Let's Talk FPL Rate Options

[YellyYeti]

How much of your total consumption is offset by solar?

What happens if you produce a lot during the summer peak hour of 12-9pm, do you get to carry it forward and offset your winter peaks (6-10am/pm)?

Our solar offsets around 50% of our usage. I don't have a full bill yet, but based on the last partial ToU one, I think each kWh I send during peak hours, is used to offset a peak kWh I use. Because of my relative low offset, I use this peak credit within the same bill. The language seems to suggest that you can bank peak hour kWh's and regular kWh's separately, and they will apply them where appropriate.

The bill is still quite confused, it shows me at the RS-1 rate still, but it includes this at the end:

• 0 kWh were sent to the grid this period. 0 kWh were applied to reduce your bill. Your kWh reserve increased by 0. The kWh in your reserve is 0
• Your kWh usage reflects 711 of renewable energy which includes 95 of on peak kWh. You have 0 remaining that may be applied on
  your next bill.

Where it says "0 kWh sent to the grid" is where it used to say how much I sent using my previous net metering Smart Meter, but it is obviously not correct now. The second line of 711 matches with how much solar I sent to FPL, so I guess 95 kWh of that was during peak hours. I am hoping the next bill will be clearer, I will report back when I get it in a few weeks.

 

[YellyYeti]

For those still interested, I got my latest bill. It now correctly shows I am on the RTR-1 Residential Time Of Use Rate. It also contained this handy stat: my time of use charge was $137, and it would have been $175 on the regular rate. This is probably all I will need to keep track of.

Also, the Energy Dashboard on their website as been changed, at least for me. It still shows Monthly, but no more Daily and Hourly. But it does show per 15 minutes now, which I hadn't seen before. The Monthly bar for August also shows that I sent back 222 kWh on-peak and 243 kWh off-peak, and that I used 507 kWh on-peak and 1588 kWh off-peak. So FPL definitely discerns between on-peak and off-peak kWh credits sent back to them.

 

[BrownMS]

I really should probably call them about the time of use rate as I already schedule charging for 10:30pm on the car

 

[winfield100]

Our solar offsets around 50% of our usage. I don't have a full bill yet, but based on the last partial ToU one, I think each kWh I send during peak hours, is used to offset a peak kWh I use. Because of my relative low offset, I use this peak credit within the same bill. The language seems to suggest that you can bank peak hour kWh's and regular kWh's separately, and they will apply them where appropriate.

The bill is still quite confused, it shows me at the RS-1 rate still, but it includes this at the end:

• 0 kWh were sent to the grid this period. 0 kWh were applied to reduce your bill. Your kWh reserve increased by 0. The kWh in your reserve is 0
• Your kWh usage reflects 711 of renewable energy which includes 95 of on peak kWh. You have 0 remaining that may be applied on
  your next bill.

Where it says "0 kWh sent to the grid" is where it used to say how much I sent using my previous net metering Smart Meter, but it is obviously not correct now. The second line of 711 matches with how much solar I sent to FPL, so I guess 95 kWh of that was during peak hours. I am hoping the next bill will be clearer, I will report back when I get it in a few weeks.

I’m curious, you have a14.7kW array that only covers 50%!
My 11.655kW array covers 195% - 225% (depending on if I use heater for pool. I’m at 26.6 degrees north, probably 200 miles SW
Are you certain it’s only 50%?
I have EV, LED lights, AC (house kept in high 70’s) retired couple, made 11.7 megawatt hrs since 12/10/2018 and sent almost half that back to grid (when pool needs water, I run 139 degree water from instant on 440v? heater.) otherwise 225%
Congrats on big PV array. If I had 1 more panel I would be Tier II and way more permits, insurance, etc as they multiply by 0.85

 

[YellyYeti]

Yeah our house is too big basically. And both the wife and I work from home, so the AC is going 24-7 down here in Florida. We have a pool with no heater, and an electrically heated hot tub. According to our Sense monitor the AC is by far the biggest user, at more than half. The water heater is a distant second, with everything else adding up. I am Tier II, but the solar installer rolled in the extra fees and permitting into the price. We already had an umbrella policy for other reasons so we didn't have to add any insurance.

 

[winfield100]

Yeah our house is too big basically. And both the wife and I work from home, so the AC is going 24-7 down here in Florida. We have a pool with no heater, and an electrically heated hot tub. According to our Sense monitor the AC is by far the biggest user, at more than half. The water heater is a distant second, with everything else adding up. I am Tier II, but the solar installer rolled in the extra fees and permitting into the price. We already had an umbrella policy for other reasons so we didn't have to add any insurance.

Um, I’m in CapeCoral, about 15 miles east of Sanibel/Captiva.
I’m looking to add a single power wall. Always happy to see more PV especially in Sunshine state

 

[germanmarky]

Although FPL does not explicitly allow for download of usage data, they didn't completely cut it off. When the Energy Dashboard loads, there is a Download option that shows, but disappears. I started digging a little and found the function that runs when the Download option is clicked, and you can run it yourself!

From your Energy Dashboard in Chrome:
1. Open up the developer options for your browser (Chrome: F12, or Menu>More Tools>Developer Options)
2. Click the Console option on the top of the window
3. type in 'displayExcel()' without quotes
4. The Excel file will download for the current Monthly, Daily, or Hourly chart that is currently displayed

I am not on TOU so cannot comment that this works for those accounts, but sure someone can test.

 

[Dan123]

Although FPL does not explicitly allow for download of usage data, they didn't completely cut it off. When the Energy Dashboard loads, there is a Download option that shows, but disappears. I started digging a little and found the function that runs when the Download option is clicked, and you can run it yourself!

From your Energy Dashboard in Chrome:
1. Open up the developer options for your browser (Chrome: F12, or Menu>More Tools>Developer Options)
2. Click the Console option on the top of the window
3. type in 'displayExcel()' without quotes
4. The Excel file will download for the current Monthly, Daily, or Hourly chart that is currently displayed

I am not on TOU so cannot comment that this works for those accounts, but sure someone can test.

I just tried it, and it works! Great to know!

 

[Hdez]

Although FPL does not explicitly allow for download of usage data, they didn't completely cut it off. When the Energy Dashboard loads, there is a Download option that shows, but disappears. I started digging a little and found the function that runs when the Download option is clicked, and you can run it yourself!

From your Energy Dashboard in Chrome:
1. Open up the developer options for your browser (Chrome: F12, or Menu>More Tools>Developer Options)
2. Click the Console option on the top of the window
3. type in 'displayExcel()' without quotes
4. The Excel file will download for the current Monthly, Daily, or Hourly chart that is currently displayed

I am not on TOU so cannot comment that this works for those accounts, but sure someone can test.

As reported by another user, this does work. Is there any way to download the hourly consumption? This downloads the daily use which is not good to determine peak and off-peak consumption.

 

[Hdez]

I contacted FPL today to request a rate analysis per their TOU FAQs and the girl had no idea what I was talking about. She wanted to send some one to my home and perform an energy site survey. I said no and that all I needed was a rate analysis to see if switching to TOU was beneficial for me. I finally told her that I wanted to switch my account from a residential rate to a time of use rate. After discussing it with somebody else, she stated that someone would call me back in a few days. Will update if I get anywhere with this.

 

[Hdez]

As reported by another user, this does work. Is there any way to download the hourly consumption? This downloads the daily use which is not good to determine peak and off-peak consumption.

I have since discovered that by displaying energy usage by the hour in the dashboard the data downloaded is displayed hourly.

 

[Dan123]

I contacted FPL today to request a rate analysis per their TOU FAQs and the girl had no idea what I was talking about. She wanted to send some one to my home and perform an energy site survey. I said no and that all I needed was a rate analysis to see if switching to TOU was beneficial for me. I finally told her that I wanted to switch my account from a residential rate to a time of use rate. After discussing it with somebody else, she stated that someone would call me back in a few days. Will update if I get anywhere with this.

When that person does call you, can you get their name and phone number?

 

[Hdez]

When that person does call you, can you get their name and phone number?

I received the call 10 days later. I asked the person about a phone number and she just gave me (800) 226-3545 which is the # I called initially. They installed the TOU meter on Nov 1 and I was just switched to the new rate this month. My first bill savings $40, but it included days under the old rate. Next bill will be my first full bill under TOU. You really have to move your energy usage to the Off-peak periods as much as possible otherwise you could pay more. The off-peak rate is under 0.04 cents/KWh (<1000 KWh), while the peak rate is almost 0.21 cents/KWh (<1k KWh) and almost 0.23 cents/KWh for >1000 KWh.

 

[winfield100]

I received the call 10 days later. I asked the person about a phone number and she just gave me (800) 226-3545 which is the # I called initially. They installed the TOU meter on Nov 1 and I was just switched to the new rate this month. My first bill savings $40, but it included days under the old rate. Next bill will be my first full bill under TOU. You really have to move your energy usage to the Off-peak periods as much as possible otherwise you could pay more. The off-peak rate is under 0.04 cents/KWh (<1000 KWh), while the peak rate is almost 0.21 cents/KWh (<1k KWh) and almost 0.23 cents/KWh for >1000 KWh.

LCEC Lee County Electric Coop
Made 17.43 megawatt hours
Bill has been $21.69 for most of year minimum charge.
Large surplus banked
Will see what they do with excess
Installed electric pool heater for part of excess

 

[WhiteAdobo]

Sorry to bring up an old thread but didn’t want to start a new one. My family just relocated to South Florida and use FPL. I just started the process for “rate analysis” after talking to the oblivious customer service agents here. Currently waiting on a call back regarding if TOU is a good fit for us.

Those of you who have made the switch are you still on TOU? Have the saving impacted you?

We are also considering Tesla Solar panels that aren’t offered down here yet. Would anybody have any information it is actually worth the investment. From research it seems like FPL is only buying energy back from customers for pennys.

Thanks for all the help.