PG&E rate schedule

[bone man]

I have Tesla solar panels and am grandfathered into PG&E E-1 tiered rate plan. Now I own a Model 3. I overproduced about 1700 kW per year before the Model 3 and calculate the Model 3 will use 4000 kWh. So 2300 kW per year at tier 1 E-1 rate.

My question is would I be better off signing up for E V-a rate? Very confusing because this rate plan is cheaper at night but quite expensive during peak hours.

 

[kengchang]

Do you usually have someone at home during the peak time? If not, TOU probably works better. Edison has tool that will estimate the rate for you on a different plan based on your past usage, PG&E should have one too

 

[cwied]

There's also an app called "My PG&E toolkit" that will calculate how much you would pay with the different rates. Here's the link: ‎My PG&E Toolkit

One thing to realize about net metering is that you accrue credits at the rate that's in effect at the time you're producing energy. This means most of your solar production will be credited at 2-4x the amount you would pay for charging your EV at night. From the numbers you're giving, it sounds like you could probably avoid paying anything at true up if you were on the EV-A rate.

 

[Musterion]

I have Tesla solar panels and am grandfathered into PG&E E-1 tiered rate plan. Now I own a Model 3. I overproduced about 1700 kW per year before the Model 3 and calculate the Model 3 will use 4000 kWh. So 2300 kW per year at tier 1 E-1 rate.

My question is would I be better off signing up for E V-a rate? Very confusing because this rate plan is cheaper at night but quite expensive during peak hours.

PG&E has tools online that will calculate your bill for various plans including EV rate, using your historical usage. I would suggest to start there. For details and to run scenarios for future planning and upgrades, @miimura has some awesome spreadsheets that helped me out — you’ll need to put in relevant data on demand and production for those to get most useful output.

 

[Late2theGame]

I have Tesla solar panels and am grandfathered into PG&E E-1 tiered rate plan. Now I own a Model 3. I overproduced about 1700 kW per year before the Model 3 and calculate the Model 3 will use 4000 kWh. So 2300 kW per year at tier 1 E-1 rate.

My question is would I be better off signing up for E V-a rate? Very confusing because this rate plan is cheaper at night but quite expensive during peak hours.

Hmm, curious why you are on E1 - was E-7/E-6 not available for you?
EV-A has no tiers so that is a bonus but peak rates are high.

I was on E-6 and switched to EV-A as the PG&E tool told me that, even before I got the Model 3, EV-A was slightly cheaper for me than E-6. Now with the car charging at night the difference is even more to my advantage.

With PG&E threatening to black us out in high wind situations I decided to get 2 Powerwalls as backup system which were installed recently. They provide load-shifting during the day and have eliminated the peak-charges all-together, but this will not pay for them! My primary motivation for them is the backup utility.

 

[bone man]

PG&E has tools online that will calculate your bill for various plans including EV rate, using your historical usage. I would suggest to start there. For details and to run scenarios for future planning and upgrades, @miimura has some awesome spreadsheets that helped me out — you’ll need to put in relevant data on demand and production for those to get most useful output.

I used the PGE tools, but they are based on previous use not projected use with an EV.

 

[bone man]

Hmm, curious why you are on E1 - was E-7/E-6 not available for you?
EV-A has no tiers so that is a bonus but peak rates are high.

I was on E-6 and switched to EV-A as the PG&E tool told me that, even before I got the Model 3, EV-A was slightly cheaper for me than E-6. Now with the car charging at night the difference is even more to my advantage.

With PG&E threatening to black us out in high wind situations I decided to get 2 Powerwalls as backup system which were installed recently. They provide load-shifting during the day and have eliminated the peak-charges all-together, but this will not pay for them! My primary motivation for them is the backup utility.

Same plan for 22 years. I think E-1 a legacy thing.

 

[EVDRVN]

I do not think you can even get the EV rate with solar and are you sure you are on E1? I thought that was a non-solar plan. and the E9 and E6 were the old plans that are closed. Why are you on E1? I'm on E6 as the better E9 was gone and closed and E6 ends in a few years.

 

[Musterion]

I used the PGE tools, but they are based on previous use not projected use with an EV.

Hence my note on using spreadsheets from @miimura which include grandfathered rate plans.

 

[Late2theGame]

I do not think you can even get the EV rate with solar and are you sure you are on E1? I thought that was a non-solar plan. and the E9 and E6 were the old plans that are closed. Why are you on E1? I'm on E6 as the better E9 was gone and closed and E6 ends in a few years.

As long as you have an EV you can get on the EV-A plan regardless of solar.
Solar alone does not allow you to get on EV-A.

 

[Late2theGame]

Same plan for 22 years. I think E-1 a legacy thing.

They are pushing to get all customers on Time of Use (TOU) plans but E1 is still open for new customers. I would not be surprised if they close it at some point but the CPUC needs to agree.

You should have had an option to switch to E7 or E6 when you installed your solar. These plan were very advantageous for solar installations but are now closed for new customers. Both of these have tiers as well as time of use. EV-A has only TOU no tiers.

In summer E1 goes from 22c to 48c / kWh based on tier;
EV-A has 12c over night; 21c during shoulder rates (morning and late evening); 48c for peak usage 2pm-9pm

So it all depends in which tier you end up with E1. If you consume enough to pay some electricity at tier4 rates than EV-A might make a lot of sense for you. Figuring this out based on hourly consumption for the last year is what the PG&E tool claims to do.

BTW: Winter rates might be even more advantageous for EV-A and weekends have different time structures.

 

[bone man]

Hence my note on using spreadsheets from @miimura which include grandfathered rate plans.

Thanks, but a bit too complicated for me.

 

[bone man]

They are pushing to get all customers on Time of Use (TOU) plans but E1 is still open for new customers. I would not be surprised if they close it at some point but the CPUC needs to agree.

You should have had an option to switch to E7 or E6 when you installed your solar. These plan were very advantageous for solar installations but are now closed for new customers. Both of these have tiers as well as time of use. EV-A has only TOU no tiers.

In summer E1 goes from 22c to 48c / kWh based on tier;
EV-A has 12c over night; 21c during shoulder rates (morning and late evening); 48c for peak usage 2pm-9pm

So it all depends in which tier you end up with E1. If you consume enough to pay some electricity at tier4 rates than EV-A might make a lot of sense for you. Figuring this out based on hourly consumption for the last year is what the PG&E tool claims to do.

BTW: Winter rates might be even more advantageous for EV-A and weekends have different time structures.

Thank you. I will be in tier 1 in E-1 for 2700kW at 21 cents per kW if I keep E-1. When I run the PGE Tools is says I'll pay the same yearly with E-1 as EV-a. It seems however that with EV-A I can get energy at 12 cents per kW and also set my well and pool pumps to run during those low rates too. I wish I could understand how to run Miimura spreadsheet.

 

[bone man]

PGE Electric Rate Calculator_v1.9b.xlsx

I ran the @miimurra spreadsheet above and found I will save a couple hundred dollars a year switching to EV-a. Sent my request to change plans today.

Thank you everyone for your responses!

 

[miimura]

PGE Electric Rate Calculator_v1.9b.xlsx

I ran the @miimurra spreadsheet above and found I will save a couple hundred dollars a year switching to EV-a. Sent my request to change plans today.

Thank you everyone for your responses!

That is the most recent version of my spreadsheet, but the rates that are presented are two years old. If you're going to use it, please look up the current rates and update the blue cells at the top of the Bill Calculation tab.

 

[cwied]

One thing I noticed on PG&E's current EV-A rate page is that it closes this July. Does anyone know what, if anything, is replacing it?

 

[miimura]

One thing I noticed on PG&E's current EV-A rate page is that it closes this July. Does anyone know what, if anything, is replacing it?

This article is more than a year old, but was referenced in the TMC California sub-forum.

PG&E Home Solar and Electric Vehicle Rates Rundown

It describes a massive change to the Off-Peak schedule, a shift of the Peak further into the late afternoon, and a reduction of the Summer season from 6 months to 4 months.
Off Peak: 12:00 am - 3:00 pm
Part Peak: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm & 9:00 pm- 12:00 am
Peak: 4:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Schedule grandfathering will be given by default, but the duration of grandfathering is not known yet. Of course, per kWh rates will continue to change on the EV rate plan throughout the grandfathering period.

I could not find any other more recent easily readable references. However, if you want to dig deep to see if you can find some useful information, the actual CPUC Decision referenced in the April 12, 2019 Schedule EV Tariff is here:

http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M221/K552/221552311.PDF

The current EV Tariff also says that people who go beyond 800% of their Baseline usage over a 12 month average will be kicked out of Schedule EV and moved to E-TOU-B and prohibited from taking an EV rate for 12 months. Anybody getting close to that amount of usage should clearly have solar, IMHO.