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P100D, SOLAR, PG&E Rate Plans

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I just had solar installed to help offset rising electricity rates in Northern California. I don’t live in a fire area so no fear of fire related outages, no power wall battery. Local power is PG&E and last year they changed their EV-1 rate plan to EV-2. EV-2 provides very low rates from midnight till 3pm, while EV-1 rates were very low from 11pm-7am. The new plan seems to have reduced sell back rates to the very low rate during peak solar generation hours. Has anyone out there done calculations on the various PG&E rate plans and which may be best for someone with a Tesla and a solar system? There are a lot more analytical folks out there than me, so I thought I’d ask before trying to reinvent the wheel. Appreciate any feedback, thanks.
 
I'm not from California, but I've compared electric rate plans before, and the important thing to know is that it depends heavily on your specific usages.

On the most basic level, you need to estimate the amount of power that your are using between 00:00-15:00, 15:00-24:00, 23:00-7:00, and 7:00-23:00. Then you take those numbers and multiply them by the rates, add in any fixed costs.

The resulting answer is going to be very specific to "you". Some people are never home during the day but are home on weekends. Others are home all day but away on weekends during the day. Others never home during the day at all. Others are home all day every day. Every little variation matters.
 
I just had solar installed to help offset rising electricity rates in Northern California. I don’t live in a fire area so no fear of fire related outages, no power wall battery. Local power is PG&E and last year they changed their EV-1 rate plan to EV-2. EV-2 provides very low rates from midnight till 3pm, while EV-1 rates were very low from 11pm-7am. The new plan seems to have reduced sell back rates to the very low rate during peak solar generation hours. Has anyone out there done calculations on the various PG&E rate plans and which may be best for someone with a Tesla and a solar system? There are a lot more analytical folks out there than me, so I thought I’d ask before trying to reinvent the wheel. Appreciate any feedback, thanks.
If you have an iPhone and are on PG&E-This great App shows you what the effect of each rate is. You grant them access to your account credentials--but this one is great!!
‎My PG&E Toolkit
 
I'm not from California, but I've compared electric rate plans before, and the important thing to know is that it depends heavily on your specific usages.

On the most basic level, you need to estimate the amount of power that your are using between 00:00-15:00, 15:00-24:00, 23:00-7:00, and 7:00-23:00. Then you take those numbers and multiply them by the rates, add in any fixed costs.

The resulting answer is going to be very specific to "you". Some people are never home during the day but are home on weekends. Others are home all day but away on weekends during the day. Others never home during the day at all. Others are home all day every day. Every little variation matters.

Thanks for your response. I am aware, it’s just the currently PG&E only tells me how much I’ve used in each rate, Peak, semi-Peak, and off-Peak. There is no hourly breakdown that I’m aware of.
 
If you have an iPhone and are on PG&E-This great App shows you what the effect of each rate is. You grant them access to your account credentials--but this one is great!!
‎My PG&E Toolkit

Thanks for the tip. Does it show Electric consumption By the hour? BTW, my first was a P85D. It was totaled when I stopped for traffic and was rear ended at 55mph by a Dodge “RAM” truck (no pun intended). I waked away but had two two brain bleeds from my Tesla coffee Thermos cup becoming a flying object and hitting me in the head. I’m now on my 3rd Model S.
 
1) you might get better answers in the California or Tesla Energy forums.

2) Your analysis of the EV2-A plan is correct. It's a relative turd and greatly diminished the benefits of solar that were present with EV-A. That said, for my usage, the PGE rate plan estimator says EV2-A is still the best available option for my use by a significant margin (though still about $900 more per year than the EV-A plan I'm currently grandfathered in to for another year or so). It depends quite a bit on how much you can shift your load and how much you drive.
 
Thanks for your response. I am aware, it’s just the currently PG&E only tells me how much I’ve used in each rate, Peak, semi-Peak, and off-Peak. There is no hourly breakdown that I’m aware of.

I think the tip about the online calculator will pre-emt this, but I was thinking along the lines of estimating your usage. Some math problems are very difficult if not impossible to calculate exactly, but you can estimate them very crudely and get a decent result. You know what appliances are running at what times, when you use A/C, heat, showers, etc.

If you are home all day, you will want the plan that has a better rate during the day. Actually, I just put in a few semi-random numbers to the plan (not the CA plan), to determine how giant of a difference would be needed to just break even. If any significant electricity was used during the day or the weekends, it was a total loss. May be different for CA if the difference between the off-peak / peak rates are greater.

People in Hawaii have the opposite situation - the rate differences are so great they can do the calculations mentally.
 
Here's what I see in the rate comparison tool right now. I have a 7.5kw solar system, live in a much hotter climate than you, and drive about 35,000 miles per year, so lots of overnight charging.

You'll see that EV-A really is a sweetheart of a deal compared to the others - but EV2-A is still quite a bit better than the alternatives for me.

I'm very likely to invest in Powerwalls in the next year or two once my EV-A grandfathering ends, for the main reason of time-shifting my solar production and drawing from the powerwalls instead of the grid during the much later peak period of EV2-A.

Screen Shot 2020-06-16 at 11.50.20 AM.png
 
Here's what I see in the rate comparison tool right now. I have a 7.5kw solar system, live in a much hotter climate than you, and drive about 35,000 miles per year, so lots of overnight charging.

You'll see that EV-A really is a sweetheart of a deal compared to the others - but EV2-A is still quite a bit better than the alternatives for me.

I'm very likely to invest in Powerwalls in the next year or two once my EV-A grandfathering ends, for the main reason of time-shifting my solar production and drawing from the powerwalls instead of the grid during the much later peak period of EV2-A.

View attachment 552309


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1) you might get better answers in the California or Tesla Energy forums.

2) Your analysis of the EV2-A plan is correct. It's a relative turd and greatly diminished the benefits of solar that were present with EV-A. That said, for my usage, the PGE rate plan estimator says EV2-A is still the best available option for my use by a significant margin (though still about $900 more per year than the EV-A plan I'm currently grandfathered in to for another year or so). It depends quite a bit on how much you can shift your load and how much you drive.



I'd say you nailed it. I was hoping for some magic but guess there is none.
 
I think the tip about the online calculator will pre-emt this, but I was thinking along the lines of estimating your usage. Some math problems are very difficult if not impossible to calculate exactly, but you can estimate them very crudely and get a decent result. You know what appliances are running at what times, when you use A/C, heat, showers, etc.

If you are home all day, you will want the plan that has a better rate during the day. Actually, I just put in a few semi-random numbers to the plan (not the CA plan), to determine how giant of a difference would be needed to just break even. If any significant electricity was used during the day or the weekends, it was a total loss. May be different for CA if the difference between the off-peak / peak rates are greater.

People in Hawaii have the opposite situation - the rate differences are so great they can do the calculations mentally.

Thanks, Here in NorCal PG&E is very sneaky as they need to pay for all the forest fires they caused. I'd love to have my Tesla in HI, (we have a condo on Kauai), but the Yukon carries more toys!