Are powerwalls a necessity for SoCal residents?

[wwu123]

Yeah I think this is the problem. PG&E will put a home on their tiered system at the way wrong size. PG&E refused to tell me what my home was “baselined” as but I suspect they tier the rates for a house 1/2 the size and without AC.

Baseline is not based on the specifics of your house at all, it is just some nominal quantity for all in your entire area. Also the Baseline is not meant to be tied to any sort of average usage, if one is trying to stay with the Tier 1 allocation. They started to play with Baselines years ago to push more folks into Tier 2.

 

[holeydonut]

Baseline is not based on the specifics of your house at all, it is just some nominal quantity for all in your entire area. Also the Baseline is not meant to be tied to any sort of average usage, if one is trying to stay with the Tier 1 allocation. They started to play with Baselines years ago to push more folks into Tier 2.

So what is PG&E expecting homeowners to do?

The baseline put me into the “!” Tier (presumably that is Tier 3) when I used 1,000 kWh. I’m sheltering in place and they’re telling me I shouldn’t use what amounts to the national average household energy use in a summer month? Like maybe my family should just sit in the heat staring at the wall?

I think these tiers are broken and not representative of what a reasonable household would expect to need in the East Bay.

Maybe PG&E is seeing a lot of unpaid energy bills due to the crisis and are passing the buck to paying homes?

 

[diyguy]

I am also on SO CA (Stevenson Ranch in Santa Clarita valley) and I got 2 Powerwalls. One to get install discount from Tesla of $2500 and second to get the 26% Fed credit on them.

Are they both wired under the same Gateway to charge from PV?

 

[diyguy]

I am a SCE customer to be specific and definitely will be investing in solar panels pretty soon. I’m on the fence about getting a powerwall with the solar panels. Where I live (Pasadena), we hardly get blackouts. So I’ve read people who do end up getting powerwalls, can stay off the grid during peak hours. I’m a a little bit confuse about this part because, shouldn’t the solar panels produce enough energy during the day to supply power to the house during peak hours?

I see most of the replies were posted Wednesday. It is now Saturday and heat records were broken today. Triple-digit temperatures in Southern California heat wave break records | KTLA
There are also Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) all over Southern California tonight. I have a Powerwall and am very glad I do. It’s no longer only about whether it pays for itself or saves money (I’m glad it partially does). It’s also about avoiding inconvenience and discomfort from our increasingly unreliable grid and continually more extreme weather. Remember California’s four seasons: Fire, Earthquake, Flood, Drought.

Pasadena has its own Power Department and some generation so you might not be as exposed as some of us are.

 

[mnsweeps]

Are they both wired under the same Gateway to charge from PV?

I am still waiting for L.A county to approve the permit .. It was rejected 2 times before....will see what happens next week.