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German Electricity Tariff (Octopus) [Octopus + Tesla collaboration]

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TheTalkingMule

Distributed Energy Enthusiast
Oct 20, 2012
10,183
52,176
Philadelphia, PA

In the spring of 2021, Tesla began offering its electricity rates to some Powerwall owners in Germany. Together with the construction of an automobile plant, the company is preparing for a large-scale entry into the German electricity market with its own equipment and software. Tesla and its partner, Octopus Energy, are reported to want to introduce a nationwide electricity tariff from October 18.
 
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I got myself a quote this morning, and it's rubbish. Too expensive compared to other green power rates for my location. Only interesting if you have Powerwall or solar PV.
Can't you only get a quote for the new tarif IF you already have a powerwall? So you don't have a pw and complain on the powerwall-only tarif being non-competitive?
 
Peripheral to this topic but as it's germane to Germany, I write here -

A north German friend ranted thusly to me over the weekend:

"As nice as those (Grünheide GF) numbers are, I still have no idea how Germany's already challenged electrical infrastructure is going to handle the increased electric demand...I think we will all see some Texas-sized outages sooner than later..."


{I then respond with charging EVs at night, etc.} He continues:

"Likely not true like that. Most heating of homes occurs when people get home from work....and then would plug in car also . But the problem is more basic than that, at least here in Germany. In our street at home (14 houses), we were told that if more than 2 homes would get an EV charging station, the system would get overloaded. At [another place], we were told that we could not install an EV charging station at all. I do not know much about the electrical infrastructure, but that does not bode well."

{I then respond with battery backups, etc.} He continues with a frustration about using more electricity, and an overall large increase in consumption both of energy in the form of electricity both for housing and transportation, and having larger houses - he at least veers away from the "not enough electricity" tangent.

Anyone else in Germany have an opinion as to the robustness of the German electrical infrastructure? My friend, by the way, is in far, far, far northern Germany - coastal, but I will not say in this platform whether North Sea or Baltic Sea.
 
Can't you only get a quote for the new tarif IF you already have a powerwall? So you don't have a pw and complain on the powerwall-only tarif being non-competitive?

No, I got a quote that does not add the advantage of the Powerwall etc.

Anyone can do that on the Octopus website. I believe Octopus/Tesla is reaching out to Powerwall owners directly with a much better price.
 
Peripheral to this topic but as it's germane to Germany, I write here -

A north German friend ranted thusly to me over the weekend:

"As nice as those (Grünheide GF) numbers are, I still have no idea how Germany's already challenged electrical infrastructure is going to handle the increased electric demand...I think we will all see some Texas-sized outages sooner than later..."

{I then respond with charging EVs at night, etc.} He continues:

"Likely not true like that. Most heating of homes occurs when people get home from work....and then would plug in car also . But the problem is more basic than that, at least here in Germany. In our street at home (14 houses), we were told that if more than 2 homes would get an EV charging station, the system would get overloaded. At [another place], we were told that we could not install an EV charging station at all. I do not know much about the electrical infrastructure, but that does not bode well."

{I then respond with battery backups, etc.} He continues with a frustration about using more electricity, and an overall large increase in consumption both of energy in the form of electricity both for housing and transportation, and having larger houses - he at least veers away from the "not enough electricity" tangent.

Anyone else in Germany have an opinion as to the robustness of the German electrical infrastructure? My friend, by the way, is in far, far, far northern Germany - coastal, but I will not say in this platform whether North Sea or Baltic Sea.

This could be an issue in rural (i.e. far far far northern Germany) villages - in towns and cities I don't see this issue. The issue is lack of information / knowledge of local utilities that are responsible for the local grid. I also disagree with his "heating" comment. The very large majority of homes are heated by gas, oil.


FWIW, found an interesting "paper" from McKinsey on this very topic: The impact of electromobility on the German electric grid

Would be interesting to read what your fried thinks about that...