Houston electricity/which electrical company? EV incentives?

[texastodd]

Hey Houstonians, which electrical company are you getting your electricity from? Any special EV electricity discounts you're aware of? Doing my research now, any suggestions? A hidden gem perhaps?

Also, any TX or Houston specific EV incentives/rebates? I saw the TCEQ but it seems Tesla is excluded, I'm guessing because they aren't "officially" sold here. Just making sure there's not one out there that I'm not aware of.

Thanks

 

[stephenpace]

I use Smart Commercial & Residential Energy Solutions | MP2 Energy as they have an EV plan which lets you charge "free" (with just CenterPoint fees) between midnight and 3AM. There are also no Houston or Texas rebates. Texas rebates require the car to be sold through a dealership and Tesla technically does not have one in Texas. Basically TADA asked their buddies in the legislature to exclude Tesla and they did.

 

[texastodd]

I use Smart Commercial & Residential Energy Solutions | MP2 Energy as they have an EV plan which lets you charge "free" (with just CenterPoint fees) between midnight and 3AM. There are also no Houston or Texas rebates. Texas rebates require the car to be sold through a dealership and Tesla technically does not have one in Texas. Basically TADA asked their buddies in the legislature to exclude Tesla and they did.

Thanks for the info, I'll check them out!

Yeah, that's what I thought. Thanks stealership lobby.

 

[Needsdecaf]

I use Energy Ogre. For $10 / month they shop plans for me and find me short / long term contracts. I've been as low as $0.0705 / kWh and over the summer signed a 1 year deal for about $0.0925. Considering the best I could find when searching was in the $.11 to $.13 range, I'm pretty happy.

Please note I use a lot of kWh per month. My minimum is 2500 even during the winter. So YMMV on plans. But I like this service.

 

[Sousvide]

Thanks for the info, I'll check them out!

Yeah, that's what I thought. Thanks stealership lobby.

Stumbled on this thread yesterday and started to research electricity plans with free nights.

The MP2 is limited to only 3 hours of free usage from 12am to 3am with rates from 11.8c - 12.5c per kWh (2000 kWh to 500 kWh) with a 12 month contract with no term fees if you decide to cancel.

I am going to go with Pulse Power which gives you 10 hours of free usage every night from 8pm to 6am when my current contract ends with my provider. Rates are 10.3c - 11.0c with a 36 month contract but with early term fees if you decide to cancel. I get most of my charging done at overnight anyways and I would like the flexibility to charge to 100% and doing it in 10 hours vs 3 hours if I needed to go on a road trip.

They also have 12 and 24 month contracts but at a higher per kWh rate.

 

[Needsdecaf]

Usually free nights plans are a fallacy, as they overcharge you at other times.

You really need to understand your usage and do the math and see if it works. For me, my house uses enough juice during the day in the summer that free nights would be worse for me.

Not saying they are. But do the math before you leap.

 

[Sousvide]

Usually free nights plans are a fallacy, as they overcharge you at other times.

You really need to understand your usage and do the math and see if it works. For me, my house uses enough juice during the day in the summer that free nights would be worse for me.

Not saying they are. But do the math before you leap.

For sure.

I have my usage tracked all the way back to 2014. Bought my MY in November and can def strip out the charging usage based on my historical usage by month. My December usage jumped from 300-400 kWh over the past 6 years to 1,129 kWh in 2020.

Being conservative, I increased my usage by 729 kWh in December which would have been free if I had free nights. I would have paid an additional $6 more at 11c vs 9.5c for the 400 kWh I consumed for the home but saved $80.19 @ 11c that I would have consumed by charging overnight. That's also not taking into account the free usage of the home from 8pm to 6am.

 

[texastodd]

I use Energy Ogre. For $10 / month they shop plans for me and find me short / long term contracts. I've been as low as $0.0705 / kWh and over the summer signed a 1 year deal for about $0.0925. Considering the best I could find when searching was in the $.11 to $.13 range, I'm pretty happy.

Please note I use a lot of kWh per month. My minimum is 2500 even during the winter. So YMMV on plans. But I like this service.

I'll check those guys out too. I did come across another company called Power Wizard that does a very similar thing. Have you found that even with the $10/mo memebership the cost is pretty similar to sourcing it yourself? Meaning, do you think they do good enough to "recoup" the membership fee?

 

[texastodd]

My December usage jumped from 300-400 kWh over the past 6 years to 1,129 kWh in 2020.
Being conservative, I increased my usage by 729 kWh in December which would have been free if I had free nights.

I just got my M3LR right before Christmas so I haven't had much time to charge and compare months. Plus I've used some of my free SC miles doing some day driving. Do you expect your monthly usage to be roughly 700ish kWh per month?

 

[Sousvide]

I just got my M3LR right before Christmas so I haven't had much time to charge and compare months. Plus I've used some of my free SC miles doing some day driving. Do you expect your monthly usage to be roughly 700ish kWh per month?

That's what I'm factoring with my MYP. I typically charge to 80% every other day.

Again being conservative with my figures, if I go from 80% to 20% every 2 days and charge it would be 45 kWh based on a 75 kWh battery.
45 kWh x 15 days of charging = 675 kWh consumed. 730 kWh used in December is because I couldn't stop driving it.

To Needsdecaf, you are right. I looked a little bit more into the EFL of the free nights vs my current plan and it came out more. They still charge you the TDU fees per kWh on the free nights.

 

[OrbiterTI4]

For those who want to avoid paying someone to do analysis for them, SmartMeterTexas and PowerToChoose are free.

I'm on a Green Mountain 100% Wind Free Nights plan that runs 8 pm - 6 am. Not sure what renewal terms are currently available, but I kept an Excel file comparing the flat rate plans I could have signed up for to estimate what my bill would have been. By using scheduled charging (and keeping AC higher until 8 pm and not running the 30A dryer until 8 pm), in 2019 I saved over $1000, and even with WFH in 2020, our savings are on pace to be $800.