1st Electricity Bill since purchasing the tesla.

[mswlogo]

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.

I bet you are preconditioning / charging every morning. Huge waste.

I don’t think it’s that wrong to compare prior month vs prior year. Prior year can be just as different as prior month.

But you jumped about 800 kWh. That’s a LOT. And you supercharged 3 times and did a little bit at work. Even if you averaged 300 wh/mi that’s 2600 miles. And you probably only charged 2/3 of your 950 miles at home.

Keep in mind that what the car is displaying is not the total cost. Curious what efficiency you are displaying though.

What is not covered in the display on your car is:

Sentry, not counted.
Preheat cabin, not counted.
Charging losses, not counted.
Warming battery to charge, not counted.
Summon standby, not counted.

I average a similar amount of miles, about 1000 miles a month. I do occasionally supercharge maybe 3 times a month. And also 1-2 destination L2 charge.

My bill went from 400 kWh to 600 kWh in winter. All gas appliances.

My car averaged about 270 wh/mi in winter.

So with charging losses I was probably around 300 wh/mi. Charging losses is the only thing that applies from my list above.

So my 200 kWh increase covers ~666 miles out of my 1000 miles a month which is about right. The rest was supercharging and destination.

I charge only when I need to charge (once or twice a week) and charge when the battery is already warm (if I can). Never use Sentry or Summon. Never preheat or precondition.

 

[DR61]

I live about 100 miles east of the SF Bay Area in Sacramento County, California. We have a publicly-owned utility (SMUD) that has much lower rates than PG&E. Currently I charge our car between 12PM-6AM at a rate of $.0885 per kWh. Our winter rate between 6 AM -12 PM is $.143 per kWh.

 

[mswlogo]

I'm using a 120 V. My garage is a mess and I'm working on cleaning it out and putting a charger in. I agree this is probably a significant impact also.

120V isn’t that huge a difference. Accept it may be spending a very long time heating the battery. And because it’s spending a longer time to get the heat up it’s also going to be exposed to cold temps for longer and keep the car on longer to charge. The efficiency itself is not that different and won’t be as bad in the summer. It’s also the Amps not the volts causing these issues. With 120V you probably can’t afford to skip days of charging either. If you charged every 4th day for example your heating the battery 75% less of the time. Amps gives you flexibility. You can also wait a day or two for a warmer day to charge. I charge on Sunny days so Solar goes direct to the car. That saves me 20% of cost due to pushing solar on the grid and taking it back off at night.

Get that garage clean already. I insulated and sheet rocked mine last winter. It got me to get my butt in gear and get it done Never drops below 45F now.

 

[eevee-fan]

Solar and wind will never take over on long island. We don't have the room on land and they won't let us put it in the water. The rich people don't like solar farms and windmills by them. The normal people don't have room around them.

It doesn't have to exist in-state. Rhode Island can import power from neighboring states. Look at California's power grid. Not 100% comes from California. Look into having the state import power from the midwest where wind resources seem unlimited.
California ISO - Supply

 

[mswlogo]

120V isn’t that huge a difference. Accept it may be spending a very long time heating the battery. And because it’s spending a longer time to get the heat up it’s also going to be exposed to cold temps for longer and keep the car on longer to charge. The efficiency itself is not that different and won’t be as bad in the summer. It’s also the Amps not the volts causing these issues. With 120V you probably can’t afford to skip days of charging either. If you charged every 4th day for example your heating the battery 75% less of the time. Amps gives you flexibility. You can also wait a day or two for a warmer day to charge. I charge on Sunny days so Solar goes direct to the car. That saves me 20% of cost due to pushing solar on the grid and taking it back off at night.

Add another 10% in efficiency loss if you want. You are saving a ton of money and it's weird that you can't figure that out.

I also monitor the actual outlet using my Sense. I don't have the numbers in front of me but it's nothing crazy. Looking at your bill to figure out EV consumption is 100% pointless.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to roughly estimate what your EV added to your bill.

Sense has yet to detect my Model 3, Model X or Volt after a year. Not sure why but it’s a common complaint on the Sense forum. I keep meaning to add a dedicated monitor to my EV charging circuit(s).

 

[eevee-fan]

We're doing some major renovations and putting (estimated) 15,113 kWh / year on the roof and then due to the repeated PG&E fiascos went with 2 LG batteries (rated at 9.8kWh each)

The house is lit with LED lights and other measures like that to be a low-draw house. We will have it set up so 5 (I think) circuits can feed from the battery when PG&E goes down which is a good bit of the important things, but excluding electric stove top etc. Also they said it can be set up to run those circuits from battery in peak hours regardless, at a max % of battery drain since PG&E is allowed to pay less for power these days.

You might find that it takes less juice than you think to survive PG&E, especially with some planning.

[/QUOTE]

Look into getting an induction cooker and electric pressure cooker then you can cook using the powerwall.

Single Portable Induction Cooktop: What They Won’t Tell You About an Induction Burner

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

I'm using a 120 V. My garage is a mess and I'm working on cleaning it out and putting a charger in. I agree this is probably a significant impact also.

120V isn’t that huge a difference. Accept it may be spending a very long time heating the batter

Kind of been covered already above, but summarizing:

1.44kW charging is about 75-80% efficient best case (no warming)

11.5kW charging is about 95% efficient.

Whether 15-20% is a “huge difference” depends on the individual.

But those are the numbers. It is pretty asymptotic to 95% (true asymptote is about 96-97% or so) so no need to go all the way to 11.5kW to get most of the benefit. E.g. 7.6kW is 92-93% efficient. In cold winter climates there are a lot of benefits to 11.5kW though, especially if the car is outside. But it’ll cost you.

If you are limited to 120V/8A (~1kW) due to wiring issues, your efficiency will be 65-70% best case.

Here’s a nice plot.

This does not appear to be the OP’s primary issue, but probably is the only thing he can be addressing which will lead to increased convenience and a better ownership experience, while reducing costs.

See above for all the uncounted energy to budget, and on that topic, assuming the charging situation is fixed, multiply the trip meter kWh by 1.25 in summer and 1.4 in winter to quickly estimate contribution to your bill.

 

[P3dStealth]

It doesn't have to exist in-state. Rhode Island can import power from neighboring states. Look at California's power grid. Not 100% comes from California. Look into having the state import power from the midwest where wind resources seem unlimited.
California ISO - Supply

I know because some of our power is coming from a nuclear power plant in Connecticut. They charge us more than their own people for it. If Connecticut went green they'd charge us more for that also.

 

[Stretch2727]

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.

If you have PSE & G you may want to consider the RLM rate. $0.08 at night versus $0.21 normally. I use about 1000KwH per month and my bill is about $100. About half the electricity I use is for the cars.

 

[eevee-fan]

If you have PSE & G you may want to consider the RLM rate. $0.08 at night versus $0.21 normally. I use about 1000KwH per month and my bill is about $100. About half the electricity I use is for the cars.

Wow, yeah, it comes down to understanding your rates. I was looking into rooftop solar in 2014, ran some calculations to realize that solar will cost me more but TOU will save me money. Annual power bill dropped from $900/yr to now $500/yr. Well, that number will go up by $120/yr because I am driving an EV. But at the same time, I will be spending $1200 less in gasoline!

 

[cwerdna]

I live about 100 miles east of the SF Bay Area in Sacramento County, California. We have a publicly-owned utility (SMUD) that has much lower rates than PG&E. Currently I charge our car between 12PM-6AM at a rate of $.0885 per kWh. Our winter rate between 6 AM -12 PM is $.143 per kWh.

I found https://www.smud.org/-/media/Docume...d-Business-Rate-information/PDFs/1-R-TOD.ashx which looks similar to what you describe. However, for Jan 1 to May 31 it's 15.37 cents/kWh during peak and the 8.885 cents/kWh during off-peak, as you describe. But, it looks like you also have a $21.05/month fixed charge, in addition. We don't have that in PG&E-land for residential.

Also, your summer off-peak is just as cheap as you describe but the rates during the rest of the day are either 15.37 or 38.43 cents/kwh. And, all times of year, you have a monthly fixed charge of $21.05 to $21.70.

 

[cwerdna]

I'm sure its some sort of state wide average. My rates are about 2 cents higher than they claim too.

There's no way 14.97 cents/kWh is accurate for a CA statewide average for residential. I'm in PG&E-land which is CA's largest utility. Other major utilities (e.g. Southern California Edison and SDG&E) aren't that cheap.

Silicon Valley Power (city of Santa Clara only) is cheap. SMUD (Residential rates) seems pretty cheap except they have a fixed $21.05/mo charge, as well. We don't have that in PG&E residential plans.

Examples:
SDG&E Standard Plan | San Diego Gas & Electric points to High Usage Charge | San Diego Gas & Electric and shows rates from 26 to 64 cents/kWh depending on time of year and tier.
https://www.sdge.com/whenmatters for their TOU is only showing winter rates right now but they range from 24 cents to 34 cents/kWh. Their TOU DR-P plan is sort of like PG&E's SmartRate plan. During their RYU (reduce your use) days, they will add on another $1.16 per kWh from 2 to 6 pm.
SCE Tiered Rate Plan shows rates from 19 to 43 cents/kWh depending on what tier you're in.
SCE TOU Time-Of-Use Residential Rate Plans ranges from 22 to 37 cents per kWh

 

[hcdavis3]

$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’m at .28 per kWh that’s generation and transmission too here in MA. .38 seems high.

 

[hcdavis3]

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to roughly estimate what your EV added to your bill.

Sense has yet to detect my Model 3, Model X or Volt after a year. Not sure why but it’s a common complaint on the Sense forum. I keep meaning to add a dedicated monitor to my EV charging circuit(s).

Interesting ms. My sense hasn’t detected my model 3 yet either. I did install an energy meter and use that to keep track of my usage. Pic below

 

[hcdavis3]

Here’s the pic.

 

[mswlogo]

Interesting ms. My sense hasn’t detected my model 3 yet either. I did install an energy meter and use that to keep track of my usage. Pic below

That’s funny. I think I maybe bought the same meter. I only bought one because it should be exactly the same on each phase so just double the reading.

 

[hcdavis3]

That’s funny. I think I maybe bought the same meter. I only bought one because it should be exactly the same on each phase so just double the reading.

Hi ms. Do you think the purchase of Sense was worth it? I got it primarily for the monitoring of my of my usage charging my M 3, and since it has yet to discover my charger I’m not so sure it was worth it since installed the energy meters. My electrician used each 120 leg so I just add the 2 when I get my electric bill and get a pretty accurate reading of my usage.

 

[mswlogo]

Hi ms. Do you think the purchase of Sense was worth it? I got it primarily for the monitoring of my of my usage charging my M 3, and since it has yet to discover my charger I’m not so sure it was worth it since installed the energy meters. My electrician used each 120 leg so I just add the 2 when I get my electric bill and get a pretty accurate reading of my usage.

Yes, I think Sense is worth it. I like it for tracking my “always on”.

 

[P3dStealth]

Hi ms. Do you think the purchase of Sense was worth it? I got it primarily for the monitoring of my of my usage charging my M 3, and since it has yet to discover my charger I’m not so sure it was worth it since installed the energy meters. My electrician used each 120 leg so I just add the 2 when I get my electric bill and get a pretty accurate reading of my usage.

I have a monitor that doesn't use AI and works for anything I put it on and it's a few hundred cheaper than sense.

Emporia Vue Energy Monitor with Expansion Module | Real Time 24/7 Smart Home Electricity Monitor/Meter with 8 Sensors | Solar / Net Metering | Track Circuits Without the Guesswork | 3-Phase Option https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XYJCDYT/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_.Y0gEbVABGMAF

 

[house9]

Solar and wind will never take over on long island. We don't have the room on land and they won't let us put it in the water. The rich people don't like solar farms and windmills by them. The normal people don't have room around them.

The real bummer is that every single home and business have plenty of room on their roofs. Instead of building a solar farm, just install locally right where the energy is going to be consumed. Unfortunately there is way too much money to be made by keeping the energy production centralized.