Dominion EV charging plans

[BobV]

Do you think the plan really saves any money? Have you ever found it necessary to charge outside of the off-peak hours , especially on the weekends which because those rates are significantly higher than just the standard rates it might eat into any savings from the normal charging at off-peak times

I switched to the EV+Home plan when I got my car and my electricity bills before and after stayed the same, even with daily charging. My house is heated with gas (although the winter peak rate is only slightly above the nominal rate) and I have a Nest thermostat set up so that the AC only occasionally kicks in at the tail end of the summer peak-rate times. So for the other ~18 hours a day, my electricity rate is below the standard rate.

I can only recall two instances in the past two years where I've needed to charge at home in the middle of the day, so the plan has been a net-win for me. I am concerned that Dominion has curtailed signups and the EV+Home plan will, IIRC, sunset in 2018. I'm hoping that Dominion and whichever VA utility board regulates electricity rates will renew this plan or offer a substantially similar one in the future.

 

[dafootes]

Do you think the plan really saves any money? Have you ever found it necessary to charge outside of the off-peak hours , especially on the weekends which because those rates are significantly higher than just the standard rates it might eat into any savings from the normal charging at off-peak times

I have only ever charged outside of the off-peak hours one time in the two years of owning the car. Overall, our electricity consumption went up when we bought the car but the bills didn't increase drastically. I do LIVE by the peak hours though - no dishwasher or clothes dryer during peak hours because of the huge difference in rates. At first, we didn't alter those behaviors and had a couple of whopper bills before I realized what was happening. Now that we are used to it, it isn't a big deal to put the dishwasher on a delay.

 

[bhzmark]

That's the trade-off. sometimes you need to travel right away and you need to charge right now and sometimes you're having a party in the evening and you need to wash the dishes right now . And sometimes you just want to not be bothered to think about it and just charge without setting timers.

I think only those with very long commutes and thus very high EV charging needs would find the inconvenience worth the monetary savings

 

[bmc]

Chiming in here with some information from my experience.

I used to be in the Home EV Pilot until we moved a few months ago to a new home. While the EV plan wasnt available, we went with the Schedule 1s plan:
https://www.dom.com/library/domcom/pdfs/virginia-power/rates/residential-rates/schedule-1s.pdf?la=en

For us, we have been able to save money with this plan, but it is definitely more complicated to figure out.

On the home EV plan, it was purely a calculation of how many kWh you used.
On the 1s plan, during peak hours, they also take into consideration how many kW you are pulling. They then average your kW load in 30 minute increments over the peak period.

 

[Travis Denardo]

Has anyone heard an update on what will happen at the end of the pilot? The pilot program for EV Charging is scheduled on end in September 2018 I believe.