PG&E PTO Tesla fumbling the ball multiple times

[rxlawdude]

All the communications wiring for the house, which is 36 inches from the center of the gas riser.

Which should not be a factor with respect to distancing from the gas main. There are no switches behind that panel that could arc at the same time of a gas leak communications are low voltage. Virtually zero risk compared to your solar panels' DC arcing or a spark in the cutoff switch, inverter or a breaker.

 

[holeydonut]

Is there a particular department contact I should have at PG&E to get to the finish line?

I hope your project behaves "normally" and you never have to contact PG&E directly. I wouldn't wish having to contact PG&E to resolve anything on my worst enemy. PG&E has no department to push things through. They have like 100,000 employees all with their own agenda and subject matter expertise. And it's borderline impossible to reach the SME because they don't like to deal with consumers and ratepayers. Once you reach the SME there's like a 20% change they actually want to help. 80% of the time they just hate you because you're going green and going green hurts PG&E.

There was an article in the news this morning with numerous people saying going solar was just an endeavor for wealthy people; and even some Democrats want to end Net Energy Metering because it places an unnecessary burden on poor people who cannot afford solar. PG&E's lobbies hard to continue the mantra that solar isn't an equitable benefit for all Californians. And their employees often fall behind this mentality.

 

[jedmo]

My roof+poweralls project is about to complete, this thread interests and frightens me :/
Is there a particular department contact I should have at PG&E to get to the finish line? Any recommendations on how to navigate Tesla + PG&E bureaucracies to get off the grid ASAP would be appreciated.

What I did was call PG&E at 877-743-4112, after not hearing back after a few weeks to get status. They were able to tell me the last communication between Tesla and PG&E. In all instances, it was PG&E requesting something from Tesla. I would then email my project advisor with the status I received from PG&E and CC'd the Tesla interconnection email address. You will get the email address when they submit the initial docs for PTO, PG&E will send you an email CCing the Tesla interconnection email address. I did contact PG&E at [email protected] one of the instances, to see who had the ball as I was getting conflicting stories from both Tesla and PG&E. The person that responded was nice enough to provide email attachments of all the communications they had with Tesla. This was great as I was able to get the actual email address for the Tesla person working on my interconnect agreement and follow up with them on the other requests, always CCing my project advisor to keep them in the loop.

 

[spidaman]

Just got the PTO email a few minutes ago from PG&E...WOOHOO!!!

@jedmo What was your elapsed time between permit inspection sign off and PTO?

 

[jedmo]

@jedmo What was your elapsed time between permit inspection sign off and PTO?

2020
11/5 system installed M
11/25 Failed the first inspection. They scheduled follow up inspections and then cancelled on me the same day (3 times).
2021
1/13 I passed inspection.
1/16 I get an email from PG&E about my interconnection agreement.
3/24 received PTO

 

[spidaman]

1/13 I passed inspection.
1/16 I get an email from PG&E about my interconnection agreement.

Thanks @jedmo! My first inspection also failed because the design in the permit had a Delta inverter while a Tesla inverter was installed instead, so Tesla sent an amended design but it was too late for that first inspection appointment. However, my second inspection did pass, that was on 4/14. So I'll give it a few more days to hear from PG&E to acknowledge it, otherwise I guess I'll start phoning PG&E to verify that they have an interconnect agreement for me.

 

[vvuk]

What I did was call PG&E at 877-743-4112, after not hearing back after a few weeks to get status. They were able to tell me the last communication between Tesla and PG&E. In all instances, it was PG&E requesting something from Tesla.

For the record I am now in this exact same boat. PG&E has actually been the most helpful in this. In the latest call with PG&E, they suggested that I just provide the information that they're requesting if I'm able to; I thought I could, except in trying to do so I discovered a discrepancy between what is on the line diagrams (original tesla powerwall 2.0 AC model number) and what they installed (powerwall 2.1 with a different model number). I just email-bombed every person that has been involved at Tesla in hopes of getting a response.

Can some of you with recent Powerwall installs go look at the actual TPN on the nameplate of the powerwall? (The label is underneath the rear plastic cover, it just pops off -- not the side with the power switch. There's a tab on the bottom to open up, and then just pull the back plastic off. It snaps into place.) Can you also look at your engineering drawings that were submitted for your county inspection permit (the three-line diagram) and see what's listed there? Mine differ, I'm curious if this is "standard" or not.

 

[vvuk]

Out of curiosity, I just created an account on PG&E's portal and went through the process of filling out a NEM application. It looks like the fault isn't 100% with Tesla in my case -- PG&E's online application system literally knows nothing about any of the recent Powerwalls. So unless someone at Tesla is very on the ball and manually inputs a model number (unlikely!) they're going to select Daily Powerwall here, and the application is going to get rejected. Arg.

 

[aesculus]

Well my PTO came through today. Installed and paid 12/21/2020 and PTO 4/26/2021. Over 4 months. Screwups all over the place IMHO, but mostly by Tesla.

 

[holeydonut]

Well my PTO came through today. Installed and paid 12/21/2020 and PTO 4/26/2021. Over 4 months. Screwups all over the place IMHO, but mostly by Tesla.

Lol, congrats on getting PTO! Yeah that long wait is brutal. But since you had batteries I guess you could have operated your system (you know, to test it) without worrying about the net metering agreement.

 

[aesculus]

Lol, congrats on getting PTO! Yeah that long wait is brutal. But since you had batteries I guess you could have operated your system (you know, to test it) without worrying about the net metering agreement.

This was my 4th PTO so yeah.

 

[spidaman]

I got PTO on Monday, so total elapsed time between county inspector sign off and PG&E's approval was about 12 days. I think I'll pay Tesla now

 

[h2ofun]

I got PTO on Monday, so total elapsed time between county inspector sign off and PG&E's approval was about 12 days. I think I'll pay Tesla now

Wow, my PGE email that they got my NEM stuff was 4/22. I heard it might take months. This gives me hope.