I received a notice from PG&E that I'm exceeding 800% baseline usage and thus will be forced off EV2-A. They plan to put me on a time of use rate plan E-TOU-D. Baseline usage is 336 kWh/month and I'm hitting 2800 kWh/month or 833%. However, 75% of the usage occurs between midnight and 5:00AM obviously charging my Tesla Model 3. I'm stuck driving 170 miles/day from the Bay Area to the Central Valley daily until my company approves a transfer to the Bay Area. It sucks, but it is what it is. Luckily at least it's a reverse commute. My other car is an SUV that gets 14.9 mpg commuting which is both expensive and dirty. I called PG&E customer service and was told this is the tariff approved by the PUC and there is no provision for PG&E to do anything else other than penalizing you for going over 800%. You'll be on E-TOU-D for one year and then can reapply for EV2-A. In the interim perhaps you can consider changes to your lifestyle to decrease your energy usage (yes the CSR literally said that). While I'm still on EV2-A they are saying they could make the switch at any moment with 30 days written notice. Has anyone else run into this? Any advice? I plan to escalate within PG&E and to contact the PUC, but I cannot make this my life work. Ultimately I will probably just bow my head and make sure I go below 800% if necessary although it may already be too late. I know I can do things like charge at SuperChargers, charge at work or use the SUV to stay below 800%. We just moved into this home and plan to add solar which will probably solve the issue, but that will take time because a panel upgrade is required. Thanks for any input on dealing with PG&E. I searched and did not find an existing thread on this topic.
Sadly, the CSR is correct. It's clearly stated in the EV2 Tariff, so it's non-negotiable. The PUC won't care because they approved the tariff. Installing solar is your best approach. Short of that, you could install a second meter and charge the car on the EV-B rate. However, that would also require a main panel replacement so the money is better spent on supporting solar instead of a second meter. I think it's criminal that the PUC has not forced PG&E to offer sub-metering with their own SmartMeter equipment. The EV sub-metering trials were too complicated considering how easy and cheap it would be to allow a meter to be installed next to your charging equipment.
Thanks for your input @miimura. It felt very much like this was going to be a dead end. I just hope I can avoid being converted from EV2-A to TOU. I see now for the first time why EV-B exists and how it may be useful. It may actually be an option for me because we have to do a panel upgrade at the house anyway for solar and a generator by year-end. It might make sense to get the second meter and service installed at the same time. Also while my usage for the Model 3 will decline we have a Model Y on the way plus a Rivian, etc in 2022. There will soon be four drivers in the household. We'll be using a lot of power from the grid even with solar.
Can't you charge at work during the day to lower your home consumption? Or calculate how much excess you have and use a Supercharger to avoid overpassing your quota at home?
Besides what's already been suggested, are there any level 2 (J1772) or Destination Charging | Tesla or CHAdeMO chargers near work? How about any CHAdeMO chargers along your route/where you often go? If those are cheaper than Supercharging or being pushed off EV2-A, you might consider buying the $450 CHAdeMO adapter, as long as the stations are known reliable/you can depend on them. How many cents per kWh are the Superchargers you might be using? For instance, I know of a 19 cent/kWh CHAdeMO charger and Home Page - DRIVEtheARC offers CHAdeMO for discounts (off EVgo pricing) of 0, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100%, depending on charger and time of day. There are two reservation stations (Lucky at Bernal in San Jose and Pacific Pearl in Pleasanton) that are free 24/7 as long as you make a reservation via their app. However, you'll need the $450 CHAdeMO Adapter.
If you are going solar, I would probably not recommend the second meter because I've never seen any one use Net Meter Aggregation in that kind of setup. When you have two meters, you would either have to split the solar between the two meters or only have the solar earn credits on one meter. Net Meter Aggregation is a way to split solar production from one meter across multiple meters on the same or adjacent properties with the same responsible party. Anyway, the Off-Peak rates on EV2-A and EV-B are almost the same. EV-B is just under 15c/kWh and EV2-A is 16.7c/kWh. One reason you might want to do the second meter is if your available roof area is too small to install enough solar to offset your EV charging. If you're going to pay for the EV charging anyway, maybe the second meter on EV-B is the way to go. Also, I would not spend money on a generator, I would put that money toward one or more Powerwalls. I had pre-wired and pre-plumbed my house for a nat-gas backup generator when I had the house built in 2012. I didn't install the generator at the time and I'm really happy with the Powerwalls I had installed in 2018. A generator is an endless expense while the Powerwalls will help you avoid paying Peak prices to PG&E and let you get the most from your solar system. Silent backup power is a great bonus.
I went with a second meter for car charging, my problem was no more room for more solar and adding the EV charging on my main meter put me into a higher tier with very expensive kWh cost.
About how much per month do you expect this to increase your electric bill over your previous metering rate? Will help us to give you financially prudent advice..