Programming Partial Peak (shoulder)

[RobbL]

I'm curious what other Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) customers are doing for time entry if they are using Time-based Control through the app. There is a shortcoming in the current version of the app related to entry of a Partial Peak time period and I wonder how others are handling that shortcoming if their provider offers three time periods, each at a different rate.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area where the electricity provider is PG&E. I have a Tesla Model 3, rooftop solar and a Powerwall. For PG&E customers with a similar setup, PG&E provides a Time of Use plan. Off-peak (lowest rates) runs from Midnight to 3 PM the next day. Then there is a one-hour partial peak from 3 PM to 4 PM. Peak runs from 4 PM to 9 PM, and there is a second Partial Peak to finish out the day from 9 PM to Midnight. The pattern is the same 7 days per week. My question does not relate to that initial, one hour Partial Peak time. I just consider that Peak.

I'm currently entering the Off-peak time, exactly as it is, from Midnight to 3 PM, and Peak from 3 - 9. There is no direct entry for Partial Peak, but the app appears to make use of the unprogrammed time, although I'm not sure of the logic it applies for that period. The alternative would be to continue entering Off-peak exactly as it is, Midnight to 3 PM and enter Peak as running from 3 PM to Midnight, essentially ignoring Partial Peak.

For other PG&E customers on this forum, or those whose electricity provider offers a similar plan with three stages do you enter peak as 3 - 9, or do you enter it as any time that is not Off-peak? Does the logic you use for that decision impact any other settings?

I'm very curious to learn how others approach this and to understand their rationale for their decision.

 

[getakey]

You enter Peak and Off-Peak. The app considers all other time Shoulder.
Are you sure it is the same 7 days a week? I'm not on same plan, but I don't have any Shoulder time on weekends.

 

[RobbL]

Yes, this plan, unlike the previous PGE plan, is the same seven days per week.

 

[getakey]

I actually put all non-Peak as Off Peak. In other words, eliminate Shoulder. Got this advice from someone on this forum. Reason is that the app has some odd logic that sometimes the PW will discharge during shoulder. I didn't like this as I believe PW should stay max poweer it can during non-Peak periods.

 

[arnolddeleon]

You enter Peak and Off-Peak. The app considers all other time Shoulder.
Are you sure it is the same 7 days a week? I'm not on same plan, but I don't have any Shoulder time on weekends.

I have grandfather E-6. During the weekday I have off, part and peak. During the weekend I only have off and part.

The UI was a counter intuitive at first. But once you wrap your head around the idea that peak and off peak are two independent things you can set it isn't as hard. As @getakey noted, anything that is not peak or off peak is considered shoulder/part peak. You don't get to set any weights (i.e. rates for time window) so the logic for whether to charge/discharge during off peak is probably quite complex. I've left mine on "Time-based control" set to "Cost Saving". I've seen my Powerwalls charge and discharge during the shoulder. I'm pretty good with the systems best guesses at maximizing my savings. In my situation, it sometimes makes sense to discharge during park peak if all the energy that was going to be discharged came from off peak. On some days (generally hot days) my peak usage would consume all the battery that is available. You don't want to discharge during the part peak in those situations. If the morning was overcast and the Powerwalls can't get full charged during off peak then it might make sense to charge during the shoulder if the energy was going get used during peak.

 

[aesculus]

Off-peak (lowest rates) runs from Midnight to 3 PM the next day.

My question is how are you dealing with Midnight? The app only goes to 11:30 which is no big deal but ...

 

[RobbL]

So arnolddeleon, it sounds like you enter the times for peak and off peak as they are, and let the balance be defined as partial. You do not include partial in either your peak range or off peak range as getakey does. I know some others follow that strategy, as well, as the logic for partial is not clear.

 

[getakey]

My question is how are you dealing with Midnight? The app only goes to 11:30 which is no big deal but ...

Goes to midnight on mine

 

[aesculus]

Goes to midnight on mine

What version are you on? On 1.48.1 it only goes to 11:30 for me and my neighbor.

 

[getakey]

1.48.1
I just checked and I think I see what you mean. The slider will not go all the way to midnite even though there is space left on the slider bar.

 

[miimura]

1.48.1
I just checked and I think I see what you mean. The slider will not go all the way to midnite even though there is space left on the slider bar.

You have to flip the handles around. The handle with the open circle is the beginning of the period. Therefore, for Off-Peak starting at midnight, the open circle must be all the way at the left.

For example, this is EV-A. The Off-Peak open circle is on the right at 11pm.

This is EV2-A. The Off-Peak open circle is all the way at the left.

 

[miimura]

To the OP's original question. I use TBC-Balanced with the actual EV2-A schedule. I have a relatively small solar system and two Powerwalls. The system does a pretty good job of charging as full as it can before 3pm and if it has surplus energy, it will reduce charging to only Surplus Solar instead of charging using All Solar.

Here is an example. In the morning it charges from All Solar, then it reduces the charging power so that it's only using the Surplus Solar. It continues to power the house until midnight unless it hits the Reserve.