Connected Solutions National Grid

[wjgjr]

The experience of @m3-pw2 is why I would never consider any sort of "demand" program where "the utility" gets to decide how much they took from my battery and when.

I really hope it works out for @m3-pw2 , but people who are clamoring for "demand response" systems where they get credit for letting the utility drain your battery, should look at his experience. They would have to be basically provided by the utility for free for me to consider it.

The only way this really would work if its a CUSTOMER SIDE setting that they enable or disable... at will, with virtually no lag time.

I will say that from the responses I've seen, the utility deserves at least some credit for seemingly having a plan where the customer can decide, and where they are credited for their full offset (including battery energy sent to the home.) It sounds like Tesla may need to implement something on their end to allow this, which hopefully could happen. It definitely sounds like Tesla could implement a reserve level that applies to this program, and maybe (less clear having not read the program details) even a switch to disable it for the day.

The storm issue is a concern since the utility really should have suspended the program for the day (which it sounds like they are supposed to do.) On the Tesla side, I commented somewhere else, but I wish it was more clear what warnings should trigger storm watch. It seems like thunderstorms do not, and maybe not even tornado warnings. It would potentially be useful if they did, or in the context of this program, if they could be used as a basis for stopping the battery drain.

I do hope the issues can be worked out, because I think the program makes a lot of sense in principle. But I completely agree about the importance of customer control because people won't sign up or won't stay in the program if it is causing them more headaches. The utilities just need to ensure the program is still viable this way.

 

[m3-pw2]

The only way this really would work if its a CUSTOMER SIDE setting that they enable or disable... at will, with virtually no lag time.

Part of the agreement for demand response is that no discharge occurs if there is any extreme weather such as what we had yesterday. But the way this has been implemented has turned me into one unhappy customer, and I have sent an email to unenroll from this program entirely, and forgo any incentives because I have pulled out before the end of the season.

This was not the first time it happened. The first time was July 10 were Storm Watch was activated but Powerwall were still discharging because of the demand response event. That day, I called Tesla support, and they told me that if I disabled Storm Watch and re-enabled it, it would stop, and it did. Since then, I have been monitoring this closely. I was able to stop another incident on Aug 3 using this trick.

Yesterday Aug 27 was a different story. The National Weather Service started issuing severe thunderstorms in the area, but they came in later in the day, and were only for less than an hour, and they kept extending them prior to expiration. Unfortunately my Powerwalls did not pick up the Storm Watch and it started discharging at 7.2 kW when on all other days the discharge rate was 6 kW.

Luckily our town was spared and only 5% lost power but not my house. A town 35 miles away from us got the worst of the storm, and they had 99.9% power loss. This morning they are at 76% without power.

When my battery reached 50% level last night, I threw in the towel, and reasoned that if there was an actual power loss, the Gateway should handle the Demand Response where Powerwalls are discharging around 7 kW. I was concerned that if I disconnect the main breaker, I could cause some overload in the house. I kept the main breaker disconnected for 1.5 hours until the Demand Response event was over, and then switched it back. I know that 50% is the level I am comfortable going to bed at night with and still have more than 10% left by the time the solar production kicks in the next day if power was lost.

So like you said, for me to consider joining this program again, there will need to be an ability for me to stop discharging the battery at will and without any intervention from Tesla, or resorting to disconnecting the main breaker and loosing both A/C and draining my battery.
Where I live in Connecticut, we seem to have many unexpected thunderstorms that pass by at this time of the year, and some of them do not trigger the Storm Watch in Powerwall because NWS does not issue any alerts, but these storms could still cause power outages.

 

[m3-pw2]

I will say that from the responses I've seen, the utility deserves at least some credit for seemingly having a plan where the customer can decide, and where they are credited for their full offset (including battery energy sent to the home.) It sounds like Tesla may need to implement something on their end to allow this, which hopefully could happen. It definitely sounds like Tesla could implement a reserve level that applies to this program, and maybe (less clear having not read the program details) even a switch to disable it for the day.

The storm issue is a concern since the utility really should have suspended the program for the day (which it sounds like they are supposed to do.) On the Tesla side, I commented somewhere else, but I wish it was more clear what warnings should trigger storm watch. It seems like thunderstorms do not, and maybe not even tornado warnings. It would potentially be useful if they did, or in the context of this program, if they could be used as a basis for stopping the battery drain.

I do hope the issues can be worked out, because I think the program makes a lot of sense in principle. But I completely agree about the importance of customer control because people won't sign up or won't stay in the program if it is causing them more headaches. The utilities just need to ensure the program is still viable this way.

I totally agree with you @wjgjr. I do believe that this program is important a a whole. Right now, there are some serious flaws that need to be addressed seriously before it is sold to customers. There are people I know who are looking at buying Solar + storage from Tesla, and Tesla website includes 5 year incentive from Connected Solutions and reduce total cost of ownership.
Eversource Connected Solutions link is clear that they do not discharge from battery during extreme weather. I have spoken to Eversource regarding this when I had the system discharge even with Storm Watch activated (Tesla software bug), and they told me that they make the call the day before, and once they do, they do not cancel it. So they are relying on Tesla Storm Watch to prevent discharge. And like I said before, there are times when NWS does not issue severe storm warnings, and we get a thunderstorm that could pass by and knock power out. For those cases, I would wish to have the option to skip or cancel the event from the app, and not through Tesla support line.

 

[coney27]

Sounds like i should back out of this before my install next week

 

[m3-pw2]

Sounds like i should back out of this before my install next week

It might be better not to participate until they improve the program. Part of the contract could make you ineligible to subscribe in the future if you withdraw from the program. I replaced the email address from contract with XXX.

9. Customer Termination: Once You are accepted as a participant in the ConnectedSolutions Program, You may withdraw by emailing Tesla at the following address: XXX. By withdrawing, You may render yourself ineligible to receive the Customer Incentive or participate in the ConnectedSolutions Program in the future.

 

[jjrandorin]

Re reading my other post, part of it said "I am trying to pile on". What was supposed to be there is "I am NOT trying to pile on". While its likely that the meaning I was going for was understood, I wanted to correct it anyway.

Appreciate those of you who read it and thought "wtf is jj talking about piling on for?" and not blasting me for it, lol.