timezones are built in to postgres — I'd make sure you are on the latest supported release of posgres (eg 18.6, 17.111,16.5,15.19 or 14.24 - per the postgresql.org web site)
it uses the 598 different IANA timezones that the world uses. So if your server is using something like linux or macos, it should also be using the IANA timerzones. (assuming you’ve updated them with the appropriate patch releases). you can see the timezone list in pgadmin. select name, abbrev, utc_offset::text,is_dst from pg_timezone_names co-incident with that, good practice is to: have your servers set to UTC have postgres set to UTC (there are two timestamp parameters in the postgresql.org, one for logging and one for the database) have all your timetamp fields (timestamp without timezone) set to timestampz (timestamp with timezone) to insulate yourself from timezone changes forever (gonig forward) change any stored procs that you have that have timestamp parameters to timestamp with timezone when you do all the above, if you want to view data as at a specific timezone, then issue the following command every time you establish (or reestablish) a connection to the database. set time zone 'America/Edmonton' or if you only want to show it in some specific sql calls, adapt your sql to be select timestampzField at time zone 'America/Edmonton' from my_table functions like now(), clock_timestamp, transaction_timestamp() etc used in store procedures will us server time, which is now UTC. so your timestamps will always be perfect when you read them back 'at time zone 'America/Edmonton'. I’ve used this for years to make our data timezone independent. as far as pgadmin goes …. it doesn't need to know about time zone. Only you do. so for the first command in pgadmin, use set time zone 'America/Edmonton' then it will retrieve data as if at your timezone. of course, you can change to a different timezone and you can show your current timezone as show timezone Postgres always uses the SERVER timezone for fetching data, unless you tell it to use a different timezone using the ’set time zone' I did a presentation of making applications timezone aware at an non-postgres conference recently. the slide deck refers to using time zones, converting fields, updating servers, converting data and steps to make it timezone aware. Its got the above, plus more. and you can read the comments in the powerpoint. They are fairly self explanatory. http://downloads.artsman.com/omnis/TimeZoneAwareness.ppt.zip in the end. it is quite simple. Doug Easterbrook > On Oct 21, 2026, at 10:23 AM, Tariq Islam <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello, > > We are updating our systems and applications to the new Alberta time zone > (UTC-6:00). If you can help me answer these questions that would be great. > > 1. Does pgAdmin have a time setting in it? > 2. Can it be configured to the correct Alberta - Edmonton Time zone > without daylight savings time applied? > 3. What is the process to get it changed? > > Thanks, > > Tariq Islam > Digital Workplace Administrator, IT Digital Workplace Services > Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) > <image001.png> > > > > This email message, including all attachments, is intended only for the named > recipients and may not otherwise be distributed, copied or disclosed without > the AESO’s authorization. This email message may contain information that is > confidential, privileged, or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If > you are not a named recipient or an employee or agent responsible for > delivering this email message to a named recipient, please immediately: 1) > notify us by return email or by telephone at 403-539-2450; and 2) destroy > this email message, including all attachments, and any copies you may have. > For further information on email communication with the AESO, please visit > the Contact Us section of our website at www.aeso.ca <http://www.aeso.ca/>
