PSA: Switching to Time-of-Use Electrical Billing

[JC86]

Depending on your billing cycle, call your utility provider well in advance of taking delivery of your Tesla to make sure you are on their TOU plan by the time you take delivery of your car and start charging at home.

SoCal Edison is my electricity provider and I called them to switch over to their TOU plan about a week before we were going to take delivery of our MS 90D. Switching over is easy, however, the switch doesn't take effect until the next billing cycle so for your current billing cycle, you are still on your existing tiered billing.

In my particular usage case, my non-EV monthly usage had me just breaking the tiered three rate at 29cents/kWh and my billing cycle was only a few days in when I called to make the switch so my first partial month of EV charging was all on my existing tier three rate of 29 cents/kWh vs the TOU rate of 13 cents/kWh.

Granted, it is only for the first month but a little advanced planning could save you $100 easily.

 

[Xenius]

Pretty sure TOU billing is only widely available in CA, don't think that's an option here in PA.

 

[aesculus]

I got caught up in the PG&E TOU restructuring and it took about 3 months to get switched over. And in the end they had me scheduled to switch to another TOU plan too that I had to have called off.

In PG&E's case you have to have a VIN before they will put you on either of the two EV rate plans and I would be afraid to charge my car on the regular TOU plans because the usage would force me into larger tiers. The EV plans are not tiered, but you pay a hefty penalty for using power on peak, which during the week is 3pm until 9pm. That is the sweet spot for needing power for regular life so it's a bit challenging.

I will try this for a few months but I may end up putting in a separate panel and meter for the car if this does not work. When I put the 1/0 wire for my charger in I wrapped a bunch extra in the wall just because of this reason.

Not using AC on a 100+ day or not being able to cook your dinner is ???.

 

[JC86]

Pretty sure TOU billing is only widely available in CA, don't think that's an option here in PA.

Interesting, I just assumed it was widely available in other states as well. I'm curious to know what rates you pay for electricity because at tier three rates of 29 cents/kWh in SoCal, charging the Tesla isn't much cheaper than buying gas.

I got caught up in the PG&E TOU restructuring and it took about 3 months to get switched over. And in the end they had me scheduled to switch to another TOU plan too that I had to have called off.

In PG&E's case you have to have a VIN before they will put you on either of the two EV rate plans and I would be afraid to charge my car on the regular TOU plans because the usage would force me into larger tiers. The EV plans are not tiered, but you pay a hefty penalty for using power on peak, which during the week is 3pm until 9pm. That is the sweet spot for needing power for regular life so it's a bit challenging.

I will try this for a few months but I may end up putting in a separate panel and meter for the car if this does not work. When I put the 1/0 wire for my charger in I wrapped a bunch extra in the wall just because of this reason.

Not using AC on a 100+ day or not being able to cook your dinner is ???.

SCE's TOU has peak at 2-8PM so its a little easier to avoid the peak rates. That being said, the peak rate is 44 cents/kWh in the summer and 33 cents/kWh in the winter.

 

[Xenius]

Interesting, I just assumed it was widely available in other states as well. I'm curious to know what rates you pay for electricity because at tier three rates of 29 cents/kWh in SoCal, charging the Tesla isn't much cheaper than buying gas.

Current PeCo rates: Note: Savings calculated based upon PECO's Price to Compare of 7.48 cents per kWh, effective June 1, 2016 to August 31, 2016 and PECO's proposed Price to Compare of 7.77 cents per kWh for September 1, 2016 to November 30, 2016

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

Here in PA, I'm about $0.116 kWh total bill... I called solar city, best they could do was $0.15/kWh.

PA has (relatively) cheap power. I use the PA Power Switch site to switch to the cheapest every 3-6 months.

That's TOTAL bill. Generation for me, right now is $0.0595

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Pretty sure TOU billing is only widely available in CA, don't think that's an option here in PA.

Time-of-Use Rate Option

It's worth doing some research.

Some states or utilities have ridiculous conditions on it. Here in Maine on CMP it's OK. We're on TOU delivery and it saves us a couple of dollars per month overall despite only using low 200s for the Volt, thanks to time-shifting some other loads such as laundry and dishes, and decent off-peak periods. If/when I also have a plug-in it'll be a bigger saving, with marginal savings of 1.5 to 2 c/kWh.

PA has, according to Talking Mule put some good Net Metering in place and the PPL TOU also allows Net Metering, with some limitation.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

PPL Time-of-Use Rate Option

lol, those prices are a joke. Even the off hours is MORE than I pay 24/7...

 

[mikeash]

I don't think TOU rates would work for me. The bulk of my electrical costs are air conditioning (I work from home) so I'm pretty sure it would be a substantial net loss. I only pay about 13 cents/kWh flat rate, and driving the Model S costs me about the same as driving a Prius at current gas prices.

At 29 cents/kWh, I'd definitely be looking for ways to bring that down!

 

[CHG-ON]

I'm on PGE and signed up one month after taking delivery. They were awesome. I provided my VIN and they approved me in two days and actually activated it retroactively to my prior month's billing, which just happened to coincide with my delivery date. I thought the process would be the typical big corporation goat rodeo. But it could not have been easier and they could not have been more pleasant to deal with.

 

[BrokerDon]

I got caught up in the PG&E TOU restructuring and it took about 3 months to get switched over. And in the end they had me scheduled to switch to another TOU plan too that I had to have called off.

In PG&E's case you have to have a VIN before they will put you on either of the two EV rate plans and I would be afraid to charge my car on the regular TOU plans because the usage would force me into larger tiers. The EV plans are not tiered, but you pay a hefty penalty for using power on peak, which during the week is 3pm until 9pm. That is the sweet spot for needing power for regular life so it's a bit challenging.

I will try this for a few months but I may end up putting in a separate panel and meter for the car if this does not work. When I put the 1/0 wire for my charger in I wrapped a bunch extra in the wall just because of this reason.

Before you spend a bundle installing a separate panel & meter see if you qualify for an eMotorWerks JuiceBox Pilot Program... or if PG&E is going to offer a PEV Pilot Program - Phase . These may allow you to inexpensively install an eMotorWerks JuiceBox or WattBox digital sub-meter for your EV. We enrolled in SCE's PEV Pilot Program - Phase 1 in September of last year, enrolled in OhmConnect and our Tesla's electricity is sub-metered via the WattBox. We earned a bunch of OhmConnect credits which we used to buy Schneider Electric Wiser Smart Plugs for our 120V appliances to earn even more OhmConnect points ($$$).

The only snafu was SCE UN-enrolled us in OhmConnect on June 1st because we're enrolled in SCE's Summer Discount Plan ... and now only allows ONE "Demand Response Program" per SCE account. We save $100+ a month on SCE's Summer Discount Plan vs. $20 to $40 a month on OhmConnect's Demand Response Plan. We hope to switch to PEV Pilot Program - Phase 2 when it opens in November since it allows our WattBox sub-metered Tesla charging to be on SCE's EV-1-TOU plan which provides longer Off-Peak charging hours (9:00 PM to 12:00 noon} than our household's TOU-D-B-SDP (11:00 PM to 8:00 AM)... AND exactly tracks our EV charging costs.

Here's the PEV Pilot Program links:

SDG&E: Electric Vehicle Submetering Pilot | PG&E

PG&E: Electric Vehicle Submetering Pilot | PG&E

SCE: EV Submeter Pilot Program | Electric Vehicle Rates | Electric Vehicles | Your Home | Home - SCE

OhmConnect: Please use my referral link if you decide to join so we BOTH earn $20: #OhmHour in effect until 5:00PM. Save energy to earn!

eMotorWerks JuiceBox: Electric Motor Werks, Inc. - Electric Motor Werks, Inc.

 

[AndreSF]

I'm on PG&E TOU plan now and paying less then I used to with tiered plan and EV (Volt). No normal usage changes, but I drove Volt for 3 years and charged it as much as I could regardless of the time of day (tiered plan). With MS's a lot more reasonable range, charging at night at 12 cents per kwh flat works great. No A/C (San Francisco), but some major appliances are electric (cooktop, oven).
Switching to TOU took a couple of billing cycles, and PG&E did require VIN (did the whole thing online).

I have a co-worker with a Leaf, who has solar panels and is on a TOU plan too. His wife has a home based business, they live in "A/C required" area, but with solar panels they are able to generate more energy most of the time during peak than they use.

 

[fluxemag]

I've had TOU plans in both AZ (SRP) and Portland (Portland General). They both save(d) me a significant amount of coin.

 

[Boatguy]

My brother-in-law is in PA and the rates there are dramatically cheaper than we have in California.

I put in a second meter for the EVs when I remodeled my house, so they are on the PG&E EV-B rate schedule which is TOU based, and the cheapest power I get is still more expensive than the 24/7 rates in PA!

I do have a JuiceBox for one of my cars and it's an excellent EVSE, but since I'm on a separate meter I had no need for the OhmConnect plan.

 

[Redmiata98]

Mikeash, if you are using Dominion Power, you might want to look into the TOU plans. There are three options and one of them might save you money now and in the future. I am using the
EV Only Pricing Plan and it works for me. Brochure at:
https://www.dom.com/library/domcom/pdfs/virginia-power/electric-vehicle-brochure.pdf?la=en

 

[Xenius]

My brother-in-law is in PA and the rates there are dramatically cheaper than we have in California.

I put in a second meter for the EVs when I remodeled my house, so they are on the PG&E EV-B rate schedule which is TOU based, and the cheapest power I get is still more expensive than the 24/7 rates in PA!

I do have a JuiceBox for one of my cars and it's an excellent EVSE, but since I'm on a separate meter I had no need for the OhmConnect plan.

Not only is PA power super cheap, but it's also mostly clean. 40.9% Nuclear and the next largest is gas.

 

[mikeash]

Mikeash, if you are using Dominion Power, you might want to look into the TOU plans. There are three options and one of them might save you money now and in the future. I am using the
EV Only Pricing Plan and it works for me. Brochure at:
https://www.dom.com/library/domcom/pdfs/virginia-power/electric-vehicle-brochure.pdf?la=en

Thank you. I am indeed with Dominion. I've looked at the EV Only plan but with my charging costs running $20-30/month, the payoff period seems likely to be way too long. I know the additional meter is free, but I imagine related costs aren't particularly cheap.

 

[RandyR]

I'm on the PG&E EV plan and really happy. The solution for me is that I have solar, which I'm selling back to PG&E at 4x the rate I buy at night to charge.

 

[dweeks]

Pretty sure TOU billing is only widely available in CA, don't think that's an option here in PA.

I had TOU pricing in Tucson (Tucson Electric Power) and now have it in Flagstaff (Arizona Public Service). Both utilities offered an EV discount on top of the time of use pricing.

APS Base rate

$0.24784 per kWh during On-Peak hours, plus

$0.06460 per kWh during Off-Peak hours, plus

$0.04195 per kWh during Super Off-Peak hours

 

[BrokerDon]

I had TOU pricing in Tucson (Tucson Electric Power) and now have it in Flagstaff (Arizona Public Service). Both utilities offered an EV discount on top of the time of use pricing.

APS Base rate

$0.24784 per kWh during On-Peak hours, plus

$0.06460 per kWh during Off-Peak hours, plus

$0.04195 per kWh during Super Off-Peak hours

Wow your Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak rates are REALLY low. Do these include both generating and distribution costs?

Crazy thing about our SCE costs is our lowest "household" TOU-D-B rate are almost the same as our lowest "EV" TOU-EV-1 rate once both generation and distributions costs are added... even though the generation and distributions costs are dramatically different. Makes ZERO logical sense but a lot of the TOU rates are illogical.