1st Electricity Bill since purchasing the tesla.

[VV1975]

So what was everyone's experience when it comes to looking at your Electricity bill the first month?

I purchased my Tesla on 12/17 and just got my first electricity bill and I have to admit I'm a little shocked. No pun intended.

My previous bill I used 657 kwh and was charged $106.07. My current months bill in which i charged for only 19/33 days of the billing cycle. I used 1452 kwh and was charged $236.99. My work only has a level 1 charger so I don't use it as often as I should. I have also super charged 2-3 times and only drove the car for about 950 miles during that time frame.

Does this sound right or does something not make sense? I know I wouldn't have spent $130 in gas for 950 miles.

 

[msm859]

So what was everyone's experience when it comes to looking at your Electricity bill the first month?

I purchased my Tesla on 12/17 and just got my first electricity bill and I have to admit I'm a little shocked. No pun intended.

My previous bill I used 657 kwh and was charged $106.07. My current months bill in which i charged for only 19/33 days of the billing cycle. I used 1452 kwh and was charged $236.99. My work only has a level 1 charger so I don't use it as often as I should. I have also super charged 2-3 times and only drove the car for about 950 miles during that time frame.

Does this sound right or does something not make sense? I know I wouldn't have spent $130 in gas for 950 miles.

Instead of comparing your bill to last month did you compare it to the same month last year. Weather and time of year is a big factor in your bill.

 

[Mikestuff49]

I agree. When comparing my bill this year to same month last year, it was actually less, but full disclosure, I replaced my heat pump with a more efficient one, so it was a wash.

 

[TMThree]

Nothing you said is meaningful. You could have just used an electric heater more last month which jacked up your bill.

I drive about 15,000 miles a year. My power costs 0.13 cents per kwh. The car gets around 250 Wh per mile, which means 4 miles per kwh. From this we can calculate my costs:

15,000 miles / 4 miles per kwh = 3,750 Kwh.

3,750 kwh * 0.13 cents = $487.50 per year, or about $40 per month. The national average for power is right around 13 or 14 cents, so this is typical usage for most people.

There will be some efficiency losses getting power to your car, so you can figure about 5-6% higher cost than I listed above. If you are in a winter area running the heat and whatnot, your Wh might increase to 350, and in that situation, you'd be spending around 28% more than I listed above, which would be around $50/mo.

For you to figure out your usage, figure out how much your power costs, how much you drive, and your Wh/mile.

It is highly unlikely you are paying $0.54 per Kwh! That's more than 4x the national average.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

My electric bill went up about $25.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

so you can figure about 5-6% higher cost than I listed above

Empirically, it ends up being about 25% more for a typical owner. Composed of 12% charging losses relative to trip meter reading, 10% for vampire, and a few % for "other." People who monitor using a meter in series with their charger report around this level of additional use. If you use a lot of features it could go higher of course.

The adder will be higher in winter time, depending on climate and where you store your car (vampire goes up for whatever reason, preheating, etc.). This adder is in addition to the higher Wh/mi you'll see on the trip meter in winter. It can go as high as 50% more than the in-car value.

We'd need more info on the OP's situation of course. First thing would be for him to figure out his electricity rate schedule! Clearly he's doing better than 1kWh/mi.

 

[TMThree]

Empirically, it ends up being about 25% more for a typical owner.

I was listing charging losses from the meter to the car. How the car spends it is dependent on how you use it. Especially if you use Sentry or 3rd party services that keep the car awake.

I've had my car parked at my house for days (sentry disabled) and came back with the same SoC as I left it. So claiming 25% additional loss is really not going to be typical nor should we tell new users to expect it.

 

[Knightshade]

My bill has averaged about 5% lower comparing to same-month-last year in the 15 months we've had the Tesla.

Largely due to qualifying for an EV time of use plan where power is significantly cheaper 19 out of every 24 hours (and stupidly cheap during the overnight hours the car is charging- I'm paying roughly $2 per 300 miles of range... I guess maybe $2.50 if I was figuring charging loss but it's literally not worth my time to do that math)

 

[jonquiljo]

My power costs 0.13 cents per kwh. The car gets around 250 Wh per mile, which means 4 miles per kwh.

$0.13 per kWh?! I just got my first (post Tesla) PG&E bill and realized that I am paying (generation and transmission) around $.38 per kWh. This is in the winter!

In the summer I will pay over $.50 per kWh as we always go into "excessive" use tiers. That's about $.10/mile by your calculations. I guess it will cost us if we want to go green!

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

I was listing charging losses from the meter to the car. How the car spends it is dependent on how you use it. Especially if you use Sentry.

The 25% number does not include lots of Sentry use. As an example, I can say for sure, if you see 10kWh on your trip meter:

1) It will take a little over 11kWh from the wall to recharge your car to the prior level (11% loss). The in-car charging screen will say 10.65kWh (DC) but round up to 11kWh. But those are DC kWh. So you add 5% to that to get to the ~11kWh AC. I'm assuming high speed 40-48A/240V charging here; it's much worse on 120V of course.
2) Vampire drain for a typical driver ends up being about 10% of your energy use (3rmi/day*365days/yr = 1100 rated miles/yr).

So that's over 20% right there. All of that is built-in, nothing you can really do about it.

Between one thing and another, you can add another few %. That's where the 25% number comes from.

This is something that people who use meters have confirmed for reasonably long timescales. It's a good estimate and useful rule of thumb if you're interested in budgeting this sort of thing but don't want to pay for the equipment or track it compulsively.

I've had my car parked at my house for days (sentry disabled) and came back with the same SoC as I left it

You must have a very special car, is all I can say! That is awesome. I'm just using Tesla's number (1% per day), to be clear. That's what they say to expect so it seems fair to use that number.

So claiming 25% additional loss is really not going to be typical nor should we tell new users to expect it.

Best to under-promise, over-deliver. These numbers are very close, I assure you. I'm just saying that for someone who is asking about costs, they are asking because they care. So they should have an accurate picture, if it matters to them.

 

[jdcollins5]

I use about 300 kWH per month and TOU off-peak rate is $0.07 per kWH. So my monthly bill is less than $20. When I compare any month to last year I cannot see much difference other than my off-peak is slightly higher.

 

[TMThree]

$0.13 per kWh?! I just got my first (post Tesla) PG&E bill and realized that I am paying (generation and transmission) around $.38 per kWh.

(state electric prices last updated Dec. 27, 2019):

https://www.chooseenergy.com/electricity-rates-by-state/

 

[eevee-fan]

$0.13 per kWh?! I just got my first (post Tesla) PG&E bill and realized that I am paying (generation and transmission) around $.38 per kWh. This is in the winter!

In the summer I will pay over $.50 per kWh as we always go into "excessive" use tiers. That's about $.10/mile by your calculations. I guess it will cost us if we want to go green!

I drive a Bolt and pay 5.5 cents a KWh for EV rate locally, I expect $10 more a month.

Run a comparison to using public Destination Chargers or Super Chargers... I think Super Chargers go for about $0.24 a KWh.

 

[Petrlol]

Look at your trip counter if you haven't reset it. How many kW have you used total?
Multiply that times your rate.

 

[jonquiljo]

(state electric prices last updated Dec. 27, 2019):

https://www.chooseenergy.com/electricity-rates-by-state/

I don't know where they get those numbers. From my current PG&E bill --- $.29/kwh (Tier 2) for transmission plus $08.7/kwh generation. Those are winter rates. Summer is way over $.50 at tier 2. My Model 3 could put us into Tier 3. If we lived in a condo it would be different, but we don't.

Of course the power has to be on for those charges!

 

[eevee-fan]

I don't know where they get those numbers. From my current PG&E bill --- $.29/kwh (Tier 2) for transmission plus $08.7/kwh generation. Those are winter rates. Summer is way over $.50 at tier 2. My Model 3 could put us into Tier 3. If we lived in a condo it would be different, but we don't.

Of course the power has to be on for those charges!

If your per KWh is over 27 cents and you own the house, it may make sense to get solar + powerwall! Solar will take you to a lower tier, powerwall will let you avoid peak rates.

 

[jonquiljo]

If your per KWh is over 27 cents, it may make sense to get solar + powerwall!

Good idea. I looked into it and Tesla will not put panels on clay tile roofs. So I have to go to another company for the solar. I would want enough powerwalls to run this place in times of PG&E distress. That would be 4 or 5. If I can't live off grid when PG&E covers their butts, I won't bother.

All this is doable - and I've been thinking of it. I will look into the details relatively soon.

 

[VV1975]

If you do the math I am only at 16.1 cents per kwh. In retrospect I shouldn't be comparing the previous month I should've compared last year. I am doing that now and it looks like my actual increase in kwh is only about 5-600. I'm sure I used more electricity in the house with christmas lights and some electric heating. I also think because I'm charging outside in the cold and preheating my car before my daily commute I'm probably using alot more energy. I did have sentry enabled at home for the 1st week. I'm sure there are probably many factors that attribute to this but the savings from gas to electric is not as high as Tesla makes it sound.

 

[pl8dlikafiddle]

I drove the car 2,100 miles with an average of 218 Wh/mile during first month (September 2019). This results in roughly 458 kWh of consumption. Add some charging losses, and my guess it took around 500 kWh to operate the car that month.

This made sense when I received our GA Power bill - it was roughly 5-600 kWh more this year vs September last year (hottest month and most expensive rated in Georgia).

Total usage for the month was 2,100 kWh, which is raw tier 3 rate for GA Power @ $0.09 per kWh. After fees, taxes, etc it effectively is around $0.13 per kWh. My estimate is the car cost me around $65 to drive 2,100 miles. My previous family was a 2014 Toyota Prius, and that car routinely cost me $100-110 per month in fuel ($2.40-$2.50 per gallon).

 

[SSedan]

In winter here near Green Bay and with has currently cheap I do not believe my S saves anything in fuel in winter.
The other 3 seasons it saves something long as you ignore the insurance costs and the fact my 2014 S is NOT as good a car as people would have you believe. Has needed a bit too much repair.

If cost savings of buying a Tesla is a big sales point, buy a used ICE, Malibu, Impala, Camry whatever.