-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Best Virginia Residential Electric Plan for Tesla?
- Thread starter ramsey.rick
- Start date
-
- Tags
- Mid-Atlantic USA
Is the Dominion Smart Pricing Plan still available? They do have demand charges, so we'd have to slow charge from 10PM-5AM. It has demand charges, the highest kWs used for any 30 minute period * about $2. But in the winter, off peek power is like 3c/kWh.
paulkva
part of the supercharge.info dev team
Dominion's pricing is pretty complicated, frankly, but I think this is a summary of the options out there for most people (i.e. resdiential plans) in VA. Big disclaimer: I could easily be wrong about any or all of these numbers.
Schedule 1 (basic rate): $7/mo + 7c/kWh (first 800/mo) or 5.2c-8c/kWh (after 800/mo by season), eligible for $40/yr rebate via Smart Cooling Rewards
Schedule 1S (Demand TOU): $12/mo + 2.8c-4.7c/kWh (by time of use) + $3.95-$5.68/kW peak demand
Schedule 1T (Energy TOU): $12/mo + 2.4c-15c/kWh (by time of use)
Schedule 1EV (no longer available): $7/mo + 1.4c-12.5c/kWh (8 different rates by time of use and season)
And if I'm reading things properly, there are riders, surcharges, and taxes totaling 3.9c/kWh on top of all of the above per-kWh rates. So for Schedule 1T, for example, the all-in rates are about 6.3c/kWh off-peak and 18.9c peak. Still not that bad.
One nice thing about the non-EV time-of-use plans (1S/1T) is that peak times only apply on weekdays and exclude some holidays, while the EV rates have peak hours every day. According to the Schedule 1EV document, anyone on that plan will need to choose a new plan after Nov 30, 2018. If I've done my calculations correctly, then based on my last 18 months, I've been saving roughly $16/mo vs. the basic rate, and I think I'll be able to manage a similar pattern on 1T with minimal adjustment to my family's usage patterns.
When I signed up for the program and got the dual meter, I talked with the Dominion Va power guys who came out and disconnected my house from the grid while the dual meter was being installed. They had done a number of these jobs before, and they said that a large nuber of the installations required them to beef up the power distributon boxes (not sure that is the correct term) that feed multiple houses in order not to overload them. I assume this data was fed back to Dominion and they now have a good baseline of what happens when someone buys an EV and charges at home. By far, of course, the Tesla HPWC 80 amp draw puts the most demand on the power distributon boxes. So, perhaps Dominion received enough data from the EV Pricing Plan program to allow them to meet EV home charging demand in the future without the need for a dual (house/EV charger) meter. But then again I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express, so much of what I said I have no idea if it is true!
I got excited with that Schedule 1T. Then I did the math. :/
In order to break even with Schedule 1, i'd need to have 68% of my usage to be offpeak, while only 32% being peak. I can move the Tesla to charge at night, that's easy, but that's not even 40%.
Which would mean that I'd need to split the remainder of my usage about 50/50 peak and off-peak, and considering my wife occasionally works from home, this just isn't feasible.
O well, thanks for the info though.
In order to break even with Schedule 1, i'd need to have 68% of my usage to be offpeak, while only 32% being peak. I can move the Tesla to charge at night, that's easy, but that's not even 40%.
Which would mean that I'd need to split the remainder of my usage about 50/50 peak and off-peak, and considering my wife occasionally works from home, this just isn't feasible.
O well, thanks for the info though.
paulkva
part of the supercharge.info dev team
I at least haven't asked yet. But there's nothing stopping Dominion from extending, revamping, or replacing the EV program. If they don't announce anything by late 2017 I might send them an email...
For what it's worth, my wife works from home once per week and I think Schedule 1T would still be about as good as 1EV for us. We do have a relatively new (2009) and energy-efficient house -- I'm sure that helps -- plus I don't drive a lot of miles, so the car isn't a big percentage of our total usage.
Powerwall 2 and solar could really maximize the savings of this plan. Most importantly, it would add backup power for winter storms and hurricanes.
I too hope to hear something about an updated or extended plan. I'm on the EV only plan with a second meter (Schedule 1EV). I had it installed in April of 2016. The meter swap took about 5 minutes after the 2nd meter base was installed. The dominion tech just pulled one out and pushed the new ones in.
I work from home 3-5 days a week and my wife is home many days as well with my very young son. I don't see any whole home variable rate plan working well for us. The only thing I can really push off hours is Tesla charging and the dishwasher (which is run daily). I run a moderate number of miles on the Tesla which draws about 400kWh/mo, 99% being super off peak.
I'm hoping the EV community can push dominion into action if they don't already have a future plan in place.
With the smart meters, does anyone else have to have a dominion tech manually read the meter monthly? (No radio broadcast like other meters)
I work from home 3-5 days a week and my wife is home many days as well with my very young son. I don't see any whole home variable rate plan working well for us. The only thing I can really push off hours is Tesla charging and the dishwasher (which is run daily). I run a moderate number of miles on the Tesla which draws about 400kWh/mo, 99% being super off peak.
I'm hoping the EV community can push dominion into action if they don't already have a future plan in place.
With the smart meters, does anyone else have to have a dominion tech manually read the meter monthly? (No radio broadcast like other meters)
Just came across this thread, as I started planning for an incoming Tesla. No dates as of yet to bring back the program. Rep asked me to email them at [email protected] asking to bring back the program. Perhaps others can do that too? I just did.
Dominion just launched an Off-Peak Plan for Virginia customers who have smart meters installed. The program is limited to the first 10K to sign up.
I thought Dominion already had a TOU (Time of Use) plan? Maybe they are just relaunching it as something different?
Before I moved, I had 2 smart meters for the Schedule EV plan, with an option to also join the Home + EV plan. That was a pilot program that ended in 2018.
I still have the original plan ("1EV", only 750 participants, ends 2016) and it says they wont throw me off unless I choose, or get rid of the EV which ain't happening.
So I just reviewed the numbers, though its really hard to compare. Especially since I am on whole house so heat and A/C affect me. Probably was not the best choice. The new system is slightly more cost, except the peak is WAY UP. But the difference is the peak is slimmed down to only 3 hrs on summer days and 3 hrs morning and evening in winter. And the new system now has no peak on weekends and holidays. I'm thinking with 3 hour slots I can tune the thermostats around the peak times and still have the house comfortable. And with much less peak charge I may actually save. Hmmm.
FYI, The new midnight charging is 9.5 cents summer, 7.24 cents winter. (old on was 7.12/6.23).
So I just reviewed the numbers, though its really hard to compare. Especially since I am on whole house so heat and A/C affect me. Probably was not the best choice. The new system is slightly more cost, except the peak is WAY UP. But the difference is the peak is slimmed down to only 3 hrs on summer days and 3 hrs morning and evening in winter. And the new system now has no peak on weekends and holidays. I'm thinking with 3 hour slots I can tune the thermostats around the peak times and still have the house comfortable. And with much less peak charge I may actually save. Hmmm.
FYI, The new midnight charging is 9.5 cents summer, 7.24 cents winter. (old on was 7.12/6.23).
I’ve been on schedule 1S for a few years. We have gas heat, hot water and cooking, so we are able to manage usage very well. In the summer, we run central AC during off-peak times and a 9,000 BTU window unit during peak. We keep the peak demand below 2 kW and our all-in rate is averaging 10.2¢ per kWh (monthly total bill divided by monthly total consumption). Pretty good deal if you work it right.
Similar threads
- Question
