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Arizona Powerwall Installs

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@SOULPEDL

I dont look at this thread much because its AZ based and I am in CA, but I liked your post talking about your impressions of the system on page 12. One thing you mentioned in there was:
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Everytime I switch settings in Advanced mode, it gives power to the grid before switching. Software?
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I observe this too, but it makes perfect sense to me, because it appears to me that when you make a change, in order to ensure no loss of power to the home, the system switches to grid power temporarily to apply the change, then the change becomes effective and the system picks up, reacting to your change.

Its usually only a few beats or so, but seems perfectly normal, and not something that would ever need to be "fixed" per se.
 
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Tesla is charging me 1800$ in sales tax on the powerwalls. Arizona srp. I am installing the extra large system with 4 pw at the same time. And they are saying tax is required. I knife think it’s tax tree. Can anyone see there final invoice and see it u paid tax on your power walls or ? Can u post it so I can show Tesla.
7C6B645B-5045-4908-BBD1-23464C05EA20.jpeg
 
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Tesla is charging me 1800$ in sales tax on the powerwalls. Arizona srp. I am installing the extra large system with 4 pw at the same time. And they are saying tax is required. I knife think it’s tax tree. Can anyone see there final invoice and see it u paid tax on your power walls or ? Can u post it so I can show Tesla.

I'm SRP, I'll message you with what was on my invoice, I don't see taxes called out separately, and the final price was my all in costs. It was a four Powerwall system, with 4k solar back before the small/medium/large/XL standard sizes.
 
@SOULPEDL

I dont look at this thread much because its AZ based and I am in CA, but I liked your post talking about your impressions of the system on page 12. One thing you mentioned in there was:
=======================
Everytime I switch settings in Advanced mode, it gives power to the grid before switching. Software?
=======================

I observe this too, but it makes perfect sense to me, because it appears to me that when you make a change, in order to ensure no loss of power to the home, the system switches to grid power temporarily to apply the change, then the change becomes effective and the system picks up, reacting to your change.

Its usually only a few beats or so, but seems perfectly normal, and not something that would ever need to be "fixed" per se.

Yes I was referring to changing modes in the Tesla App. Your theory could be correct, but talk about taking it's time. Things should settle within ms, the spillage time to SRP grid seems overly cautionary.

So I went from producing 20 kWh/day (Dec 2019), to 30 kWh/day now (Feb18th, 2020) on my 8.2k PVs all facing West. I'm having a hard time using all this electricity. So some is "spilling" over when the car is also full (we don't drive much at all).

So I fired up the main AC unit while on batteries only (experiment), and the thing only uses 3 kW. OMG, I'm already doing over 5 kW peak in Feb! Can I expect closer to 8 kW then in summer? (Sounds like a stupid question, right)

Recommendation, get at least 2 PW batteries, but OK to go light on the solar as many suggest to help pay-off sooner. That's not to say time and pricing changes, or your Tesla investments paid off already 3X, and you wish you had 12 kW pv's instead of just 8 kW panels. Then realize after the fact that you can't just add on to your existing inverter (even if it has room to spare, due to warrantee), or assume anything about the chosen wire, panel, or pipe sizes on the first go.

I do have it on rumor (and a hunch) that a better battery will emerge this year that's smaller, half the cost, with the same output. Be prepared for that reality, but don't let it stop you as you'll never have the latest hardware from Tesla, so don't try. I also wouldn't be surprised at a HUGE end of year ramp in PVs + PW, and Tesla (about Q2 end) announces price reductions to completely SHOCK the energy market.

Followed by... "Oh, and there one other thing..."
 
FYI, critical votes coming that could impact Energy costs in Az. I'm just passing along some info gathered as a member of LD18. Some action came highly recommended and thought this might be a good place to share. Hope I'm not violating any rules.

For SRP customers only: They are holding a board election on open seat(s), but you must request a special SRP ballot on their website. SRP: Early voting ballot request form

For all Az Utility companies, there is a critical vote this year for 3 seats on the ACC board - they have power over our Az utilities. (ACC = Arizona Commerce Commission). Winning at least 2 of 3 Blue seats will flip the board from Red to Blue as well. Democrats claim to encourage solar incentives and fair pricing for all. I'm actually new to this, but feels right.

Maybe I should post this as a separate thread?
 
FYI, critical votes coming that could impact Energy costs in Az. I'm just passing along some info gathered as a member of LD18. Some action came highly recommended and thought this might be a good place to share. Hope I'm not violating any rules.

For SRP customers only: They are holding a board election on open seat(s), but you must request a special SRP ballot on their website. SRP: Early voting ballot request form

For all Az Utility companies, there is a critical vote this year for 3 seats on the ACC board - they have power over our Az utilities. (ACC = Arizona Commerce Commission). Winning at least 2 of 3 Blue seats will flip the board from Red to Blue as well. Democrats claim to encourage solar incentives and fair pricing for all. I'm actually new to this, but feels right.

Maybe I should post this as a separate thread?

If you do make another thread, please link it back here so we can jump to it. This is definitely an interest for me. I have two EVs, no ICE car, two powerwalls, Tesla solar, and an older solar system from a bankrupt company that I folded into Tesla's system. So I'm basically all in for the future, and might even consider trying for one of those seats, though how I'll find the time who knows.
 
If you do make another thread, please link it back here so we can jump to it. This is definitely an interest for me. I have two EVs, no ICE car, two powerwalls, Tesla solar, and an older solar system from a bankrupt company that I folded into Tesla's system. So I'm basically all in for the future, and might even consider trying for one of those seats, though how I'll find the time who knows.

You'd only need about 1,500 signatures if I recall to get on the ballot. But that's to weed out the busy people ;)
 
If you do make another thread, please link it back here so we can jump to it. This is definitely an interest for me. I have two EVs, no ICE car, two powerwalls, Tesla solar, and an older solar system from a bankrupt company that I folded into Tesla's system. So I'm basically all in for the future, and might even consider trying for one of those seats, though how I'll find the time who knows.

OK here it is. Not much to like it seems. Maybe the title shouldn't look like another request to just vote - this is different. Az SRP Utility - Please request your ballot and vote!

When the date gets closer, I'll try to get Elon to Tweet something (worth trying anyway and there's some history with Tesla and SRP).
Good luck. SRP won't flip this cycle (best will be 8 (Rep) to 6 (Dems), but in 2 years we can do it, especially with all this excitement!
 
For some reason I thought there was only one good plan for those with solar and an EV, however I just noticed there are more options. I'm starting to feed back some to the grid, so figured it's time to check the rate plan is a good fit. Has anyone who is generally self sufficient (two powerwalls maybe) played around with finding the best plan for saving money? It almost seems like SRP is obfuscating by having so many options, but maybe that's just the cynic in me and all the options are good. Anyway before I get my eyes crossed doing math, just curious if anyone else has already done the work

FAQ about SRP's solar price plans
 
For some reason I thought there was only one good plan for those with solar and an EV, however I just noticed there are more options. I'm starting to feed back some to the grid, so figured it's time to check the rate plan is a good fit. Has anyone who is generally self sufficient (two powerwalls maybe) played around with finding the best plan for saving money? It almost seems like SRP is obfuscating by having so many options, but maybe that's just the cynic in me and all the options are good. Anyway before I get my eyes crossed doing math, just curious if anyone else has already done the work

FAQ about SRP's solar price plans

I'm on the Customers Generation (E27), the most aggressive plan. It has the lowest per/kWh prices, but does have the drawback of the potentially very high demand charges. I planned my system with 4 Powerwalls specifically to allow me to eliminate 100% of peak usage to avoid any demand charges. So I minimized the amount of solar for cost/payback reasons, and built slack into my PW capacity even during the peak of summer. So just enough solar to get them filled up, but on the hottest days it will require the weekends to completely top off the PWs.

I'm far from self sufficient, but since the E27 is a 1:1 offset for power sent back to the grid, taken together with the super low off-peak kWr rates, it's a pretty good plan now that we can actually get PWs installed - but it only works with enough PW capacity to eliminate any risk of demand usage all year long. Taking into account savings on auto gas and the lower power rates on this plan for charging two EVs (vs my pre-solar/PW plan) - my payoff is less than 4.5 years taking into account value added to the house, and still less than 7 years without the house value-add.
 
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Thought I'd share how I have too much power to use or store (8.19kW, west facing, 2PWs). It's been this way for about a month where I'm not needing the grid (maybe I should have just thrown the main switch). All driving, all rainstorms, everyday. And it's been raining every week here.

This shows my most recent 2 months, then compare to last year below. Both had 1 Tesla charging at home. I did not expect this, however, summer's not here yet either. Most of what I do now is shift activities and maybe that's what's not captured in the ROI calculations. That, and I just replaced all my yard lights with LEDs. December wasn't so easy, so I imagine I'll take on different strategies by season.

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Hi group! Great forum discussions. My family and I are moving to the Phoenix area and I just ordered the large system with 2 powerwalls. I am also being charged with sales tax for the PW. I'm going to call Tesla this morning and try to get a better explanation of why.......
 
Hi group! Great forum discussions. My family and I are moving to the Phoenix area and I just ordered the large system with 2 powerwalls. I am also being charged with sales tax for the PW. I'm going to call Tesla this morning and try to get a better explanation of why.......

update: I called Tesla today and they corrected the sales tax error within 5 mins. Saved me $980 on the 2 powerwalls.
 
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