Help/Advice: PG&E Forcing Me Off EV2-A due to 800% Baseline Allowance Rule

[h2ofun]

Originally I installed the Tesla powerwalls to have power in a PSPS, but running the house off the powerwalls during peak energy costs save me quite a bit. I did not want a generator that used natural gas or propane in my area PG&E has continued to raise prices on both of those energy sources. I use the solar to recharge the powerwalls so my cost is minimal.

My easy solution was 30K of solar. I pump so much extra to PGE that I never have to worry about any of this stuff. Heat, cold, any temp I want.
Charge my EV or others, sky is the limit! My batteries got me nothing worth the cost and hassles. More solar baby. Have not run my generator in a long time, and probably never will now

 

[CarPortal]

My easy solution was 30K of solar. I pump so much extra to PGE that I never have to worry about any of this stuff. Heat, cold, any temp I want.
Charge my EV or others, sky is the limit! My batteries got me nothing worth the cost and hassles. More solar baby. Have not run my generator in a long time, and probably never will now

Agree, but I’m maxed out at 16kW solar. Nowhere to place any more panels.

 

[YRide]

Does anyone know if the EV2A threshold for 800% of baseline (E-1 baseline, right?) is total “import” or total net usage, ie import-export say on NEM2 with solar and powerwalls?

Previous posts seem to indicate net usage, but I just want to make sure….because 1) I charge my EV’s off the grid and night and send solar to ESS or Grid during day…if it were 800% of import I would likely have a problem. 2) I charge the ESS from Grid and then discharge at peak…so this would also cause a big problem if it was import usage total.

I’m a P baseline, so I believe that gives me 13.5x8=108kWh in the summer and 11x8=88kWh in the winter.

Oh, and that is 800% for the entire year, right? So if I was on vacation or traveling and the EV’s and house aren’t used…I still get the baselines for those days that I can apply to the annual calculation, right?

It’s amazing how many different ways they box you in with PV production limits, 800% baseline limits, site export limits, etc.

 

[miimura]

You should read the Tariff. I believe they test the 800% monthly and if you exceed the net usage for a certain number of months it triggers that clause. Each Baseline Region has a certain kWh/day defined as their baseline for standard residence and electric-only residence.

Tariffs

Home

www.pge.com

 

[YRide]

You should read the Tariff. I believe they test the 800% monthly and if you exceed the net usage for a certain number of months it triggers that clause. Each Baseline Region has a certain kWh/day defined as their baseline for standard residence and electric-only residence.

Tariffs

Home

www.pge.com

It’s a little unclear. Upon re-reading it…it seems like there’s a rolling window 12mo measurement, but done on a monthly basis. So each month, it adds up total usage for the last 12mo and you divide by the total baseline for each month over those 12mo using the E-1 tariff. And then the next month you do it again, but offsetting the months one month forward. So in any given month you can get bumped out of EV2A, but it looks at trailing 12mo cumulative usage totaled / trailing cumulative 12mo baseline. So I guess you would have to be on EV2A for 12mo before you could get bumped? But then you are at risk any month moving forward?

So it’s calculated monthly…but it’s not like you could get bumped out of EV2A by having a single high month >800%. So you benefit from say going out of town.

As per above, I’m still a bit unclear…is total usage (numerator) actually net usage? Or is it totally import? It seems like net usage = total usage?

If my math is correct…I’m in the 400-500% range. And that should decrease to the 200-400% range as I “flush the buffer” in coming months by using months where I have solar offsetting my imports (didn’t have solar before May 2023).

Thoughts on my math @miimura @h2ofun

 

[YRide]

It’s a little unclear. Upon re-reading it…it seems like there’s a rolling window 12mo measurement, but done on a monthly basis. So each month, it adds up total usage for the last 12mo and you divide by the total baseline for each month over those 12mo using the E-1 tariff. And then the next month you do it again, but offsetting the months one month forward. So in any given month you can get bumped out of EV2A, but it looks at trailing 12mo cumulative usage totaled / trailing cumulative 12mo baseline. So I guess you would have to be on EV2A for 12mo before you could get bumped? But then you are at risk any month moving forward?

So it’s calculated monthly…but it’s not like you could get bumped out of EV2A by having a single high month >800%. So you benefit from say going out of town.

As per above, I’m still a bit unclear…is total usage (numerator) actually net usage? Or is it totally import? It seems like net usage = total usage?

If my math is correct…I’m in the 400-500% range. And that should decrease to the 200-400% range as I “flush the buffer” in coming months by using months where I have solar offsetting my imports (didn’t have solar before May 2023).

Thoughts on my math @miimura @h2ofun

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@swedge i don’t believe you are getting close based on your system ratios…but any chance you might look at the math on this?

 

[swedge]

@swedge i don’t believe you are getting close based on your system ratios…but any chance you might look at the math on this?

I have a "medical baseline" which increases my baseline and hence the 800% limit. As you say, I am no where near close to 800%.

Still, it is an interesting question. What follows is my guess about this.

I think the language in the tariff is pretty clear that it is the total over the year:

...measured as the total usage for the customer over the last 12 months divided by​

the total annual baseline allowance using the approved baseline allowances for those​

months​

As for the net vs import, the EV2 and NEM tariffs are silent on this. However, I've been on a non-TOU rate which increased as the baseline was exceeded while on NEM1. Those rates used the net consumption (import minus export). I am not fining anything in the NEM tariff which would suggest that the 800% rule would be any different. But it is not explicitly mentioned either way.

It seems to me that the reason the rule exists is to avoid a customer taking too much advantage of the low off-peak rate. This is not a problem for most solar customers, because they generate their own. Now, if one's solar failed, this might be a problem, but this does argue for the net consumption interpretation.

Unless I'm wrong on this, you are fine on this. And there is no mention of clawing back or retrospectively recalculating on the basis of some other rate plan. So enforcement of the rule would only affect future billing, after the 12 months of excessive use.

That my 2¢ worth...

 

[mirkop82]

How did you get the baseline of your area? I'm on EV2-A as well, and I'd like to check how far I am from the 800% since I'm charging exclusively at home (and I don't have solar).

 

[swedge]

How did you get the baseline of your area? I'm on EV2-A as well, and I'd like to check how far I am from the 800% since I'm charging exclusively at home (and I don't have solar).

Your territory is shown on the monthly bill, and here is a map: https://www.pge.com/nots/rates/PGECZ_90Rev.pdf

The baseline allowance can be found here: Baseline Allowance

 

[mirkop82]

@swedge, thank you so much! You've been so helpful.
I'm on territory X with a 9.7/9.8 daily Kwh allowance. As a rule of thumb, I should aim at staying below 77kwh on a daily basis to not exceed the threshold

 

[TespaceX]

Tesla free unlimited supercharging for the win!

PG&E sucks.

 

[cwerdna]

If your car has CCS hardware (so you can use https://shop.tesla.com/product/ccs-combo-1-adapter) or you have the discontinued CHAdeMO adapter and you're ok w/DC FCing on ChargePoint or EVgo, you can consider joining Blue Dot app claims 20% discount on Supercharging that provides 30 cent per kWh DC FCing on those networks only. You need to start charging from within their app.

That's cheaper than what EV2-A (https://www.pge.com/tariffs/assets/pdf/tariffbook/ELEC_SCHEDS_EV2 (Sch).pdf) is at now. EV2-A's cheapest rates are now ~34.5 cents per kWh.