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FlatSix911
Porsche 918 Hybrid
Here is what I found out regarding the old TOU rate plans ... E-6 can be closed to new customers on any date beginning January 1, 2016.
It's likely to be March, and has to be no later than June, but there are no guarantees and no requirements for PG&E to give any advance notice.
It's likely to be March, and has to be no later than June, but there are no guarantees and no requirements for PG&E to give any advance notice.
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FlatSix911
Porsche 918 Hybrid
See my quote above ... Those on E-6 before the new TOU rates go into effect will be allowed to remain on E-6 until January 1, 2023
Merrill
Merrill
I find it hard to believe that PG&E is not required to notify those who are on E7 that the above is going to happen.
aesculus
Still Trying to Figure This All Out
Hard to say how they notify anyone these days. We don't get a paper bill and certainly did not notice anything on the last statement about the E7 plan going away. I did a full scan of our December bill and used March as a search term too and there is nothing stated about E7 going away in March.
If you go to the My Energy website and look at your rate options it clearly states E7 it is being terminated in March. You can then select another base plan. E6 states it will be closed for any new applications after March.
So I called PG&E today just to confirm that the E7 plan was going away and they acknowledged it. They also said they have new plans coming soon and I would get one of those. Could not be specific because the plans were not finalized. I confirmed that I could move to E6 now and then choose one of the other plans later. So I used the online base rate change request and in a few minutes got an acknowledgement that in the next one or two billing cycles I would be moved to E6. Note when doing this it also prompts you that if you switch you cannot go back to E7, which is moot because its been terminated.
So I figure why not move to E6 for a few billing cycles until the new plans come out and then you can decide. If you do nothing now you will not have the E6 option later.
Incredulocious
LEAF → RAV4EV → Model 3 → Model Y
I'm on PG&E in Santa Cruz with solar for the past four years. Yes, you do earn dollar credit based on your rate plan. If you're producing more than you consume during the peak rates, you're banking the dollar amount in peak rates. Later, when you're consuming more than you produce (like overnight), you're spending from what you banked, ideally at the lower rates. This works over the course of the year. You "true-up" at the end of the year and pay the balance. If you produced more than you consumed over the course of the year, you're paid for your excess kWh's at something close to the wholesale rate, something paltry... you don't get paid any excess at the full consumer rate you were accumulating over the year.
I'm on E-6 to maximize the value of what my solar panels can produce during the day, despite the overnight off-peak rates with E-6 not being as low as the EV rate plan. I also opted to put in a system that would overproduce for a while for several reasons: I knew I would be using more of this energy over time as I converted more of my home (and vehicle) energy use to electric, getting off of propane and gasoline. I also know that my solar panels will produce less energy over time, like down to 80% at 20 years, so this initial overproduction will help cover that. The difference in upfront investment wasn't really that much and... it's just really cool to be able to produce enough energy to cover all your home energy use!
Besides the basic, home electrical needs (and mostly LED lamps, of course), my home has a water well pump, septic system pumps, and pumps to pressurize the water. Over time I've converted my home to now be heated (and cooled) by an electric heat pump, dryer converted to electric, went from a LEAF to an electric RAV4 (handling even more of my yearly driving), my girlfriend got an electric RAV4 as well and, as of today, I just replaced my propane cooktop with induction (electric)! All that's left to convert is the water heater still burning propane (not counting a couple of gas fireplaces). As a result, each year my excess production has become less and less and will probably reach zero this year or next.
Sounds like we have similar goals. How is the electric heat pump working for your heat? I've been considering a move in that direction. My gas cooktop cutout is an odd shape, so I can't find an induction cooktop to replace it at this point. I'm going to wait until we remodel the kitchen in a few years. Drives me nuts, though.
Impressive conversion to electric! I am also curious about using a heat pump.
I have had an induction stove for 8 years. Best cooktop I've ever had. Faster and more responsive than gas, and energy efficient.
I have had an induction stove for 8 years. Best cooktop I've ever had. Faster and more responsive than gas, and energy efficient.
FlatSix911
Porsche 918 Hybrid
I want to remind everyone of the discussion on this Forum from a few weeks ago about the fact that the E-7 rate plan will no longer be available after Feb. 29, 2016.
If you are on that plan, you should switch to E-6 by calling PG&E. If you are on E-7 today and don't proactively switch to E-6 by Feb. 29, you will have lost your chance to get on E-6 and will be put on the new E-TOU plan, which is less favorable.
If you are on that plan, you should switch to E-6 by calling PG&E. If you are on E-7 today and don't proactively switch to E-6 by Feb. 29, you will have lost your chance to get on E-6 and will be put on the new E-TOU plan, which is less favorable.
FlatSix911
Porsche 918 Hybrid
Yes, I have a Solar PV array and E6 was cheaper for me due to the favorable rates during the peak TOU that I generated solar KWh.
Incredulocious
LEAF → RAV4EV → Model 3 → Model Y
The heat pump works great. It's a Lennox XP17-060 5 Ton. It's an air source heat pump (as opposed to ground source) since I live in a mild climate (Santa Cruz, California) where it's rare to get freezing temperatures. I kept my propane furnace as the backup heat system rather than putting in electric resistive strips. I think my cut-off for the backup is set to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, as per the installer. I haven't been able to find reliable information as to whether it will run well at lower temperatures. Anyway, I love the fact that I can heat (and cool) the whole house and still be completely offset by my solar generation for the year!
And yes, the induction cooktop is fantastic. I only had a couple of choices which would fit my existing cutout but I really like the design of the controls of what I ended up with, the 36" GE Cafe.
You might find this table I put together of cut-out dimensions for 36" models helpful (the third column is cooking power):
Code:
[FONT=Courier New]Miele KM6375 35 19.32
Miele KM6370 34.50 20.375 2500/3850
Miele KM5773 36.125 19.6875 3350/3850
Thermidor CIT365KBB 34.75 19.88 2600/3700/4600
Thermidor CIT36XKBB 34.75 19.88 3600/4600
Bosch 800 Series 34.75 19.88 3400/4500
Bosch 500 Series 34.75 19.88
Bosch Benchmark 34.88 19.88
KitchenAid KICU569XBL 33.06 19.31
= Jenn-Air JIC4536XB
GE Cafe Series 33.875 19.125 3700, better controls
GE Profile 9036DJBB 33.875 19.125 3700
Wolf Transitional 35 19.5 2600/3700
Wolf Contemporary 35 19.5 2600/3700
Electrolux 35.875 20.375 3700/4800
Bertazzoni 33.875 19.6875 3000[/FONT]
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Thanks so much for the feedback. I'm definitely on board with the heat pump. I will ask for a price and get the ball rolling on that.
My cutout is 21" deep for my cooktop. Sadly, your excellent table confirms that I'm stuck replacing the cooktop or waiting on a remodel. I'm pretty eager, regardless.
Thanks again!
My cutout is 21" deep for my cooktop. Sadly, your excellent table confirms that I'm stuck replacing the cooktop or waiting on a remodel. I'm pretty eager, regardless.
Thanks again!
aesculus
Still Trying to Figure This All Out
If I had to chose again I would NOT go with a heat pump. I have split systems in my home since 1987. Prior to that we had another house with a heat pump. If the temp goes below about 45 degrees and you have any measureable amount of humidity, you are going to be spending all of your money on defrosting and heat strips. Plus the heat is not very warm and they are noisey in the areas of the house adjacent to the outside units.
Incredulocious
LEAF → RAV4EV → Model 3 → Model Y
Well, perhaps the systems have improved? I don't have heat strips (because I still have my original propane furnace as backup) and while I frequently see high humidity outside (coastal fog in the Santa Cruz hills here), I don't have any trouble with humidity in the house or this defrosting issue you mention. And it definitely blows very warm air.
Noise-wise, I was told that these Lennox XP17 units were the quietest heat pumps on the market. Here's an article I just found on the topic:
http://604goodguy.com/blog/2013/02/08/lennox-vs-trane-vs-carrier-heat-pumps-which-brand-is-best/
Of course the whole point for me was to be able to have my solar generation cover the heating of the house along with everything else. With solar, I'd rather go with electric resistive heating than buying and burning propane or natural gas and the heat pump is much more efficient than any sort of electric resistive heating.
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You might find that a unit specifying over 20", like that Miele or that Electrolux will work. They don't require exact cutout measurements. My cutout was about 34.125" by 19" and the GE Cafe specified 33.875" by 19.125". Width wise it was fine, depth-wise I had to push the downdraft unit back an 1/8" to just fit it.
So, I suggest looking more into the models that are close to your cutout size and see if it will work.
Incredulocious
LEAF → RAV4EV → Model 3 → Model Y
I want to add that, in that article, they describe a survey of heat pump installations and find that many were not installed properly. That may well be the case with your two systems. They say that the choice of installers can matter more than the brand or model of heat pump. For example, I had one bid that came in at half the cost of my three other bids but they were making suggestions to address my existing furnace problems I was experiencing that didn't make sense even from a basic physics understanding (later confirmed by others, including my other bidders).
brucet999
Active Member
You should consider that solar, while it is generating, displaces whatever grid power you would have been consuming. If your panels are active in the afternoons when time-of-use rates are highest, then the value of your solar power would be highest. Pulling power in the middle of the night at lowest rates ($0.11/kWh for PG&E?) to charge your Tesla makes economic sense and it displaces load on the Grid to slack time, helping to avoid overloading the system during peak usage times.
When I was considering which way to go, I called SoCal Edison and asked the customer service lady to pull my usage from certain representative weeks during the past year (under summer rates and winter rates) to determine whether I would have been better off with basic Tiered Rates billing or Time of Use. It turned out that TOU would have been very slightly cheaper than tiered rates even before adding Tesla charging to the picture.
Now I charge Blue Max at $0.12/kWh during the night instead of pushing my usage into Tier 4 at $0.31/kWh. We also run the dishwasher in Super Off Peak time by using the delayed start button.
When I was considering which way to go, I called SoCal Edison and asked the customer service lady to pull my usage from certain representative weeks during the past year (under summer rates and winter rates) to determine whether I would have been better off with basic Tiered Rates billing or Time of Use. It turned out that TOU would have been very slightly cheaper than tiered rates even before adding Tesla charging to the picture.
Now I charge Blue Max at $0.12/kWh during the night instead of pushing my usage into Tier 4 at $0.31/kWh. We also run the dishwasher in Super Off Peak time by using the delayed start button.
I've had solar for 5 years and my Tesla since Apr 2013.
I used E-6 for all but this last year when I switched to EV-A.
As mentioned by others, it is complicated to figure out what you will pay with E-6. On the other hand, EV-A is quite a bit simpler. I took my data from a 12 month period while on the E-6 schedule and made a simple spreadsheet to see what it would cost me on a EV-A schedule for the same usage. For me, it showed that I would save about $100/year by switching to EV-A. So I did.
I only charge the car at night since I'm much better off getting the higher rates paid during the day for my generation and then paying low charging rates.
Your mileage (usage) will vary.
