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Best Electricity Plans - Victoria

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BUMPYKNUCKLES

Member
Apr 5, 2021
32
23
Geelong
#1
Hi all,

I can't seem to find much info on the electricity providers everyone is using to charge at home etc.
I haven't changed my elec plan since I got a Tesla and I am keen to hear what people do, who they use to keep the charging costs down.
It's quite confusing as I am a total novice in the world of kWh etc.

If this is already in a thread, please point me towards it.

Thankyou.
 
#2
BUMPYKNUCKLES said:
Hi all,

I can't seem to find much info on the electricity providers everyone is using to charge at home etc.
I haven't changed my elec plan since I got a Tesla and I am keen to hear what people do, who they use to keep the charging costs down.
It's quite confusing as I am a total novice in the world of kWh etc.

If this is already in a thread, please point me towards it.

Thankyou.
Click to expand...
The best electricity provider is your roof. If you own your own home get some solar.
 
#4
BUMPYKNUCKLES said:
Yep I have a 7kw system. Although I charge the car at night and don't have battery storage.
It will keep prices down, but I'll still be pumping alot of power into the car.
Click to expand...
If you have solar it would make sense to charge the car during the day (if possible). This is what I was told by the Tesla HPWC installer that I used. I guess this becomes easier in Summer than winter due to the short days we have now. The feed in price at 10c is pretty much useless but then again not having a battery and only having had Solar for less than a month, I am very early to the whole change.
 
#5
race4life81 said:
If you have solar it would make sense to charge the car during the day (if possible). This is what I was told by the Tesla HPWC installer that I used. I guess this becomes easier in Summer than winter due to the short days we have now. The feed in price at 10c is pretty much useless but then again not having a battery and only having had Solar for less than a month, I am very early to the whole change.
Click to expand...
I think this makes more sense if I had the EVSE charger or similar. I have the tesla home charger, which feeds from the grid not the solar panels.
The solar I feed back will offset what I use, but like you said, it's a tiny rate they credit for it.

Like I said, my knowledge is very minimal on this, so I appreciate all the comments!
 
#7
BUMPYKNUCKLES said:
I have the tesla home charger, which feeds from the grid not the solar panels
Click to expand...
The solar panels supply power to your switch board via the inverter, so if at any point in time the power supplied by the solar panels exceeds the power draw of the power circuits in your house then the solar panels supply all the power you house is drawing and the excess is exported to the grid

If the power draw of you house exceeds the power supplied by the panels then the balance is drawn from the grid
 
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#9
BUMPYKNUCKLES said:
Yep I have a 7kw system. Although I charge the car at night and don't have battery storage.
It will keep prices down, but I'll still be pumping alot of power into the car.
Click to expand...
Do you have to charge the car at night? Do you have sufficient range to only charge on days when you are at home, such as weekends?
Ultimately though the only way to work out your best deal is to do annual spreadsheet of your power bills and apply different companies offers to it. Its quite easy to do. You cannot decide simply by looking at headline numbers, and no-one can tell you a company is best as your circumstance will always be unique. For example, I export a lot so I’ve learnt that my FIT makes a significant difference…..but so does the kwh charge in winter when I dont export ao much. Hence you have to analyse your last 4 bills.
 
#10
BUMPYKNUCKLES said:
I think this makes more sense if I had the EVSE charger or similar. I have the tesla home charger, which feeds from the grid not the solar panels.
The solar I feed back will offset what I use, but like you said, it's a tiny rate they credit for it.

Like I said, my knowledge is very minimal on this, so I appreciate all the comments!
Click to expand...
I’ve just installed the zappi charger. It senses any export and sends the power to the car instead. I can connect during the day so it works well for me. This essentially prioritises the battery as it sees the battery as an appliance, so the car now just gets the leftover solar. Evolution Australia were very good to deal with.
 
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#11
paulp said:
I’ve just installed the zappi charger. It senses any export and sends the power to the car instead. I can connect during the day so it works well for me. This essentially prioritises the battery as it sees the battery as an appliance, so the car now just gets the leftover solar. Evolution Australia were very good to deal with.
Click to expand...
Good to know. We might become a 2 EV household soon and a non-Tesla will be in the running, so a 3rd party charger looms.
 
#12
BUMPYKNUCKLES said:
info on the electricity providers
Click to expand...

1. Figure out your usage pattern. Do you use more energy during the day, more in the evening, or are flexible to use more whenever you determine? Your energy distributor will have a page allowing you to data-dump your usage patterns so you can make a detailed review of your time of use patterns. E.g. Ausnet or United Energy

2. Look at your current bill to see how your meter is set up. Are you charged a single 'peak' rate? Or a dual 'peak' and 'off-peak' rate? Or a triple 'peak', 'shoulder' and 'off-peak' rates? This will determine what type of comparison rates you look for. You can request the distributor to change your meter configuration to any of these variations (costs a small fee).

3. Start with this page to get a gist of who the top 3 resellers are for your location. The offers the site will produce do not always directly translate to the rate you will get charged. Don't know why, might be something to do with your specific location that modifies the offer. So you need to then go to the 3 providers' websites or call them up and get a direct quote for your location. Compare the cheapest option based on you usage patterns.

For example, it might make sense for your primary residence to be on a single rate all day plan because the consumption patterns for your household are unpredictable. In contrast, if you had a holiday home it might make sense to get on a dual rate plan that offers off-peak rates across the entire weekend which is when you would most often visit.
 
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#16
You wouldn't want to be paying wholesale prices right now..

1622365500266.png
 
#18
But with AGL there is the electric vehicle plan as noted above and also the Fed Gov Electric Vehicle Smart Charging Trial run by AGL, that gets you $200 in rebates per year on top of the $240 per year for being on the electric vehicle plan. There is also Powershop with their discount EV plan.

Or you can just copy me and a bunch of others and get a Powerwall Powerwall | Tesla
Mine has been running great for the past 4 years...
 
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