Regarding (1), this is a few years old but has some pretty interesting charts showing typical electricity consumption as a function of time-of-day, US region, a

Regarding (1), this is a few years old but has some pretty interesting charts showing typical electricity consumption as a function of time-of-day, US region, and season: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=42915 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=42915