First Electric Bill with my M3: I am saving $$$$

[Big Earl]

I would turn off the sauna (or equivalent).
Glamisduner loves to complain and be the center of attention but cannot be bothered to actually find out *where* his high consumption(s) are coming from. His all-electric home is a partial explanation.

His consumption doesn't seem unreasonable to me. I'm at 2 MWh per month in the summer, with three adults driving electric. Our house isn't even all-electric. The idea of paying 3-4x per kWh more than what I'm currently paying is shocking. Of course, I'd reduce consumption as much as possible, but at those rates, it would only make sense to add as much solar as possible.

 

[SageBrush]

His consumption doesn't seem unreasonable to me. I'm at 2 MWh per month in the summer, with three adults driving electric. Our house isn't even all-electric. The idea of paying 3-4x per kWh more than what I'm currently paying is shocking. Of course, I'd reduce consumption as much as possible, but at those rates, it would only make sense to add as much solar as possible.

He has posted before that PV expansion is limited because he does not want to give up his grandfather standing and move to an (IIRC) TOU plan. Which is another way of saying that his household is too inflexible to time shift, and as I mentioned he is not willing to look for conservation or efficiency alternatives.

As for what is 'reasonable', I'll suggest 50% of a local American cohort. Prior to installing PV my household used about 1/4 of my local cohort, so 150-200 kWh a month. Nowadays with two EVs we consume around 600 kWh a month (entirely offset with PV.) Even people in SDG&E have choices other than sky high electric bills, although they come with some requirements of flexibility and behavior changes.

 

[Sandiegodoug]

I have sdge and solar. We set air at 78,
Have variable speed pool pump set low
Replaced every light with led. Solar and energy management is answer in sdge
Territory.

 

[Effopec]

I just figure that I get somewhere between 35-40 mi/$ at about $0.11/kWhr. With my previous car at 25mpg and $2.50/gal that is 10 mi/$, so almost 1/4 the cost. I had been thinking in the past about getting an M3, but the fuel and service costs drove me away. The Model 3 gives you the best of both worlds.

 

[AustinPowers]

I used to leave my M3 plugged in and charging every night, just because I wanted to be sure I had plenty of battery to get where I just might need to go. However, this month, I am not charging every night as I know what my next day driving requirements are. I don't fill up my ICE vehicle every day, so why would I charge every day.

I believe once you are comfortable driving your EV with your daily driving needs, you'll get used to charging only when you need to.

I intend to do the same.
Currently it can be two months between my trips to the gas station, simply because I drive so little, only about 15 miles a day on average.
With that use case I would only need to charge about twice a month.

 

[ℬête Noire]

He has posted before that PV expansion is limited because he does not want to give up his grandfather standing and move to an (IIRC) TOU plan. Which is another way of saying that his household is too inflexible to time shift, and as I mentioned he is not willing to look for conservation or efficiency alternatives.

As for what is 'reasonable', I'll suggest 50% of a local American cohort. Prior to installing PV my household used about 1/4 of my local cohort, so 150-200 kWh a month. Nowadays with two EVs we consume around 600 kWh a month (entirely offset with PV.) Even people in SDG&E have choices other than sky high electric bills, although they come with some requirements of flexibility and behavior changes.

I loath the Nextdoor emails that inevitably follow a dryish, warm-to-hot month; Shock, outrage, and indignation about their $500+ water bills. That it must be the local ground reservoir surtax that's robbing them, or something. Surely it has nothing to do with them trying to make the species of grass in their lawn green in a season where it's naturally dormant.