Separate Electric Meter?

[Vitaman]

For those in the Atlanta area, has anyone come up with a way to analyze at what point it is worth it to install a 2nd meter dedicated to the Garage?
Moved from a home where I had 2 meters and of course only charged (2 Teslas) after 11 PM.
New home has underground utilities and it will be pricey to have a garage meter put in. The 2 Houses are different enough that I am finding it difficult to ascertain how long it will take to recoup the initial costs.
Anyone been down this road?

 

[theothertom]

Educate me. What's the advantage of two meters?

 

[jabloomf1230]

Educate me. What's the advantage of two meters?

None that I can think of offhand, unless they have different rate schedules. I installed a second meter for my charger, so I'll explain why. We have underground service to our house and the meter is on the terminal pole, approximately 200' from the house. The pole is next to a nice, paved parking area, which is where I wanted to charger situated. Easy, right?

Wrong. When the electrician came to do the estimate, he said that he was worried that if he proposed to connect the charger and cutoff box directly to the existing meter, the utility might want the entire underground service line to the house replaced. This was during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic and neither myself nor the electrician could get a straight answer from the utility.

So, since the installation price was about the same, he installed a new meter and service box. The funny thing was, the utility turned the power on for the charger but never sent me a bill. The utility is National Grid but the provider is a community solar project. This was all during COVID-19, so even though I kept calling NG every few months about the bill, I never got one. After 20 months, the community solar guy called me and said NG had contacted him and NG was going to turn the power off because they couldn't find a final inspection report for the installation. Anyway, I got about $500 of free charging because NG said it was their mistake.

 

[darhall993]

For those in the Atlanta area, has anyone come up with a way to analyze at what point it is worth it to install a 2nd meter dedicated to the Garage?
Moved from a home where I had 2 meters and of course only charged (2 Teslas) after 11 PM.
New home has underground utilities and it will be pricey to have a garage meter put in. The 2 Houses are different enough that I am finding it difficult to ascertain how long it will take to recoup the initial costs.
Anyone been down this road?

Who is your utility provider? Some of the Atlanta Area Utilities require a separate meter and some don't. I have Georgia Power which has an EV rate from 11pm-7am but the entire house runs on that rate plan, so there is no need for an additional meter. Sawnee EMC requires a separate meter.

 

[N4HHE]

I have a private meter in my garage on the 50A circuit my Wall Connector is attached. Utility company does not know, is none of their business. Is there for my amusement.

New digtital utility meter was $25 on eBay. Box to mount was $35 at Lowes.

 

[Don.Church]

In the Chattanooga, TN area, anytime you add a second electrical service meter to a residential account, the second meter then gets charged at the commercial rate. So what would be the motivation to go to two meters?