It looks like rates are up across the board - TOU is now 8.7, 12.2 and 18.2. The delta between the ULO period and other periods has increased, but you really want to avoid that 4-9 time. But that is hard to do with lighting during the winter.
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Ontario overnight ultra low rate announced
- Thread starter wayner
- Start date
Lighting is a small thing compared to "fuelling' my car -- both of which are increased in the winter. But everyone will have a different calculus, depending on how much they drive, how big their family is, and the general efficiency of their electrical use (lights, HVAC, appliances, etc).
I agree. I have been an early adopter of ULO and it does appear to be saving me money. I am also trying to push more and more of my energy usage to the overnight window, like putting a timer on my hot tub so that my heater runs in the cheaper hours.
Yes, but you don't make a ton on that. The differential in pricing is $0.214 per hour on weekdays. The packs are 13.5kWh. So if you did that arbitrage every day you would save $1.50/day on weekdays. On weekends the diff is only $0.05/hour so you would make $0.35/day. This assumes that you fully charge at the cheap period and fully discharge over the expensive period. So over a year you would save $821. I think the cost of Powerwall installation starts at $18k because you need the batter pack plus an inverter. And if you did this on a regular basis then you wouldn't have power in the battery to act as a power backup if the power outage came in the evening after you had discharged your battery.
That's not correct. I have a pretty big solar system in midtown Toronto. I'm on the ULO plan - and when I generate more electricity than I use it gets sold back to the grid at the then tiered rate (e.g., if it's in the 4-9 window it will be sold back at the high rate ($0.24/kWh).
Thanks. It looks like this changed earlier in 2023: https://www.hydroone.com/businessse...Option-for-Net-Metered-Customers-20230117.pdf
Have you done the math for the three options that you have for generation - tiered, TOU and ULO?
I guess it depends on the orientation of the panels, but my panels do better through the earlier part of the day and not as much later in the day, even during the summer. Here is my production on June 20. I produced about 9kWh from 4-9. So I wouldn't produce much during the highest rate hours. Not that I would want to switch from microFIT anyhow as I am selling all production at $0.38/kWh.
Muskol
Member
Same here, I switched to ULO with Alectra a few weeks ago and no charts. Can't even download the raw TOU data...
On a related note, for those of us in Toronto you can now get very detailed data on your energy usage using the Toronto Hydro green button service. The data comes in a rather ugly XML file, but you can get hourly usage data for the last two years.
The TOU rates make no sense if anyone in your home has a job that's all work-from-home. The energy used for HVAC and other amenities during the day ends up consuming too much in the most expensive tier for the plan to make sense.
I am a work-from-home employee and use the tiered rate, which is either of 2 prices... below versus beyond 1000 kWh.
I definitely wish there was a way to get the ultra low rate at night regardless..
I am a work-from-home employee and use the tiered rate, which is either of 2 prices... below versus beyond 1000 kWh.
I definitely wish there was a way to get the ultra low rate at night regardless..
The TOU rates make no sense if anyone in your home has a job that's all work-from-home. The energy used for HVAC and other amenities during the day ends up consuming too much in the most expensive tier for the plan to make sense.
I am a work-from-home employee and use the tiered rate, which is either of 2 prices... below versus beyond 1000 kWh.
I definitely wish there was a way to get the ultra low rate at night regardless..
I agree, the UL rate was certainly designed to keep us from drawing energy at peak times however I did do the math and even with 2 of us working from home I am saving about $10 a month vs tiered pricing
I think in my case I'm only able to save a few bucks because we have a GAS range otherwise it would of been a wash and when summer hits I'll probably switch back to tiered because the AC will run longer after 4pm!
I am not so sure that you are correct. I am not WFH but my HVAC is still running at a similar temp all day, and gas heating doesn't take much electricity so the main issue there is AC in the summer months. And the high rate under ULO isn't really during working hours as it is 4-9.
But if you have an EV and are large house you will be over 1000kWh, at which point you're paying $0.125/kWh. With ULO the rate is $0.028/kWh. That's a pretty big savings for car charging and you can normally charge you car at the ULO rate 100% of the time.
I find it interesting that the peak times are different under ULO (4-9pm) vs TOU(7-11am,5-7pm). 7-9pm is the cheapest time under TOU but the most expensive under ULO. At least in the winter. So they are incentivizing TOU people to use electricity from 7-9. but penalizing ULO people from using it at the same time.
Off-topic, but.. I want to ask you, how is your energy production in the winter? And does snow accumulate on the panels that results in no production? How much of your solar power is offsetting / charging your Tesla?
Production in the winter is crap. I generate about 6X more power in June, than December. Snow on the panels can be an issue, but it normally melts after a few days. That hasn't been an issue this winter, but there was almost no sun from Dec 21 until yesterday so I only produced a minimal amount of power over that ~2 week period.
My solar panels are on what is called microFIT. I earn $0.381/kWh for what I sell to the grid, and then I buy electricity like anyone else. There is no real connection between my production and my usage. I am probably producing more than I use in my Tesla, but I don't drive a ton, only about 12,000km per year. Even if you could directly power your car from your panels you may not want to do that given differences in prices at different times of day. You are producing power when it is expensive during the day but overnight, when electricity is cheap, is the best time to charge. So you likely want to offset peak energy pricing during the day with your solar production which peaks at roughly noon and charge your car overnight. Not that you have any control over when the sun shines.
My solar panels are on what is called microFIT. I earn $0.381/kWh for what I sell to the grid, and then I buy electricity like anyone else. There is no real connection between my production and my usage. I am probably producing more than I use in my Tesla, but I don't drive a ton, only about 12,000km per year. Even if you could directly power your car from your panels you may not want to do that given differences in prices at different times of day. You are producing power when it is expensive during the day but overnight, when electricity is cheap, is the best time to charge. So you likely want to offset peak energy pricing during the day with your solar production which peaks at roughly noon and charge your car overnight. Not that you have any control over when the sun shines.
True for many people.......That's why there are multiple rate plans. One size never fits all. That's a feature, not a bug.
Tony_YYZ
Tezler Guru
My wife and I both work from home and TOU (not ULTOU) still works out to be cheaper for me. I check my HydroOne portal monthly to see how close it was to the Tiered rate and it’s always about $10-$15 cheaper. This includes me using HVAC and even running the dishwasher most days after 11am and the washer/dryer occasionally as well.The TOU rates make no sense if anyone in your home has a job that's all work-from-home. The energy used for HVAC and other amenities during the day ends up consuming too much in the most expensive tier for the plan to make sense.
I am a work-from-home employee and use the tiered rate, which is either of 2 prices... below versus beyond 1000 kWh.
I definitely wish there was a way to get the ultra low rate at night regardless..
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