or save can fund a second income on your farm.

I'm Stephen Loke. I grow durians in Bentong, Malaysia, and teach farm owners how to build a second income. I don't pump water in California, but I know what it feels like when one cost keeps eating your profit. So I've read the tariffs, the utility case studies and the research reports for you. One section of this guide could be worth more to you than a year of fertilizer savings.

Farm sprinklers watering crops at dusk with mountains behind, the hours when irrigation pump demand response events happen — Illustrative photo, not a farm named in this article. Photo: Domenico Adornato on Unsplash.

Why Your Pump Is Worth More Switched Off Than On

Here's the part most farmers never hear.

To the grid, your irrigation pump isn't just a cost. It's one of the easiest loads in California to switch off for a few hours. A pump can stop at 4 pm and start again at 9 pm, and in many fields the crop never knows.

That makes you valuable at the exact moment the grid is in trouble.

The night the lights went out

On 14 August 2020, California ran short of power. Starting at 6:38 pm, rolling blackouts cut electricity to 491,600 customers for about two hours. The next evening, from 6:28 pm, another 321,000 customers went dark for about 20 minutes.

Notice the time. Not noon. The trouble came in the early evening, in an extreme heat wave, as solar output faded and demand stayed high.

Two years later, on 6 September 2022, California's grid operator recorded its all-time peak demand: 52,061 megawatts at 4:57 pm.

The state's answer was to pay customers to cut their use on bad days. ELRP started in 2021, and it still pays businesses $2 per kWh in 2026.

Timeline of California grid emergencies from the 2020 rolling blackouts to the 2022 record peak and the ELRP payments that pay farms for irrigation pump demand response — Why California pays farms to cut load in the early evening. Sources: Brattle Group, CAISO, CPUC.

Meanwhile, your bill kept climbing

The California Public Utilities Commission says average bundled electric rates at PG&E, SCE and SDG&E rose about 9 percent a year from 2020 to 2025. By the end of 2025, the CPUC put PG&E's average electric rate at 34.8 cents per kWh.

And pumping is not a small line on a farm budget. The USDA's 2023 irrigation survey found California farms spent $1.1 billion on energy to pump well and surface water. Across the United States, pumping energy cost $3.3 billion, an average of $20,698 for each farm that paid to pump.

If you've read my piece on why 47% of farmers name rising input costs as their No. 1 problem, you know this isn't a one-line problem. Power, fuel, fertilizer and interest all climb together. With US farm debt forecast to hit a record $605 billion in 2026, every dollar you claw back matters.

The question is simple. If your pumps are going to cost you money anyway, why not let them earn some too?

The 5–8 pm vs. 4–9 pm Mix-Up That Costs Farmers Money

Before you sign anything, get the hours straight. Plenty of articles blur them.

There are two different clocks running on your farm.

Clock No. 1 is your rate. On PG&E's agricultural time-of-use plans (AG-A1, AG-A2, AG-B and AG-C), the peak price runs from 5 to 8 pm, every day of the year, including weekends and holidays. That's from PG&E's Schedule AG, with rates effective 1 March 2026.

Clock No. 2 is the paid event window. ELRP, the Capacity Bidding Program and PG&E's Peak Day Pricing events run mostly from 4 to 9 pm.

On SCE, the TOU-PA-2 and TOU-PA-3 pumping rates let you choose an on-peak window of either 4 to 9 pm or 5 to 8 pm. Pick the one that fits how you farm.

24-hour chart showing PG&E agricultural peak hours 5 to 8 pm, the 4 to 9 pm demand response event window, and an irrigation pump schedule moved to night — Two clocks: the PG&E ag peak price (5–8 pm) and the paid event window (4–9 pm). Pump schedules are illustrative.

What the peak really costs you

On PG&E's AG-B rate, summer energy costs $0.51289 per kWh at peak and $0.34004 off-peak (rates effective 1 March 2026). The same gallon of water costs about 51% more to pump between 5 and 8 pm.

Here's a simple illustration, using our own arithmetic. Take one 100 kW pump (roughly a 133-horsepower motor, using PG&E's rule that 1 hp is about 0.75 kW). Move its 5 to 8 pm hours to the night for the whole summer, 1 June to 30 September.

That's 100 kW × 3 hours × 122 days = 36,600 kWh, moved from peak to off-peak. At the AG-B price gap of about 17.3 cents, that's roughly $6,326 saved on energy alone in one summer, from one pump.

Your real number depends on your rate, your demand charges and whether your system can catch up at night. But that's the size of the prize before any program pays you a cent.

Field-Tested Play: Pull your last 12 months of bills and find your rate schedule (AG-B, AG-C, TOU-PA-2 and so on). Then ask your pump installer one question: "Can this system put the same water on at night?" If the answer is yes, you may have money sitting in your schedule before you join anything.

How Much Can You Really Earn? Real Farms, Real Numbers

I don't want you to take my word for any of this. So here's what real growers have earned. Some of these stories are old. I'll tell you the year each time, because rates have changed since.

West Hills Farm Services: about $9,500 a year (2010)

You've met Brad Gleason. With his business partner, Gregorio Jacobo, he ran West Hills Farm Services. Their two 250-hp pumps went quiet for 5 to 10 events a year, two to four hours each. The case study puts the average cash incentive at about $9,500 a year, based on PG&E events from June to September 2010, plus $43,050 of installed equipment provided through the program. Old numbers, but proof the idea works.

Capay Farms: about $18,500 a year, and most of the equipment paid for

Capay Farms grows almonds and walnuts on more than 10,000 acres across Butte, Glenn and Tehama counties. According to a PG&E case study from October 2018, it automated 24 pumps of 30 to 200 horsepower and joined the Capacity Bidding Program through an aggregator.

The first 16-pump phase cost about $97,000. PG&E's Automated Demand Response program paid $74,600 of it, about 77%. The farm then earned about $18,500 a year in ongoing cash incentives, delivering 103% of its promised load cut in 2015 and 100% in 2016.

E W Merritt Farms: 5% to 7% off the electric bill

In SCE country, Mark Merritt's E W Merritt Farms in Porterville farms more than 10,000 acres and runs a herd of about 2,000 cows. SCE's 2015 success story says more than 100 pump sites could be shut down remotely, and demand response incentives offset 5% to 7% of the company's SCE bill.

"Participating in demand response significantly reduced our energy costs," Merritt said.

Five Yolo County growers: $57,117 in bill credits (2023)

The newest public numbers come from a pilot called AgFIT, run by Valley Clean Energy in Yolo County. A California Energy Commission report from June 2025 lists the 2023 bill credits for its five farm customers: $25,163.00, $12,926.50, $9,738.40, $5,574.80 and $3,714.70. That's $57,117.40 in total.

The same report found that irrigators can shift up to two-thirds of their irrigation load away from peak hours.

What the companies say growers earn now

Yield Energy, formerly Polaris Energy Services, is the San Diego company that ran many of these pilots and is PG&E's authorized implementer for agricultural Hourly Flex Pricing. In January 2026 it said its participating growers average "$20,000+" a year. In a February 2026 interview with CEO Tyler Nuss, iGrow News reported that participating growers earn $20,000 to $30,000 a year, and larger operations $40,000 to $50,000.

Those are the company's own figures, not an independent audit. Treat them as a ceiling to aim for, not a promise.

Reality Check: Every one of these farms had something in common. Lots of pump horsepower, and fields that could wait a few hours. A farm with one 30-horsepower pump won't earn Capay money. The Energy Commission's 2025 report noted that smaller pumps (around 30 kW and below) and systems with many valves struggle to make the numbers work.

The 2026 California Program Table

This is the table I wish someone had handed me, with each option's status as of November 2026. Rates are for the year shown, and they change. Confirm current figures with your utility before you enroll.

Program	Who it's for	How it pays	If you miss	2026 status
ELRP (PG&E, SCE, SDG&E)	Non-residential incl. ag; cut 1 kW+; interval meter	$2 per kWh cut	No penalty	Open; pilot runs through 2027
PG&E Base Interruptible (BIP)	Demand TOU rate; 100 kW+ peak demand; not AG-R or AG-V	$9.50–$14.80 per kW-month (rates eff. May 2025)	$6.00/kWh over firm level; $8.40 on re-test	Open; rates authorized through 2027
PG&E Capacity Bidding (CBP)	Ag rates; through an aggregator	Capacity + energy pay; your share set by contract	Set by aggregator	Open, May–Oct
PG&E Peak Day Pricing	AG-A1, AG-A2, AG-B, AG-C	Summer credit on your bill	Extra $0.60–$0.70/kWh on 9–15 event days	Open
PG&E Hourly Flex Pricing	PG&E ag customers (CCA must take part)	Hourly prices with bill protection	None	Pilot ends 31 Dec 2027; equipment money closed 26 Mar 2026
SCE Ag & Pumping Interruptible (AP-I)	Ag & pumping TOU rate; 37 kW or 50 hp+	Monthly credit: $18.46/kW summer, $9.14/kW winter (2025 tariff)	No per-kWh charge; SCE's device cuts the pump	Open
SCE Base Interruptible (TOU-BIP)	200 kW+ demand; commit at least 15% (min 100 kW)	$25.97–$29.54/kW-month summer on-peak (2024 tariff, under 2 kV)	$10.32–$11.68/kWh over firm level	Open
SCE Capacity Bidding	Through an aggregator; not with AP-I or BIP	Per aggregator contract	Per contract	Open, May–Oct
AutoDR equipment incentive	Must join a qualifying program	Up to $200/kW, max 75% of project cost	Must stay enrolled 3–5 years; ask about repayment if you leave early	Open; check budget
DSGS (state program)	Mostly public-utility customers	$2/kWh option suspended for 2026	Varies	Mostly closed to PG&E/SCE pumps
DRAM	n/a	n/a	n/a	Ended after 2024

Risk ladder comparing 2026 California demand response programs for irrigation pumps, from ELRP with no penalty to BIP with $6 to $11.68 per kWh penalties — From safest to riskiest: how each program pays, and what a miss costs. Rates change yearly.

What changed in 2026 (and what most websites still get wrong)

ELRP is alive for businesses and farms, through 2027. Only the household version, Power Saver Rewards, ended after 2025.
DSGS is mostly not your door. The Energy Commission suspended its $2/kWh emergency option for 2026 because of budget limits. If you buy power from a public utility or an irrigation district that sells electricity, ask them directly.
DRAM is gone. The CPUC discontinued the Demand Response Auction Mechanism after 2024.
PG&E's Hourly Flex Pricing equipment money ran out. PG&E hit its $8 million cap in December 2025 and waitlisted later applications. On 26 March 2026 it closed applications altogether and said waitlisted ones won't be paid. The pilot rate itself runs to 31 December 2027.
AutoDR is getting simpler for smaller pumps. On 2 July 2026 the CPUC approved Resolution E-5453. It adds agricultural pumps with a peak load of 599 kW or less and no onsite solar to the "deemed" fast-track incentive (PG&E FastTrack, SCE ADR Express). Ask your utility when you can apply under the new rules.

Which Programs Fit PG&E Pumps vs. SCE Pumps

Your utility decides your menu. Here's how I'd read it.

If your pumps are on PG&E

Start with ELRP. PG&E enrolls customers through its program partner, Olivine. No penalty, $2 per kWh, and you learn how your farm handles a real event.

Then decide between shifting and standing by. If your system can run at night, moving pumping out of the 5 to 8 pm peak is the quiet money. If you must run in the evening, you're the farmer the interruptible programs want.

Base Interruptible Program (BIP) suits big, steady pumping loads: at least 100 kW of peak demand on a demand time-of-use rate. You promise to drop to a "Firm Service Level" within 15 or 30 minutes, any day of the year, for up to 180 hours a year.

Capacity Bidding Program (CBP) runs May to October with day-ahead notice. Farms join through an approved aggregator, which pools many sites, handles the bidding and sets your share and your penalties.

Peak Day Pricing is a rate option, not a paycheck: a summer credit in exchange for paying more on 9 to 15 event days a year. Good for farms that can reliably stop.

If your pumps are on SCE

ELRP is open to agricultural customers. Enroll at SCE's ELRP website with your service account number. You need to be able to cut at least 1 kW and have a meter that records use at least hourly.

Agricultural and Pumping Interruptible (AP-I) is built for pumpers. You need 37 kW of measured demand or 50 horsepower of connected load. SCE pays monthly bill credits year-round, even in months with no events, and its control device cuts the pump automatically when an event is called. Up to 180 hours a year.

Capacity Bidding (CBP-Elect) runs May to October with day-before notice through an aggregator. SCE's aggregator list includes Enel North America, Voltus, Yield Energy and others. You can't combine it with AP-I or BIP.

TOU-BIP is for big loads of 200 kW and up. It has the highest monthly credit per kW in this guide, and the steepest penalty.

If you're on SDG&E or an irrigation district

SDG&E offers ELRP and a Capacity Bidding Program for agricultural rates. But its May 2026 report showed zero accounts in CBP, so expect fewer aggregators chasing you.

If an irrigation district sells you power, you're a public-utility customer. Ask the district what demand response it offers.

Flowchart to check whether a farm is a good fit for irrigation pump demand response in California, ending in ELRP, BIP or an aggregator — A 60-second check. A rough guide based on 2026 program rules; confirm with your utility.

The Penalty Trap: How One Bad Afternoon Can Eat Your Season

Now the warning. Read this twice.

The programs that pay the most also carry the sharpest teeth. PG&E's BIP tariff charges $6.00 per kWh for every kWh you use above your Firm Service Level during an event. If you fail, PG&E can require a re-test, and the charge rises to $8.40 per kWh for the re-test and stays there for the rest of the calendar year.

SCE's TOU-BIP is steeper again: about $10.32 to $11.68 per kWh under 2 kV, depending on the option you pick.

On PG&E's AG-B rate, a normal summer kWh costs 34 to 51 cents. A penalty kWh can cost more than ten times as much.

An illustrative worked example

These are not real farm results. It's our arithmetic, using 2026 PG&E tariff rates, to show how the math works.

Say you enroll in PG&E BIP's 30-minute option, and your pumps average 300 kW above your Firm Service Level during on-peak hours in every month from May to October. That tier pays $12.50 per kW-month (rates in effect in 2026). BIP pays on that average, not on a promise, so a month when the pumps sit idle at peak earns less.

Season credits: 300 kW × $12.50 × 6 months = $22,500.
Miss one 4-hour event with all 300 kW still running: 1,200 kWh × $6.00 = $7,200 penalty. You're down to $15,300.
Fail a re-test too (assume it also lasts 4 hours): 1,200 kWh × $8.40 = $10,080 more. Now $17,280 is gone, and your $22,500 season is worth $5,220.

Now put the same 300 kW in ELRP instead. If five 4-hour events were called, you'd earn 300 × 4 × 5 × $2 = $12,000, and a missed event would cost you nothing. The catch: ELRP only pays when the grid is in an emergency, and nobody can promise how many events a year will bring.

Illustrative example of PG&E BIP irrigation pump demand response earnings wiped out by missed-event penalties, compared with ELRP — Illustrative example only: PG&E BIP credits vs. penalties, and ELRP for comparison. Our arithmetic from rates in effect in 2026.

Reality Check: you can't be paid twice for the same kW. BIP pays on your average on-peak demand above your firm level. SCE's AP-I credits are based on your average kW in each time-of-use period too. If your pumps are already off in the peak hours because you shifted them, there's little left to pay you for. Do the math both ways: shift and save, or stay on call and get paid. Not both on the same pump.

Three more ways farms trip the trap

No. 1: the crew didn't know. An event lands on a Saturday, a new worker restarts the pump, and the meter records it. If you're on manual control, write a one-page event checklist and make one person responsible.

No. 2: the diesel switch. California's utility programs require you to promise you won't use prohibited backup generation, such as diesel, natural gas, gasoline or propane, to drop your grid load during an event. On SCE's AP-I, a single serious violation means removal for a year, and two or more mean three years. Switching to a diesel pump to "cut" your grid use is not a loophole.

No. 3: the lock-in. PG&E BIP holds you through the end of the year if you enroll by 30 June, or through the end of the next year if you enroll later. Changes are made once a year, in November. SCE's AP-I lets you terminate or change only between 1 November and 1 December. Equipment incentives can come with 3- to 5-year commitments.

Will Your Crops Handle It? What's Known and What Isn't

Capay's CEO, Dan Cummings, put it best in PG&E's case study: "It's important to remember that crop health remains our top priority."

Mine too. Here's what the research actually shows.

What's known

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory studied California agricultural irrigation and demand response in 2015. Its findings, in plain words:

Deep-rooted crops that can ride through a missed irrigation tolerate events better than water-sensitive crops that can't catch up.
Crops you already deficit-irrigate on purpose, such as wine grapes and tomatoes, leave you less room.
Drip systems have less buffer. Stopping and restarting flood irrigation can hurt how evenly water spreads.
Many systems barely keep up with peak summer demand. If you have no spare pump capacity to catch up at night, every hour off is an hour lost.
District water deliveries can be rigid. If your canal water comes on a schedule, you may not be able to stop when the grid asks.

A 2018 follow-up study looked at real almond orchards. In one 92-acre Turlock almond orchard, restricting pumping to off-peak hours would have saved about $11,847 in 2017 while giving the trees virtually the same seasonal pattern of water. But in another orchard, the researchers calculated that interruptions would create a shortfall equal to 6% of the season's intended water, concentrated in late July and August, the kind that could hurt yield. They also noted that the advanced irrigation models needed to plan around interruptions weren't commercially available, and conventional scheduling methods can't forecast this well.

What isn't known

I couldn't find solid, crop-by-crop research on exactly how many hours pistachios or alfalfa can go without water in midsummer before yield drops. Growers of both have taken part in these programs. That's encouraging, but it isn't a guarantee for your soil, your trees and your heat wave.

Field-Tested Play: Before you promise any load, test it yourself. Put soil moisture sensors in your most sensitive block, run one summer on ELRP (no penalty), and watch what happens on event days. You'll learn more from your own sensors than from any brochure.

The farms that do best have three things: spare pump capacity to catch up at night, storage (a reservoir, a tank or a deep soil profile) and automation so nobody has to drive to 20 pumps at 3:55 pm.

If water itself is your worry, my guide to reducing water usage on your farm is a good companion to this one.

Sprinkler irrigation spraying a field beside utility poles in early morning light, the kind of pump load demand response programs pay farms to shift — Illustrative photo, not a farm named in this article. Photo: Bernd Dittrich on Unsplash.

The Equipment You Need, and Who Pays for It

An interval meter. Every program needs one. For BIP, PG&E installs one free if you qualify and commit for a year. SCE's AP-I needs 15-minute interval metering. ELRP needs a meter that records at least hourly.

A load-control switch. On SCE's AP-I, SCE installs its own control device near your meter or pump. You give it an accessible spot.

Remote pump controls. Cellular or radio pump controllers, flow meters, reservoir level sensors and soil moisture probes let you, or an aggregator, start and stop pumps from a phone. That's what made Capay's and Merritt's results possible.

Who pays

AutoDR (PG&E): up to $200 per kW of load reduction, covering up to 75% of eligible costs. You need a PG&E interval meter, 12 months of billing history, enrollment in Peak Day Pricing or CBP, and controls that support the OpenADR 2.0a or 2.0b standard.
AutoDR (SCE): $200 per kW of verified reduction or 75% of eligible costs, whichever is less, paired with a qualifying program.
Aggregators: some install controls with no upfront cost and take a share of the payments. "Farmers don't pay us anything," Yield Energy's CEO told iGrow News in February 2026. Read how they're paid instead.
PG&E Hourly Flex Pricing: its $160 per kW automation incentive closed to new agricultural applications on 26 March 2026.

Reality Check: Frequent stops and starts can be hard on wells and pumps. Researchers have also warned that switching many pumps on one feeder line at the same time can cause over-voltage, which can damage equipment, variable-frequency drives in particular. Ask your pump service company about soft starts and protection before you automate.

If you're also weighing solar, read using renewable energy on your agritourism farm. Onsite solar can change which incentives you qualify for, so ask before you build.

Step-by-Step: How to Enroll

Here's the order I'd follow if these were my pumps.

Step 1: Gather your numbers. Pull 12 months of bills and interval data. List every pump, its horsepower, its meter and its rate schedule.

Step 2: Map your must-run hours. Which blocks need water during 4 to 9 pm in July? Which can wait? Do you have spare capacity to catch up at night?

Step 3: Take the free money first. If you can shift out of 5 to 8 pm (PG&E) or your chosen on-peak window (SCE), do it. It needs no contract.

Step 4: Enroll in ELRP. PG&E customers go through Olivine. SCE customers enroll at SCE's ELRP website. No penalty, so it's a safe first season.

Step 5: Get two or three aggregator proposals. Ask each one the questions in the next section. Compare your share of payments, penalties, term and who owns the equipment.

Step 6: Apply for AutoDR before you buy controls. The incentive is paid on approved projects, so get the approval in hand first. Don't buy hardware and hope.

Step 7: Consider BIP or AP-I only after a season of data. You'll know what you can really promise. Mind the enrollment windows: PG&E BIP changes in November; SCE AP-I between 1 November and 1 December, with a 6-month minimum if you enroll by 30 April and 12 months after that.

Step 8: Run a test and train your crew. Write the event checklist. Set up text alerts. Put one name on the job.

Field-Tested Play: Ask the aggregator for a written estimate based on your own interval data, not a brochure average. Then ask, "What would I have earned last summer, and what would I have paid in penalties?" A good partner can answer both.

The Legal, Insurance and Paperwork Questions to Ask

I'm not your lawyer, and this isn't legal advice. Too many people sign first and read later. Ask these questions before you sign anything.

Ask your crop insurance agent, in writing

"If my yield drops after I voluntarily switch off irrigation for a demand response event, how would that be treated?"

Federal crop insurance excludes losses caused by failing to follow good farming practices, and irrigated coverage expects adequate irrigation. I found no official ruling on how a voluntary demand response interruption would be treated. Get your agent's answer in writing before you enroll. If visitors are in your plans too, read my guide to agritourism insurance: what it covers and what it costs.

Ask the aggregator

What share of the capacity and energy payments do I keep?
What penalties do you pass on to me, and is there a cap?
How long is the contract, and what does it cost to leave early?
Who owns the controls, and who repairs them?
Can I override an event if the crop needs water, and what does that cost me?
What happens to my contract if your company is sold or closes?

Ask the utility

Which programs can I combine? (For example, ELRP allows some BIP and CBP participants, but DSGS bars double pay.)
Will an equipment incentive require a 3- or 5-year commitment, and what's the clawback if I leave?
What notice will I get, and what if a courtesy alert doesn't arrive?

Ask your accountant

PG&E's Hourly Flex Pricing agreement says incentives over $600 may be reported to the IRS on a 1099. Treat program payments as income and ask how to report them. My list of tax questions to ask your accountant is a good place to start.

Ask your landlord or water district

If you lease the land or the pumps, who signs, and who gets paid? If your water comes from a district, can you stop a delivery on short notice?

Turn Pump Money Into a Second Income

Now the part nobody else will tell you.

A demand response check is nice. But it's still money from the same old business: your crop, your pumps, your weather, your utility. Cut a cost and stop there, and you're still one bad season away from trouble.

The smartest move I know is to take that money and plant a second income with it. One that doesn't depend on commodity prices or power rates.

What your pump money could pay for

A shifted pump schedule can save thousands in a summer, and an ELRP season can add more. Money like that could:

Build a proper roadside stand. Here's how to set up a farm stand that attracts visitors.
Launch guided tours. Farm tours are one of the best entry-level agritourism products because they need so little to start.
Open a u-pick block. See how to start a u-pick flower field.
Cover your first season of event insurance and signs.

Not sure what each one costs? I broke it down in how much it costs to start an agritourism business.

The evening opportunity

Here's a happy accident. The 4 to 9 pm window when the grid wants your pumps off is also when a lot of people are free to visit a farm. After-work u-pick, sunset tours and farm-to-table dinners often happen in the early evening.

Pumps off means a quieter farm and no sprinklers soaking your guests. Your orchard at golden hour, silent, smelling of warm earth. That's an experience people will pay for.

Not every farm can do both on the same block on the same night. But the overlap is real, and most farmers never think about it.

If you're in California, look at the 50 best farms to visit in California to see what visitors already love in your state. And these agritourism statistics show who earns the most from opening the gate.

Wagon full of pumpkins in front of a red barn, a second farm income that irrigation pump savings can help fund — Illustrative photo, not a farm named in this article. Photo: Ginger Jordan on Unsplash.

What My Durian Farm Taught Me About Turning a Cost Into Income

I'm the founder of Bloopy Durians, a durian farm in Bentong, Malaysia. It welcomes visitors from all over the world, and many companies send their staff and management to visit.

We don't have a pump program like California's. As far as I know, there's nothing like it for farms here. But I had my own version of the same problem.

Parts of our farm road aren't tarred. They're hard going for normal cars. A proper road was beyond my budget.

So I stopped seeing the road as a cost and started seeing it as an experience. Visitors park elsewhere, and I pick them up by four-wheel drive. One 4WD takes five people inside and five at the back. The kids and our foreign visitors love riding at the back. The bumpy road became a paid adventure.

That's the same move as switching off your pumps. You take something that only ever cost you money, a rough road or an idle pump at 5 pm, and you turn it into a paycheck.

If you like that idea, my piece on making farm rides and hayrides stand out is a good next read.

Not in California? Similar Programs Elsewhere

California isn't the only place that pays farms to switch off. Ask your utility for "irrigation load control," "peak rewards" or "interruptible" programs. Here are some real ones.

Idaho and eastern Oregon: Idaho Power Irrigation Peak Rewards

For 2026, Idaho Power offers three windows: Early (3 to 9 pm), Standard (3 to 10 pm) and Extended (3 to 11 pm). The Standard and Extended options pay a fixed $5.25 per billing kW plus $0.008 per billing kWh, with extra variable pay after the third event. In 2025 it called 3 events, with 2,699 services from 499 customers, and cut up to 122.9 MW.

Oregon: Pacific Power, and the Bles family

John and Marlene Bles run Lone Farm Ranch near Klamath Falls, Oregon: 850 acres, 650 irrigated, growing grass hay for 400 beef cattle. They joined Pacific Power's pilot in 2016 with four pumps and later enrolled 440 horsepower in total.

Their payments averaged about $2,500 a year early on, and the utility's case study projected $4,500 to $5,000 for the year it was written. "It's almost a no-brainer," Marlene said.

Pacific Power's current Oregon program takes pumps of 25 horsepower and up, with weekday events between 2 and 9 pm, a maximum of 52 event hours a season, no enrollment fees and a bonus of up to 50% for not opting out.

Idaho and Utah: Rocky Mountain Power

Rocky Mountain Power's irrigation load control, administered by Enel X, paid $32.50 per kW in Idaho and $33.31 in Utah in 2025, with rates scheduled to rise 2.5% a year, subject to commission approval. Events fall on weekdays between 2 and 9 pm Mountain time, with 4 hours' notice, typically about 4 hours long and about 8 a season. Enel X says it "will never charge a direct financial penalty for non-participation."

Nebraska: cheaper power instead of a check

Nebraska Public Power District takes a different route. According to University of Nebraska economist Matt Stockton's 2025 comparison, "No Control" irrigation service cost $48.25 per kW plus $0.1046 per kWh, while "Anytime Control" cost $38.75 per kW plus $0.0609 per kWh. You accept up to five straight hours of control between 10 am and 10 pm on weekdays, and pay much less for power. Over 16 seasons, about 54% of announced control days led to actual control.

Canada: BC Hydro

BC Hydro's demand response for business pays C$50 per average kW of reduction, at the end of the season. You must cut at least 5% of your typical use, you can skip up to 40% of events and still be paid, and events last up to 4 hours. A large greenhouse in Delta, B.C., cut its average lighting load by 35% across seven events in winter 2024-25.

The UK: an honest note

I couldn't find a UK farm being paid to switch off irrigation pumps the way California farms are. The closest example is Glen Avon Growers, a 16-acre glasshouse business near Hull, which earned around £500,000 in revenue and savings from 2012 to 2020 by running its combined heat and power engines flexibly through Flexitricity. That's flexible generation, not switching off pumps, but it shows UK farms can be paid for flexibility. Ask your energy supplier or an aggregator what's available for your site.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I really get paid to switch off my irrigation pumps in 2026?

Yes. In California, ELRP pays non-residential customers, including agricultural ones, $2 per kWh cut during 4 to 9 pm events from May to October, with no penalty. PG&E and SCE also pay through interruptible programs, capacity bidding with an aggregator and rate options like Peak Day Pricing.

What are PG&E's agricultural peak hours in 2026?

5 to 8 pm, every day of the year, on PG&E's agricultural time-of-use rates effective 1 March 2026. Demand response events, such as ELRP and Peak Day Pricing, mostly run from 4 to 9 pm.

Is ELRP still available in 2026?

Yes, for businesses and farms. The CPUC says the ELRP pilot continues each year through 2027. Only the residential Power Saver Rewards program ended after 2025. Events can use up to 60 hours a year.

Do I need an aggregator?

For the Capacity Bidding Program, yes. For ELRP, PG&E BIP and SCE AP-I, you can enroll directly. Many farms still use aggregators because they install controls and handle the bidding, for a share of the payments.

Can I run a diesel pump during an event instead?

No. The programs require you to promise you won't use prohibited backup generation, such as diesel, natural gas, gasoline or propane, to reduce your grid load during events. On SCE's AP-I, a violation means removal for one to three years.

Does crop insurance cover losses from a demand response event?

I found no official ruling either way. Federal crop insurance excludes losses from not following good farming practices. Ask your crop insurance agent, in writing, before you enroll.

How much can a farm earn?

It depends on your pump load, your crop and your program. Real examples range from 5% to 7% off an SCE bill (E W Merritt Farms, 2015) to about $18,500 a year (Capay Farms, 2018). In a February 2026 interview with Yield Energy's CEO, iGrow News reported that participating growers average $20,000 to $30,000 a year. That figure comes from the company, not an independent audit.

Is DSGS still open for farm pumps?

Mostly not for PG&E and SCE pumpers in 2026. The Energy Commission suspended DSGS's $2/kWh emergency option for 2026 because of budget limits. Customers of public utilities and irrigation districts should ask their provider.

Your Next Step

Switching off your pumps is one hidden pile of money on your farm. There are many more.

My free ebook, 150 Ways to Unlock Hidden Wealth From Your Farm, shows you 150 ways to earn more from the land and equipment you already own, sorted into clear categories. Each idea shows how hard it is, how you might price it and what it could earn. You'll find ideas you can test this season and second incomes that don't rise and fall with harvests, commodity prices or your utility bill. Start with the Farm Readiness Quiz to see which ideas fit your farm, then grab the ebook.

Take the Farm Readiness Quiz

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P.S. Brad Gleason didn't buy new land or plant a new crop. He let two pumps go quiet on a few hot afternoons and got paid for it, like clockwork. Your farm has its own idle pumps, empty sheds and quiet evenings. Find them, and put them to work.

Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Program rules and rates change; confirm current terms with your utility before you enroll.