Help me understand my true-up and strategy for next year

[ucmndd]

California PG&E, ~12kw Solar, 2x Powerwalls, NEM2, EV-A rate plan.

Finished the year with NEM charges of -$586.

$495 of non-bypassable charges, so my true-up bill is $360 after minimum delivery charges.

Is the -$586 in NEM credits just gone? I don’t receive compensation for this in any way?

What should my strategy be for the next year? Seems like I should be trying to reduce NBCs and consume more on site?

This is all so very confusing

 

[ucmndd]

Powerwalls are set to time based control, grid charging and export everything both enabled. Seems like the grid charging is a bad idea because it’s racking up the NBCs? Would be better off charging the powerwalls and cars from solar during the day even though it reduces my NEM credits?

 

[darkdh]

If your energy generation is not bundled with PGE then they won’t give you net surplus compensation. For example, my power generation is SJCE and they will give me net surplus compensation if I generated more than I consumed at true-up. I have two different true-up date, one is PGE which delivers energy and another one is SJCE which generates the energy. In this case, I only received net surplus compensation from SJCE, PGE gave me nothing.

 

[ucmndd]

Straight PG&E here - I don’t have any CCA choices where I’m at.

 

[darkdh]

I see, then they are supposed to give you net surplus compensation in check and it won’t be the exactly same number you saw at true-up because it will be a different rate when calculating NSC, which is usually much lower than import/export rate.
See Net Surplus Compensation for how you will get paid and also NSC rate.

 

[darkdh]

I see, then they are supposed to give you net surplus compensation in check and it won’t be the exactly same number you saw at true-up because it will be a different rate when calculating NSC, which is usually much lower than import/export rate.
See Net Surplus Compensation for how you will get paid and also NSC rate.

Actually it will be credit by default but you can request check from PGE

 

[power.saver]

Since you aren't a net producer, turn off Grid Charging as that is what's driving up your NBCs. Try to consume as much on-site as possible. TBC is good to reduce peak charges, so I'd leave that enabled.

 

[miimura]

You are positive net kWh so the credit balance on Energy Charges simply disappears. I would only use Grid Charging to the extent that you have solar shortfall on short Winter days (or rainy days) and won't make it through Part-Peak and Peak on battery. I would also turn off Export Everything. That's just increasing the credits you will never get.

 

[ucmndd]

This makes sense, thanks. Lots to learn. So the arbitrage benefit of grid charging and export everything does nothing for you beyond “zero” if you’re still a net importer and actually becomes harmful from the sense of driving up your NBCs.

Will shift tactics and watch things more closely this year.

 

[arnolddeleon]

You are correct, you need to reduce your NBC's.

Let's assume that NBCs are roughly 0.025/kWh. Based on your NBC charge, you imported around 19,830 kWh. Your actual net usage was 4560 kWh

If you only imported what you actually needed, then the difference in cost is about $380 of NBCs (I'm ignoring peak vs off peak, I'm assuming you are importing smartly). You won't actually achieve that because of roundtrip losses it gives an idea on what the extra import costs you. The other thing that might prevent you from reaching that is not having enough Powerwall capacity to make it overnight.

With perfect strategy the best you could have done in your example is a net bill of around $114 (the NBC on 4560 kWh).

I would start with the advice @miimura and @power.saver. You *might* want to consider "self-consumption" instead. If you charge EVs and you have the ability to "charge on solar" then consider that.

 

[miimura]

Now that my solar is increased from 4.3kW to 10.3kW and we're out of the Winter doldrums, I find myself switching between TBC and Self Powered. I change to Self Powered in the evening when I know I will not be charging a car overnight. This allows me to ride the battery all night and use more of the battery to avoid imports. Changing back to TBC in the middle of the day allows the Part-Peak and early Peak hours to export All Solar instead of just Surplus Solar. I don't want to drain the Powerwalls during car charging because it seems silly to me to take the double conversion losses and additional cycles. I do charge the cars as much as possible directly from solar. Tesla makes it easy with the Charge on Solar feature. I am stuck with 120V charging for the non-Tesla because I don't have a solar following EVSE for that car. I am hoping that Tesla will eventually tie the Universal Wall Connector to the Powerwall Gateway to modulate the pilot signal for non-Tesla vehicles to also be able to Charge on Solar.

 

[father_of_6]

This is all so very confusing

No doubt that's intentional on the part of PG&E. It's like banker's strategy - keep the math too difficult for the common folk so they don't know how bad they're getting screwed when they sign the paperwork.

 

[ucmndd]

No doubt that's intentional on the part of PG&E. It's like banker's strategy - keep the math too difficult for the common folk so they don't know how bad they're getting screwed when they sign the paperwork.

Who you calling common!

 

[ucmndd]

Now that my solar is increased from 4.3kW to 10.3kW and we're out of the Winter doldrums, I find myself switching between TBC and Self Powered. I change to Self Powered in the evening when I know I will not be charging a car overnight. This allows me to ride the battery all night and use more of the battery to avoid imports.

I like this idea… will give it a try.

I’ll also be more aggressive about charging the cars during daylight. I always do this on the weekends because I’d rather scoop my eyeballs out with a dull spoon than feed my generation back to the grid at off-peak prices, but have been reluctant to do so during the week because of the 7am-2pm “part peak” period that EV-A has - seemed wise to send that to the grid vs dump it into the powerwalls or cars because it’s more “expensive”. Although now that I understand running a NEM surplus gets me basically nothing that certainly changes the economics.

 

[miimura]

You are lucky to be grandfathered on the EV-A rate schedule. Summer Peak starting at 2pm and credited at $0.73/kWh is pretty sweet. I just looked at Friday's production chart and I probably produced about 10kWh just during the 2 hours from 2pm-4pm.

 

[ucmndd]

You are lucky to be grandfathered on the EV-A rate schedule. Summer Peak starting at 2pm and credited at $0.73/kWh is pretty sweet. I just looked at Friday's production chart and I probably produced about 10kWh just during the 2 hours from 2pm-4pm.

I’m pretty sure this is my last year… but yeah, enjoying it while I can…

 

[thyname]

This thread is very confusing: I spend a lot of American US dollars, yet, I pay a lot of US American dollars for electricity. From the FREE sun. It does not make sense. Can someone answer me why do I have to pay real money to instal solar? Someone is eating the cake here

By this logic no one will spend real money for solar in the real world unless money is no object

 

[ucmndd]

This thread is very confusing: I spend a lot of American US dollars, yet, I pay a lot of US American dollars for electricity. From the FREE sun. It does not make sense. Can someone answer me why do I have to pay real money to instal solar? Someone is eating the cake here

There is definitely no winning for trying with our wonderful investor-owned utilities here in California. They get theirs no matter what.

The main thing being discussed is what are called “Non-Bypassable Charges”, a component of the net metering tariff that myself and the great majority of Californians with solar are regulated by. In short, ANY time you draw energy from the grid, you pay about 2-3 cents per kWh in non-bypassable charges that can’t be offset by your solar production credits. The justification for this charge is to make sure that everyone pays some share of the cost to maintain the grid.

 

[miimura]

I’m pretty sure this is my last year… but yeah, enjoying it while I can…

November 30, 2025 is the absolutely last day for EV-A, according to the tariff sheet. It depends on your grandfathering initiation date.

 

[aesculus]

November 30, 2025 is the absolutely last day for EV-A, according to the tariff sheet. It depends on your grandfathering initiation date.

I went to NEM2 on June 2020 so I guess I will be terminated on June 2025. Has anyone done any thinking on what the best plan to take might be?

I have FUSC so I have been using that a lot lately. With 2 PW and about 10 kW of solar I don't have a lot to spare except spring/fall. Today I make out fairly well by time shifting and using export everything during peak. So in many ways finding a plan that charges lots during peak is OK since I can store and send back my solar then.