My SGIP request for a single Powerwall install seemed to be stuck for a long time. The date listed was from last March and it just indicated that the application was submitted. That was when I had agreed to the install. The actual installation happened in May and the PTO was received in July. But the SGIP listing still stayed the same. I was pleased yesterday to find that it was finally updated to, "The Reservation Request Form (RRF) for this application was submitted, has been accepted into a budget category, and is pending review by the program administrator." So it has moved forward. Still don't know how long it will take for the review, final approval and, most importantly, a check being sent.
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Progress on SGIP request
- Thread starter RobbL
- Start date
Assuming your SGIP rebate is the Small Scale Residential (non Equity and non Resilience) ... the program Step 6 of 7 will open on October 12.
For PG&E customers, this new step will release $2.6mm for SGIP rebate payments to qualifying homeowners who navigated all the red tape. Assuming $3,375 per customer rebate, that is 770 homeowners getting money in this tranche. Keep in mind this has to cover all installs (non Equity and non Resilience) in the PG&E service area not just Tesla.
I was told by my installer (Sunrun) that the small-scale SGIP waitlist was already in the "thousands" when I was getting quotes in April 2020. So, my understanding is that your March 2020 installation will NOT be paid in this upcoming tranche. From what I was told a few months ago, some customers who received PTO in late 2019 didn't even get their SGIP money when Step 5 paid out a few months ago.
Sunrun stopped advising new potential customers about the chance of getting SGIP funds in the PG&E service area in late 2019 because they felt there wouldn't be any funds left.
PS. Two homeowners from Step 5 had their payments voided so step 6 saw an extra $7,540 of rollover funds. Yay.
For PG&E customers, this new step will release $2.6mm for SGIP rebate payments to qualifying homeowners who navigated all the red tape. Assuming $3,375 per customer rebate, that is 770 homeowners getting money in this tranche. Keep in mind this has to cover all installs (non Equity and non Resilience) in the PG&E service area not just Tesla.
I was told by my installer (Sunrun) that the small-scale SGIP waitlist was already in the "thousands" when I was getting quotes in April 2020. So, my understanding is that your March 2020 installation will NOT be paid in this upcoming tranche. From what I was told a few months ago, some customers who received PTO in late 2019 didn't even get their SGIP money when Step 5 paid out a few months ago.
Sunrun stopped advising new potential customers about the chance of getting SGIP funds in the PG&E service area in late 2019 because they felt there wouldn't be any funds left.
PS. Two homeowners from Step 5 had their payments voided so step 6 saw an extra $7,540 of rollover funds. Yay.
RobbL - best wishes on getting that check!
I am currently waiting to get unstuck in Large Scale (3 PowerWalls) in Step 2.
For anyone who uses AC for a significant part of the year like we do in the Central Valley, 3 PW was not a stretch by any means.
I've had my reserve setting on 25% and with Cost-Savings mode have been down in the 40% range by the end of my TOU peak.
Also, since installed in DEC 2019 we have had 4 outage events (none of them PSPS or flex/fire related) for a total of 4.5 hours backup.
I would encourage anyone looking at SGIP to not be discouraged by the Residential waitlist and steps.
Go big with 3 Power Walls
I am currently waiting to get unstuck in Large Scale (3 PowerWalls) in Step 2.
For anyone who uses AC for a significant part of the year like we do in the Central Valley, 3 PW was not a stretch by any means.
I've had my reserve setting on 25% and with Cost-Savings mode have been down in the 40% range by the end of my TOU peak.
Also, since installed in DEC 2019 we have had 4 outage events (none of them PSPS or flex/fire related) for a total of 4.5 hours backup.
I would encourage anyone looking at SGIP to not be discouraged by the Residential waitlist and steps.
Go big with 3 Power Walls
@holeydonut, you are right that mine is small scale residential. The email from PGE said my application, "has been submitted to Small Residential Storage Step 6 and is pending review." The last time I checked the spreadsheet, I was around number 390 after filtering down to my group. And my install, done by Infinity Energy, is one of the non-Tesla installs that should be covered. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.
Another step forward, although I am still holding my breath. I received another email from PGE saying that they need the Incentive Claim Form, which outlines my project’s eligibility for the rebate. They also wanted the Project Cost Breakdown and Affidavit. Infinity prepared everything and I just needed to sign electronically so they could send it in. PGE now reviews and as a last step, may send someone out for inspection to make sure everything is as the documents claim. That is the last hurdle, other than that the program remains funded.
RobbL - best wishes on getting that check!
I am currently waiting to get unstuck in Large Scale (3 PowerWalls) in Step 2.
For anyone who uses AC for a significant part of the year like we do in the Central Valley, 3 PW was not a stretch by any means.
I've had my reserve setting on 25% and with Cost-Savings mode have been down in the 40% range by the end of my TOU peak.
Also, since installed in DEC 2019 we have had 4 outage events (none of them PSPS or flex/fire related) for a total of 4.5 hours backup.
I would encourage anyone looking at SGIP to not be discouraged by the Residential waitlist and steps.
Go big with 3 Power Walls
Agree. Basically 3 for the price of 2 because you are sure to get the rebate. My install was in Dec/Jan and I was just notified today that my check was approved and should be in the mail in the next 20 days
Just to close this out, I received the SGIP check yesterday for $2320. To summarize, single battery install in May, PTO in July, check in December. What seems clear though is that my experience is not a predictor for what may happen for someone starting the process today. As they say, "YMMV."
when did Tesla apply for SGIP on your behalf? My PTO was this past Friday and Tesla hasn't even applied for mine yet...basically reservation request has not been filed yet.
@mnsweeps, actually it wasn't Tesla. I wanted to work with them on this. But after signing up with them at the beginning of the year for the Powerwall, and despite multiple calls, I never could speak with someone who could write the contract and get it scheduled. Finally, through a friend, I spoke with a Tesla project manager who told me they were way behind, likely wouldn't get to it until September or October and that all SGIP requests were booked. There would be no SGIP rebate available to me. I then found Infinity Energy, who said they could handle everything including SGIP. I heard good things about them through a friend and decided to move forward as I wanted everything in place before any Fall PSPS events here in the SF Bay Area. Infinity started the SGIP process when I signed the contract last March, and then updated the request after install and PTO. Keep pushing on Tesla and try to escalate if possible.
Are you equity and resiliency? If not, dont plan on getting any SGIP at all if you went with tesla as your installer. They were not submitting for 3+ powerwalls at all (large scale) and the backlog they have for small scale is larger than they will be able to fulfill from installations Last year.
There shouldnt be any expectation of getting SGIP if tesla is your installer.
How does it work under that program? Did you have to pay in full up front or something, or does the installer bill the state for it and you pay whatever difference (if any) between the state payout and total cost?
Since under that program, the powerwalls are supposed to be "free" I am unclear on what the timeframe on SGIP submittal would matter, unless you paid for it up front.
I paid 100% to Tesla. Tesla has to file for my ER rebate.. then wait many months for SCE approval and once approved they send the check to me directly. I live in fire zone and on medical baseline.
and ER budget has a ton of money which I am tracking for past 2 months now.. I am afraid when Tesla applies that would be depleted and I would have to wait 2 years instead of 1 yr .. :-(
Ahh I see. I didnt know you had to pay in full up front, then wait for the money back like regular SGIP. Since thats the case, and you are talking a large amount of money, I absolutely 1000% understand the eagerness now.
Some important distinctions...
1) The ER Budget currently has a "ton of money" in the SCE coverage area... but only enough for about 8,000 homes.
2) ER in the PG&E coverage area was all reserved/locked-in about 2 months ago. While the funds haven't gone out yet, new applicants will get paid only if SGIP requests existing queued applications. The "well water" thing is a big loophole that many have claimed. But If you're in NorCal in a fire zone and on medical baseline, you're probably not getting SGIP under ER unless you also qualify for low-income status or go through the large-scale program.
SCE
PG&E
Yes I am in SCE coverage area. I have been tracking the allocations since past 3 month or so on a daily basis. I calculated the average daily burn rate to be about $419k. With $104,247,202 remaining, the funds would be depleted in 248 days (about 8 months)...again this is just an assumption and can change if average burn rate goes up or down in coming days.
Yeah, that's probably the approach the SGIP administrators took a few months ago when they were calculating how much to re-allocate to the low-income category instead of keeping it in the ER and large-scale buckets.
What they didn't take into account was the literal-burn-rate when things started to catch on fire. Since NorCal was literally burning like 50,000 acres of woodland areas and hundreds of homes per day, the PG&E area exhausted the funds in a couple weeks.
Someone asked the SGIP folks why they thought to move so much out of the ER bucket when it was clear lots of people would be interested in it ... and they just said they were "surprised at the demand in recent weeks". Doh.
They did not take money out of ER, just the large scale, right? or did I read it wrong?
I posted this further down in that other thread I created about SGIP
-$150mm transferred OUT
Residential Equity Resiliency = [High risk fire zone OR PSPS impacted] AND [medical baseline OR exclusive well water OR low income] subsidized at 100%
-$160mm transferred OUT
Large Scale Storage = bigger than 10 kilowatts (kW) in size
+$310mm transferred IN to go into both
Non-Residential Equity = low income state and local government facilities, schools, and small businesses
and
Residential Equity = low income but only subsidized at 85%
View attachment 609509
The SGIP folks realized this action effectively zero/killed the regular ER program in NorCal. But they said it was too late to un-do the shift. The SGIP folks put in place a new lottery wait-list system and a "sworn affidavit" for those claiming they were reliant on well-pumps for water.
You can imagine this kind of sucks for some homeowners since they purchased resiliency thinking they were getting a SGIP rebate under the ER program. I'm sure the people selling these systems said things made sense. But now it's a lottery if they get $; and the SGIP admins will start denying certain applications that they deem to be against the spirit of the system.
No, the homeowners do not have recourse against the people who sold the systems under the pretense of obtaining ER funds.
This is why I dislike incentive programs that run through a professional/installer network. These types of programs simply don't work since the people selling the system have a conflict of interest that is different than what the State wants and what a Homeowner would best benefit from.
Installers probably took advantage of homeowners sheltering in place from COVID while being surrounded by burning forests and smoke. So they found a way to qualify homeowners to sign a contract even if those homes weren't really perfectly defined to conform with the ER program.
Look up the Energy Upgrade California program for another example of a failed trickle-down green energy program that was so full of red tape that homeowners simply couldn't get the benefits.
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