Ohmconnect and PG&E, SDG&E, and SCE customers

[vickh]

Does anyone here use Ohmconnect for TOU savings? A free service helps you use energy when it's cleanest and rewards you for saving when it's dirty.

The business model seems to be an intermediary for clean energy credits and most of here do TOU anyway.
Only some CA utilities ( PG&E, SDG&E, and SCE) customers seem eligible for now


Details / Sign up here: (moderator note: removed link as it was a referral link)

Can Private Industry Solve Our Climate Crisis Where Governments Fail?

 

[Ampster]

I used them for a while. I was always trying to not use power during the neck of the duck curve so when there was an Ohmhour I had nothing to cut back. There are some earlier threads here where some had been able to game the system and were making several hundred a month if I remember correctly. It is a great concept to make people aware of the fragility of the grid.

 

[vickh]

I used them for a while. I was always trying to not use power during the neck of the duck curve so when there was an Ohmhour I had nothing to cut back. There are some earlier threads here where some had been able to game the system and were making several hundred a month if I remember correctly. It is a great concept to make people aware of the fragility of the grid.

Yes, I figured most people here are doing it right already. It's good for those who want "AP" reduction

Had a couple of signups already though so must be useful for some that aren't. Too bad it's CA only for now

 

[Ampster]

Too bad it's CA only for now

California is the only one that has a duck curve and high rates. Careful for what you wish for.

 

[vickh]

California is the only one that has a duck curve and
high rates. Careful for what you wish for.

I hear ya. I just want Ohmconnect etc.

We have Arcadia but it's no longer free like Ohmconnect. Same monopolistic poorly run utilites like PGE but no shortage issues like CA with APS

 

[Ampster]

We have Arcadia but it's no longer free like Ohmconnect

Arcadia is a different concept using Renewable Energy Certificates. I have a CCA, Sonoma Clean Power, which gives me power that they actually purchase. I do understand that the actual electrons never get to my home. I also understand that none of those entities prevent blackouts.

 

[vickh]

Arcadia is a different concept using Renewable Energy Certificates. I have a CCA, Sonoma Clean Power, which gives me the power that they actually purchase. I do understand that the actual electrons never get to my home. I also understand that none of those entities prevent blackouts.

Yes. TSLA benefits similarly from RECs too. I wish Arcadia would go back to a freemium model.

TX has a different competitive energy supplier model (like long-distance used to be) Since AZ doesn't have that I'm trying companies like Arcadia, OhmConnect etc. Are there others?

 

[miimura]

From what little I have looked into Ohmconnect, it is not suitable for Powerwall owners because we already shift our power usage. What Powerwall owners need is a proper Grid Services Virtual Power Plant system that has direct compensation for the grid support delivered.

 

[CrazyRabbit]

@miimura
Agree... and you should be able to set the rate at which you feed the grid.

 

[wwu123]

I used to do it for a few years , some general thoughts -
-can reap great rewards if you use a lot of A/C in the summer and are willing to turn it off for an hour at a time
-mediocre if you are already very efficient
-having solar makes everything worse. Back when Ohm hours were in the mid to late afternoon, solar users were often generating energy, so they set a different criteria for many of the rewards that was not great but feasible.. Fast forward a few years, all the Ohm Hours are in the evening when solar is not longer producing, yet they still have this outdated criteria even though solar is irrelevant to the Ohm Hours, making it punitive - in some cases I'd have to have negative consumption (i.e. be a net generator) AFTER sundown...

I'm still technically enrolled, but since it set it to opt-in only for hours before 6 pm, I haven't been invited to a single Ohm Hour in 18 months...

 

[vickh]

I used to do it for a few years , some general thoughts -
-can reap great rewards if you use a lot of A/C in the summer and are willing to turn it off for an hour at a time
-mediocre if you are already very efficient
-having solar makes everything worse. Back when Ohm hours were in the mid to late afternoon, solar users were often generating energy, so they set a different criteria for many of the rewards that was not great but feasible.. Fast forward a few years, all the Ohm Hours are in the evening when solar is not longer producing, yet they still have this outdated criteria even though solar is irrelevant to the Ohm Hours, making it punitive - in some cases I'd have to have negative consumption (i.e. be a net generator) AFTER sundown...

I'm still technically enrolled, but since it set it to opt-in only for hours before 6 pm, I haven't been invited to a single Ohm Hour in 18 months...

I figured it doesn't work for someone already doing well. If anyone here still wants to try it out LMK

 

[jjrandorin]

I figured it doesn't work for someone already doing well. If anyone here still wants to try it out LMK

I removed your referral code because posting referral codes like that is against TMC Policy. I dont mind the discussion, but please refrain from talking about people using your referral.

Thanks

 

[vickh]

I removed your referral code because posting referral codes like that is against TMC Policy. I dont mind the discussion, but please refrain from talking about people using your referral.

Thanks

Sure NP! Thanks

 

[mnsweeps]

From what little I have looked into Ohmconnect, it is not suitable for Powerwall owners because we already shift our power usage. What Powerwall owners need is a proper Grid Services Virtual Power Plant system that has direct compensation for the grid support delivered.

I have 2 Powerwalls and just signed up for Ohm yesterday.. do you think it won't make sense for me in the long run?

 

[vickh]

I have 2 Powerwalls and just signed up for Ohm yesterday.. do you think it won't make sense for me in the long run?

Other than sign up bonus, Thermostat,, Electric Vehicle 2000 Tokens=$20/ea. the first time you connect. Not sure if it makes sense in the long run though unless you can really lower TOU usage.

 

[mnsweeps]

Other than sign up bonus, Thermostat,, Electric Vehicle 2000 Tokens=$20/ea. the first time you connect. Not sure if it makes sense in the long run though unless you can really lower TOU usage.

If my PW is providing power to my home from 4 - 9 pm , would OHM know that? as my grid draw during that time is 0 which for OHM is great, right?

 

[jjrandorin]

If my PW is providing power to my home from 4 - 9 pm , would OHM know that? as my grid draw during that time is 0 which for OHM is great, right?

Im not familiar at all with this program, but I would imagine they are compensating people for "reducing" their time of use power usage, right? If thats the case, then they have to get a "baseline" from somewhere, right?

If you have powerwalls, then the baseline is already going to be very low, or nothing used..right?

Just thinking it through, and also based on what @wwu123 said, in that there were times when the program expected "negative usage" during periods when the sun went down, which is impossible. You can have zero, but you cant have negative. That tells me there must be some algorythm that says "reduce usage by XXX".

I didnt look into this much, but I seem to remember the "game the system" approach being something like the equivalent of setting a high baseline by turning on everything (which is counter productive to what the goal of the program is, but hey lots of people "follow the money" even if its not a lot). If you are not going to specifically try to game the system somehow, I dont see how this benefits someone whose TOU usage is likely already zero.

TL ; DR, I dont see how any program that states the goal is to "compensate someone for reducing their time of use usage' benefits anyone with battery storage configured to deliver battery power to their home during time of use times, unless they specifically setup their system to NOT do that, incur peak charges etc to try to set a high baseline, then try to "get it back, plus more" with the program.

 

[Ampster]

If my PW is providing power to my home from 4 - 9 pm , would OHM know that? as my grid draw during that time is 0 which for OHM is great, right?

Yes that is correct. I was enrolled in Ohmconnect four years ago when i had a battery powered inverter powering my house during that time. Therefore I got no compensation because I could not go any lower. There were those that were gaming the system by purposely running loads then so when an Ohmhour was declared, they could drop those loads and get big compensation. I hope that the next big program would be for someone to aggregate Powerwalls and actually send power back to the grid during times when the grid is stressed. There are pilot programs doing that in Vermont and Australia.

 

[vickh]

Yes that is correct. I was enrolled in Ohmconnect four years ago when i had a battery powered inverter powering my house during that time. Therefore I got no compensation because I could not go any lower. There were those that were gaming the system by purposely running loads then so when an Ohmhour was declared, they could drop those loads and get big compensation. I hope that the next big program would be for someone to aggregate Powerwalls and actually send power back to the grid during times when the grid is stressed. There are pilot programs doing that in Vermont and Australia.

So this is really only geared toward non-PW folks

 

[Ampster]

So this is really only geared toward non-PW folks

The program began before Powerwalls were on the market if I remember correctly. It was designed to make people more aware of their energy consumption.