I just changed my plan from E-29 to E-26. I was over producing off-peak and still having to pay all of the super off-peak energy. E-26 is back to peak/off-peak and my bill is down considerably. You might think about doing this also.
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Arizona Powerwall Installs
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I just changed my plan from E-29 to E-26. I was over producing off-peak and still having to pay all of the super off-peak energy. E-26 is back to peak/off-peak and my bill is down considerably. You might think about doing this also.
I'll check them out. When I over produce in the afternoon, I simply charge the car or do laundry, and have the pool pump going. I have to regulate these things to make sure I don't take more than my solar is generating. I must be saving a nickel a day! Yay.
I'm still off grid, but let's see what happens when the heat comes on here soon! I can't wait to see
I would like to not connect at all, but I'd have to cut down on my peaks a bit maybe with roof insulation and a better pool pump.
I reviewed the two plans again (cryptic). Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears you went from SRP Electric Vehicle to Time of Use which is what I had before getting solar. So how are you saving when the prices are more on ToU? I don't know your setup... I have 8 kW PV and 2 PWs which makes a huge difference (for a price).
Keep in mind, SRP can change their rates and plans at anytime. My recommendation is get 2 Powerwalls which insulates you from rate hikes. Whatever you saved with the one powerwall, they'll get it back one way or another on the bill IMHO.
I think I can save even more shutting of SRP completely at this point (assuming that I even can do this?). If need be, I could get a generator if I'm short on energy (which is what SRP does when they run low on power during peak times - hence they pay only a couple pennies per kWh as that's their fuel charge to generate locally - 100% carbon based... NOT SOLAR). "Easy Enough" plan I call it.
I'm paying about $35 a month no matter what. Funny is that if I were camping at an RV site, I'd gladly pay this for just one night. But SRP has gotten political and I hope the folks here at least voted in their board election so we can bring back net metering in a couple years come next election of SRP board members. I did my part there.
I am grandfathered into the old plan. Bought this home in June 2019 and went from 3.2KW to 14.0. Because I never generate 11 pm to 5 pm (super off peak), I always had to pay for that power. Right now I have over 700KW of excess credit for off peak. They will pay this out at the end of April, just before I could use it during the summer season. So with the E-26 plan I can charge at night and use my excess off peak generation. I do not have any powerwalls. It doesn't seem to be cost effective to purchase powerwalls. I have a 4500 SF home and my bills run about $35/month right now. Of that, $20 is the monthly customer service charge, so I can't get much lower.
This post is about how
You have some panels there, wow! I think this shows different approaches. Mine's unique because my roof is facing West, so I get A/C quality power even a bit after 6PM. For me, I pay $35 no matter what. If I generate to SRP, I get a couple pennies is all. So hoarding electrons has been my new skill-set of the year - addicting! Trick for me is charge the car, but not too fast so as not to tap my house batteries and lose efficiency inverting twice. I wish I could automate that part. On cloudy days, I skip the pool pump and car charging. These are my knobs to control things.
Yes this has been a learning process. I thought just put it on and leave it. SRP will get you if you don't tweak it.
We had 14 panels and added 31 more for a total of 45.
Interesting is the 3.2 system was 30K in 2013. Last year we spent 30K for 10.8.
You know about SRP's 50% off a powerwall offer (one battery per household) right? I got paid already from SRP - in exchange they can track my data.
You would likely stand to gain a lot from one Powerwall - worth the cost/benefit analysis anyway. It could potentially take you off the shoulder times, maybe even more. 13.5 kWh usable storage each is the estimates I've read. One is plenty to get through the night plus my morning coffee.
I did but forgot about it. Do you know how long it lasts?
Shockingly, I just got an email from Tesla that my free Powerwall is now available. Was supposed to have two free ones but we will see what happens. Maybe I will take my free one and add an SRP at 50%. This would really be a huge help in peak power usage. How much was install on yours? Tesla is saying they give up to $1000 credit. My garage is a long run to the panel.
Thanks for the info.
Installs aren't cheap and a long run means either over the rooftop with conduit or underground for about $2K on just the extra distance. That's what they were going to charge me, but I convinced them to use my conduit already in the ground. My garage was opposite the breakers (maybe your's too). So I ran conduit under the front walkway into the garage for the EV charging, and $2K was what they wanted to charge for another dig... right next to mine. Lol, they finally agreed to use mine after 2 months of meetings and drawings. Anyway, I highly recommend batteries in garage, or shade at least in case your garage is a hot box. They left my inverter outside though.
Installs are flat rate I think. Mine together were $2,500, so not too bad. SRP link is here and it looks active. I'd grab it, they're buying your data... whatever. Reserve Your Battery Storage Incentive
Does Tesla do the powerwall installs or is it a local contractor? If so, does anyone have a recommendation for Mesa/East Valley? Looks like after over a year Tesla finally found my Founders Series Powerwalls (2). Planning on adding one for the SRP rebate. Now need to see what the install with cost.
Chancellor32
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Darwin
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You may also want to consider getting a quote from a 3rd party installer. I had solar and Powerwall installed by Sun Valley Solar Solutions over a year ago and they did an excellent job. They are a certified Tesla Powerwall installer. I'm in Mesa/SRP.
Let us know the quote too. When I talked with the owner last year, PW's were a flat rate (bit pricey) to cover any problems that come up.
Tesla is aligning with installers across the country, so the lines are blurry as to who is actually installing. I would recommend Tesla for warrantee reasons (and because I'm certain about their existence in 20 years). In my case Tesla was cheaper for the install, but they did try to tack something on then won that battle. And that was the point made by the owner of Sun Valley - charges can come up along the way with competitors as they dig in, literally.
(This just reminded me... when I wasn't quite yet in school, my family of 8, me the youngest, would all go to Sun Valley Gardens on weekends in the 60's. It was a nudist colony in Ontario Canada, near Niagara Falls. Maybe we should all get naked so we'd lose weight in a hurry. I know I would from embarrassment, lol.)
Hey all, I am in the process of getting two Powerwalls installed. In speaking with someone at Tesla about the system, I was somewhat surprised at something I was told. I was told that because I have solar, the Powerwall would not be able to be charged from the grid other than in a declared emergency. I read this entire thread and do not remember anyone saying one way or the other, but it seems odd to me that if it were cloudy and raining for a week during monsoon, that I could not charge from the grid off peak and use the wall to avoid peak charges as well as demand fees. Right now under normal sunny conditions, I am overproducing almost every day.
Can anyone that already has a system installed and using SRP confirm if what I was told is true, or if they can charge off the grid as well as their solar.
Can anyone that already has a system installed and using SRP confirm if what I was told is true, or if they can charge off the grid as well as their solar.
Welcome, @Kat-A-Tonic!
What you were told is correct: when attached to a PV system Powerwalls will not charge from the grid except in an emergency situation where Storm Watch is enabled on your Powerwall and activated by Tesla during said emergency. This has been a common topic of conversation on these boards.
While the Powerwall is physically capable of charging off of the grid my speculation is that any US based Powerwall installs attached to PV will default to no grid charging due to the federal ITC rules. I've also speculated that with some cajoling Tesla may be convinced to enable this for you if you explicitly forego the ITC. Some have said they have not been successful, though, and I have not heard of anyone who has been successful. Perhaps if Tesla does do this they have you sign an NDA or something
Independent of the federal tax issue there may also be local utility agreements that could get in the way of arbitaging power like you're suggesting. I'm certainly not saying doing so is bad - shifting use is what we should be striving for and is what those rate changes are incentivizing! Just something else to consider even if Tesla does enable your system to charge from the grid.
Also note that changing the operating mode of your Powerwall changes the warranty from unlimited cycles to 37.8mwh aggregate AC throughput.
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Thanks for the info gpez. Funny that I needed to talk with Tesla today about some paperwork and had a different employee tell me that the batteries do charge from the grid. I find it disconcerting that I have had two instances now where I was told completely opposite things depending on who I have spoken with. This has been a strange process from the start, so much so that my wife is wondering if we should even continue. Maybe part of it is due to the virus, but that has been far from what I expected dealing with Tesla. It seems that they are always ahead of themselves in the project, such as wanting to get a permit started before the design is even figured out.
If your experience installing solar + PW will be anything like mine you're going to find inconsistencies all over the place. My take it's a combination of the industry being new and the technology going through constant change with every locale being different in terms of regulations and process. It's a mess and Tesla isn't immune.
Standard contractor advice stands: review everything they send you, ask lots of questions, document as much as you can, and stay on top of the schedule.
