PSA: Switching to Time-of-Use Electrical Billing

[aesculus]

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 ($$$).

I contacted them a few months ago and they said they were working on a new program and hope to have more info on it this fall. This could be better than doing the separate panel/meter thing.

 

[BrokerDon]

I contacted them a few months ago and they said they were working on a new program and hope to have more info on it this fall. This could be better than doing the separate panel/meter thing.

Absolutely! That's why I enrolled in SCE's PEV Pilot Program - Phase 1 so we could get a "virtual" second meter via the eMotorWerks WattBox for our Tesla charging. Works great and shows up as two different service accounts (home on TOU-D-B-SDP and Tesla on TOU-EV-1) under our home's account. Sadly it looks like Phase 1 will end before Phase 2 enrollment begins so we'll be back to one single TOU-D-B-SDP rate plan until Phase 2 kicks in. Poor planning that they're putting us through this but hey its a monopoly regulated by a government agency so not totally unexpected.

 

[electric_feel]

In Southern California on SDG&E, I've been on the EV-TOU2 rates since the fall of 2013, when we obtained our RAV4 EV. I only had to call them and tell them that I was getting a BEV and would charge at home in order to switch, that and fill out a form with no information to prove it. I didn't really want to do the separate meter, so EV-TOU2 is the plan I'm on. Right now, these are the summer rates:

12PM - 6PM (on peak): $0.46/kWh
12AM - 5AM (super off peak): $0.18/kWh
5AM - 12PM, 6PM - 12AM: $0.21/kWh

For my area, those rates are decent except for the dreaded on peak hours. To offset that, I have had solar panels from SolarCity since the fall of 2015. I paid $0 down for a 20-year lease, and only pay what gets generated from the panels. From SolarCity, I'm paying $0.188/kWh. The nice thing about that my energy usage from SDG&E has been negative during on peak, feeding back into the grid and getting me some payback via net metering.