How long between inspection and PTO? [various areas]

[sk00]

Think there are other threads about PTO delays but I'm in NY (Central Hudson is my utility company) so want to see what folks in my area are dealing with.

Installation/inspection was completed 5 weeks ago. Invoice is fully paid. Tesla has yet to even submit the PTO application -- from what I understand, a single piece of paper that takes 10 minutes to fill out. I've been calling my solar advisor every week to push them to get this done, but have learned a long time ago that the advisors can't get anything done.

For other folks in NY, how long has the PTO process taken you? Has anyone taken legal/regulatory action to get Tesla to get it done? Seems ridiculous that they take your money and then take weeks (if not months) to fill out a piece of paper that allows you to technically power on.

 

[jjrandorin]

Think there are other threads about PTO delays but I'm in NY (Central Hudson is my utility company) so want to see what folks in my area are dealing with.

Installation/inspection was completed 5 weeks ago. Invoice is fully paid. Tesla has yet to even submit the PTO application -- from what I understand, a single piece of paper that takes 10 minutes to fill out. I've been calling my solar advisor every week to push them to get this done, but have learned a long time ago that the advisors can't get anything done.

For other folks in NY, how long has the PTO process taken you? Has anyone taken legal/regulatory action to get Tesla to get it done? Seems ridiculous that they take your money and then take weeks (if not months) to fill out a piece of paper that allows you to technically power on.

(moderator note)

I combined this with the existing PTO thread and renamed it, because I dont want to end up with multiple "how long for PTO in X" threads. I also stickied this thread as I suspect multiple people will want to discuss PTO delays, and any steps they may have taken.

 

[taphil]

15 weeks between city inspection approval and Tesla applying or PTO
1 week from filing PTO to PTO

Solar + PW, SCE in LA County

 

[FurryOne]

Tesla just finished my install on the 20th after National Grid refused to let them install the Backup Switch on their meter - so now I have 2 meters. The inspector was here and signed off so I guess I'll be seeing how long Tesla in Upstate NY takes to get the paperwork to NG and I get my PTO.

 

[83girl]

I have filed the complaint a couple days ago. Let me see if it makes a difference.

Wonder of wonders, the DAY THE AG CONTACTED TESLA about their poor customer treatment and delays for PTO submission, my application was submitted! They system works!!! Thanks to the Mass AG looking out for the consumer. I checked the NG website, and my application is now listed as "completion documents submitted". I highly encourage anyone having substantial delays in PTO to follow the same path.

 

[Plaidish]

Took about 4 months. But didn’t matter because the installers forgot to turn off the system after doing their test and never showed me how to turn it off so? All good in the end

 

[sk00]

Took about 4 months. But didn’t matter because the installers forgot to turn off the system after doing their test and never showed me how to turn it off so? All good in the end

I'm also in NY and my system was also left on by installers, but they also told me if the utility co finds out the meter has been running backwards before PTO, they can technically fine me. I'm definitely generating excess power and selling into the grid.

May I ask which utility co you use and if they gave you trouble for running the meter backwards before PTO?

 

[niner93]

Wonder of wonders, the DAY THE AG CONTACTED TESLA about their poor customer treatment and delays for PTO submission, my application was submitted! They system works!!! Thanks to the Mass AG looking out for the consumer. I checked the NG website, and my application is now listed as "completion documents submitted". I highly encourage anyone having substantial delays in PTO to follow the same path.

That's encouraging!

 

[83girl]

That's encouraging!

It appears Tesla managed to screw up the application. National Grid put the application on hold as the as is build diagram was missing the electrical inspection stamp. I should have known this would happen. Complete incompetence. This is exactly why I bought a Ford MachE instead of a Tesla Model Y. I am more convinced I made the right decision on the car after every terrible interaction with the solar roof installation process.

 

[sk00]

It appears Tesla managed to screw up the application. National Grid put the application on hold as the as is build diagram was missing the electrical inspection stamp. I should have known this would happen. Complete incompetence. This is exactly why I bought a Ford MachE instead of a Tesla Model Y. I am more convinced I made the right decision on the car after every terrible interaction with the solar roof installation process.

Just filed a complaint with both FTC and the NY state AG. Will see if that makes any difference. As of today, my solar advisor was as unhelpful as ever.

 

[TORQU3]

It appears Tesla managed to screw up the application. National Grid put the application on hold as the as is build diagram was missing the electrical inspection stamp. I should have known this would happen. Complete incompetence. This is exactly why I bought a Ford MachE instead of a Tesla Model Y. I am more convinced I made the right decision on the car after every terrible interaction with the solar roof installation process.

I can say the Tesla energy experience is significantly worse than the automotive side of the business. Although the automotive side has its problems, I absolutely love my model three.

 

[83girl]

I'm also in NY and my system was also left on by installers, but they also told me if the utility co finds out the meter has been running backwards before PTO, they can technically fine me. I'm definitely generating excess power and selling into the grid.

May I ask which utility co you use and if they gave you trouble for running the meter backwards before PTO?

Have to be a little careful with this one. If you are feeding power back onto the grid and there is a power cut, you could literally electrocute a line man. Then the fines imposed by your utility will be the least of your worries. The issue is you wouldn't know there was a power cut if you have powerwalls.

 

[TORQU3]

A Tesla system won’t export power to the grid if its down. PTO approval or not, it’s just not going to happen with the way the system is designed and installed.

 

[sk00]

Have to be a little careful with this one. If you are feeding power back onto the grid and there is a power cut, you could literally electrocute a line man. Then the fines imposed by your utility will be the least of your worries. The issue is you wouldn't know there was a power cut if you have powerwalls.

When there's an outage, the system knows not to export excess power to the grid. This is the same whether or not I have PTO. Also, the app keeps track of all the outages so I know exactly when and for how long they happened. Maybe your system works differently?

My concern is if the utility will fine me if they find out that I've been operating the system and running the the meter backwards before PTO. Honestly I find the concept of a PTO silly as it's simply a letter from the utility co and the system works exactly the same pre/post PTO.

 

[adspguy]

When there's an outage, the system knows not to export excess power to the grid. This is the same whether or not I have PTO. Also, the app keeps track of all the outages so I know exactly when and for how long they happened. Maybe your system works differently?

My concern is if the utility will fine me if they find out that I've been operating the system and running the the meter backwards before PTO. Honestly I find the concept of a PTO silly as it's simply a letter from the utility co and the system works exactly the same pre/post PTO.

Have to be a little careful with this one. If you are feeding power back onto the grid and there is a power cut, you could literally electrocute a line man. Then the fines imposed by your utility will be the least of your worries. The issue is you wouldn't know there was a power cut if you have powerwalls.

The other concern is if the utility hasn't installed a net-metering meter yet you might be charged for power you send to the grid as the non-net metering meters would count that as consumption. This was definitely a concern here using Eversource in MA.

In my case, there was a significant delay between the net-metering meter install and PTO and I may have "accidentally" left my system running then as an extended "test" which was also testing exporting to the grid. Before the net meter was installed, I was careful that any testing was done with house loads being greater than solar production. This was easy since my model S charges at 10kW and my system peaks at 10kW generation.

With systems having powerwalls, the gateway islands itself if there is a grid outage. If you don't have a Tesla gateway and powerwalls, the solar inverters would shutdown if the grid fails as has been said by others above

 

[sk00]

The other concern is if the utility hasn't installed a net-metering meter yet you might be charged for power you send to the grid as the non-net metering meters would count that as consumption. This was definitely a concern here using Eversource in MA.

In my case, there was a significant delay between the net-metering meter install and PTO and I may have "accidentally" left my system running then as an extended "test" which was also testing exporting to the grid. Before the net meter was installed, I was careful that any testing was done with house loads being greater than solar production. This was easy since my model S charges at 10kW and my system peaks at 10kW generation.

With systems having powerwalls, the gateway islands itself if there is a grid outage. If you don't have a Tesla gateway and powerwalls, the solar inverters would shutdown if the grid fails as has been said by others above

I had that concern initially, but the Tesla installers noted that my current meter runs backwards correctly and I've tested it to confirm, so it's already a net-metering meter. With PTO, I've been told that my utility company will switch to a digital smart meter, but that has more to do with them being able to track things better, and not for net-metering, which the current meter is already capable of.

 

[kb1ibt]

It appears Tesla managed to screw up the application. National Grid put the application on hold as the as is build diagram was missing the electrical inspection stamp. I should have known this would happen. Complete incompetence.

That was just one of 3 different documents that Tesla incorrectly sent in May, and it took another 2.5 months for them to resolve the issue.

 

[kb1ibt]

Took about 4 months. But didn’t matter because the installers forgot to turn off the system after doing their test and never showed me how to turn it off so? All good in the end

For me, I needed a new meter on my house for it to count backwards, so if that had happened for me, the meter would have counted the power sent back as used power and it would have made my bill more expensive

 

[sk00]

Interestingly, a day after filing a complaint with the FTC and NY AG, my utility co just sent over a contract for distributed energy interconnection, which I assume means that Tesla finally submitted the PTO application. I think the FTC complaint is more for local law enforcement record keeping, but it's possible the AG complaint helped light a fire under someone at Tesla to move things forward.

Many thanks to @83girl for the tip.

 

[Southpasfan]

In the thread on the "new Tesla app 4.0" - it appears Tesla now has enabled running "off grid" after inspection prior to PTO.

That is a nice official development and better than just unofficially "testing" for months at a time.

There would still be a cost because until PTO you don't get credit for excess generation, but at least you get to use the system.