Maryland BGE Home charging program

[DermMD]

I registered my car with BGE for their home charging program. They sent me an introductory letter which in summary says I can choose to enroll in their home EV charging rates. The gist of it is that I can get charged lower rates than standard for off peak electricity usage (to encourage charging off peak). However, the peak rates for my house will be higher than standard. That right there may mean that in the end it is not worth enrolling at all as the two aspects may end up cancelling each other out. They clearly have data and the EV rate setting may just be a smoke screen. Any one on this program? Do you have data of your own comparing this program to standard rates?

I can post the letter here is anyone is interested.

 

[thefortunes]

I am on a similar program here in WI (although just called time-of-use, not EV).

Peak hours run 12 hours weekdays (we have some latitude to choose what range), with the other 12 hours on weekdays as well as all weekend and holidays being off peak. Our standard rate was (all amounts rounded for ease) $0.12, peak is $0.18 and off peak is $0.06.

Mathematically, in my case if 2/3 or more of our usage is off peak we come out ahead (remember 2/3 of the time is already off-peak, so you just need to manage those items that are flexible like charging, pool, dishwasher, etc...). Last month > 80% of our usage was off-peak and if I remember correctly we saved about $50 vs. the standard plan.

 

[Daro346]

I considered the BGE EV program a couple of years ago. There is a separate department that handles EV. They ran an analysis for me. The email address is [email protected] The analysis looked at my actual usage and comparied off peak vs peak rate. it showed there was only a 2.25% savings by going to the time of use metering. Not worth it in my mind!

 

[preilly44]

I live in MD and also inquired about the EV charging program. I too decided against doing it because of the higher day time rates.

BGE obviously doesn't care about pushing the utilization of EV's forward.

 

[DiamondDave]

I asked BGE about it too and the rate differential for daytime rates would have increased our total bill. I drive 30-50 miles per day so I'm not using a lot of energy. I have electric A/C and a gas furnace.

I gave BGE feedback that the rate structure made no sense.

 

[wviands]

I skipped it too.

 

[loganss]

I also looked into it in the past and decided it was not worth it.

 

[CanadaBill]

Attempting to revive this thread? I'm talking to BGE about their (TOU) Time of Use program 12/22/21. Any developments from any participants or naysayers?
The first thing they want is my Tesla login credentials to associate with their app for charging access. That is a SHOW STOPPER. Then they could get full access to your mobile app, credit card in the store, locations, etc.
I will be looking out for reduced off-peak rate with higher peak rates as mentioned above.
Skeptical so far......
Introduction & estimates can be found here:

EVsmart® Vehicle Charging Time of Use Rate | Baltimore Gas and Electric Company

 

[DermMD]

Attempting to revive this thread? I'm talking to BGE about their (TOU) Time of Use program 12/22/21. Any developments from any participants or naysayers?
The first thing they want is my Tesla login credentials to associate with their app for charging access. That is a SHOW STOPPER. Then they could get full access to your mobile app, credit card in the store, locations, etc.
I will be looking out for reduced off-peak rate with higher peak rates as mentioned above.
Skeptical so far......
Introduction & estimates can be found here:

EVsmart® Vehicle Charging Time of Use Rate | Baltimore Gas and Electric Company

Like me you're in the BGE service area. The BGE website is chock full on information almost haphazardly presented. So I'd call and ask to talk to someone in the EV program. Additionally if you have solar, like me, there're yet other programs you could piggyback on.

 

[bro1999]

Attempting to revive this thread? I'm talking to BGE about their (TOU) Time of Use program 12/22/21. Any developments from any participants or naysayers?
The first thing they want is my Tesla login credentials to associate with their app for charging access. That is a SHOW STOPPER. Then they could get full access to your mobile app, credit card in the store, locations, etc.
I will be looking out for reduced off-peak rate with higher peak rates as mentioned above.
Skeptical so far......
Introduction & estimates can be found here:

EVsmart® Vehicle Charging Time of Use Rate | Baltimore Gas and Electric Company

So does anyone know what the ACTUAL TOU rates are if you enroll in BGE's EV TOU program? It seems like they won't tell you what the actual rates are until AFTER you sign up for the program! I mean WTH? The rate information seems to be guarded more than Fort Knox.

 

[CanadaBill]

So does anyone know what the ACTUAL TOU rates are if you enroll in BGE's EV TOU program? It seems like they won't tell you what the actual rates are until AFTER you sign up for the program! I mean WTH? The rate information seems to be guarded more than Fort Knox.

I will look it up for you shortly. Basically, off peak was -40% while peak increased by 100%. No go. Totally bogus deal.

 

[bro1999]

Thanks for sending me the DM. So if I understood the rate chart correctly, your summary of ~100% increase during peak hours and 40% discount off "normal" rates during off-peak hours is basically correct. From what I gather, weekends are considered 100% off peak, while charging between 9PM to 7-8AM during the week is also off-peak all year.

The 100% hike over normal rates during peak hours does suck, but I think I can work this plan to my advantage as I usually don't need to charge during the day (maybe a handful of times since I got my Model 3 last July, and that was only because I forgot to charge it overnight).

According to TeslaFi, last month I used 786 kWh charging my 3 at home with an overall rate around 14 cents/kWh (distribution charges and everything), which comes to about $110. Looks like the EV TOU off-peak rate is 4.5 cents/kWh, or 3.8 cents less than the standard rate. Applying the EV TOU rate and assuming all my charging was off-peak, it would have cost me about $80 last month, or $30 less. Over an entire year that is $360 in savings....not too shabby I guess. Plus it seems BGE will toss you an extra $50/year if you do 90% of your charging off-peak.

For anyone that was hunting the actual rate info like me, here you go:

BGE rates:
Standard rate as of today: 8.392 cents/kWh
EV TOU peak rate: 19.702 cents/kWh
EV TOU off-peak rate: 4.519 cents/kWh

Note that only certain wifi-enabled EVSEs are compatible with the EV TOU schedule. I have a Chargepoint Home Flex, which is an eligible unit.

 

[bro1999]

So now that I'm officially enrolled, can add a few more details about BGE's EV TOU program.
Here's a snippit from my first bill after enrolling (only captured the last couple of days of the billing period when the EV TOU rates were in effect):

Peak charging rate: 19.6 cents/kWh (plus distribution fee of another 4+ cents)
Off-peak rate: 4.4 cents/kWh

So as long as you charge during off-peak hours (currently 11AM-5PM and 9PM-7AM until June, then 10AM-8PM from June to Sep, along with weekends and holidays) you'll be credited 3.87 cents/kWh on your bill for off-peak charging. Definitely don't charge on-peak, as the rate is over 15 cents/kWh higher!

I received a credit of $1.52 on my last bill as only the last 2 days of the billing cycle were under the TOU pricing.

 

[liuhyhit]

So now that I'm officially enrolled, can add a few more details about BGE's EV TOU program.
Here's a snippit from my first bill after enrolling (only captured the last couple of days of the billing period when the EV TOU rates were in effect):
View attachment 785100
Peak charging rate: 19.6 cents/kWh (plus distribution fee of another 4+ cents)
Off-peak rate: 4.4 cents/kWh

So as long as you charge during off-peak hours (currently 11AM-5PM and 9PM-7AM until June, then 10AM-8PM from June to Sep, along with weekends and holidays) you'll be credited 3.87 cents/kWh on your bill for off-peak charging. Definitely don't charge on-peak, as the rate is over 15 cents/kWh higher!

I received a credit of $1.52 on my last bill as only the last 2 days of the billing cycle were under the TOU pricing.

What's you current off peak rate? I did some research and found it's $ 0.11/kWh. That almost triples your rate. Am I missing something?

 

[spacemnspiff]

Question, how does BGE know that I am charging an EV and not running an electric dryer or AC unitS? Dryer and AC are used during peak hours, so how does BGE differentiate between EV and appliances?

 

[bro1999]

What's you current off peak rate? I did some research and found it's $ 0.11/kWh. That almost triples your rate. Am I missing something?

Your 11 cent rate probably includes distribution charges/taxes/fees. I believe my overall off-peak rate is also around 11 cents/kWh after everything is included.

 

[liuhyhit]

Question, how does BGE know that I am charging an EV and not running an electric dryer or AC unitS? Dryer and AC are used during peak hours, so how does BGE differentiate between EV and appliances?

They will ask for your Tesla account (or at least a link from Tesla) to read your charging status and mileage, or you may install a specific charging station that can share ev charging data to them. It's not reading from a power outlet tho

 

[liuhyhit]

Your 11 cent rate probably includes distribution charges/taxes/fees. I believe my overall off-peak rate is also around 11 cents/kWh after everything is included.

Got it. Thank you!

 

[spacemnspiff]

They will ask for your Tesla account (or at least a link from Tesla) to read your charging status and mileage, or you may install a specific charging station that can share ev charging data to them. It's not reading from a power outlet tho

They are expecting a bit much where someone would allow access to their Tesla account.