Tesla App Utility plan configuration: Multiple Peaks, Buy/Sell Behavior, etc

[AnthonyB]

My current rate utility plan at this time of year has no Peak rate period, just Shoulder and Off-Peak.

The app no longer shows any data in Impact -> Time-of-Use (Graph data unavailable). If I scroll back to a month where I had a Peak tariff, I get data.

Seems to be an app bug?

 

[aswami]

The problem is that you make a little by exporting during Off-Peak, but you have a huge penalty if you don't have enough energy during Peak. If you just set the Off-Peak buy and sell to be equal and less than the Peak buy and sell, then the batteries will charge to full and then naturally export your surplus. The way you have it set, the batteries don't charge and that's not a good thing.

This is more or less what I did. I bumped up the peak buy to be much higher. Kept the off-peak buy and sell, as well as the on-peak sell to be the same as before. That seems to have done the trick. I did provide feedback to Tesla to allow setting sell price to be higher than buy price, and also allow demand component in the rate. Don't know when, if ever, they will implement the change.

 

[miimura]

This is more or less what I did. I bumped up the peak buy to be much higher. Kept the off-peak buy and sell, as well as the on-peak sell to be the same as before. That seems to have done the trick. I did provide feedback to Tesla to allow setting sell price to be higher than buy price, and also allow demand component in the rate. Don't know when, if ever, they will implement the change.

Yes, it does make sense for Tesla to have a Demand component too. If you really won't have enough energy to make it through a Peak period that has a demand charge, it would be beneficial for the system to allow a continuous draw of say 1kW but have the Powerwalls absorb all the spikes of 5kW running an intermittent load like an air conditioner. That would reduce your billable demand charges.

 

[dhskiracer71]

Now that we switched to summer rates in the AZ SRP territory, my system is sending all my solar to the grid rather than just excess solar. I’d rather have only excess solar so that the batteries last through the evening peak period and I don’t end up with demand charges if depleted. I can’t seem to correct this behavior by adjusting but/sell rates. Changing to self-powered does the trick so I may have to go back to Darwin’s automation app? Any ideas?

 

[h2ofun]

Well, I continue to work with Tesla to get my advance options enabled. I did get 2 messages from Tesla support today. First one telling me it still is not working.
Second one is

Hello Dave,



Your case has now been escalated to our service engineering team as upon review there seems to be a configuration missing from your system. We will notify you once this issue has been resolved.



Thank You,


The other point I got was not matter what, he said we should get a note saying we are either not eligible, or we are. I got if one has a loan from folks that makes one not eligible he said.

So, I am still working on it

 

[h2ofun]

My app just updated to 4.8, no change. I am interested in what the config missing from my system might be.

Are others having the same type of issues I am having, not seeing the advanced options? If not, what are you doing to try and fix?

 

[aesculus]

My app was updated too with no change either. I have Charge from Grid but not Export. Not planning on doing anything until the dust settles and there is some rule that I can point to or logic. Right now it appears its haphazard at best.

 

[Steve2498]

My current rate utility plan at this time of year has no Peak rate period, just Shoulder and Off-Peak.

The app no longer shows any data in Impact -> Time-of-Use (Graph data unavailable). If I scroll back to a month where I had a Peak tariff, I get data.

Seems to be an app bug?

My summer rates kicked in on 5/1 too and the system is now doing what you describe even when the battery hasn’t been recharged! Frustrating. I’ve changed to self powered mode to get to behave closer to what I want.

 

[RobbL]

Just looking for the basics here. I live in Oakland, CA and have had solar for several years and a Powerwall for two. I hadn't checked the Tesla app for a while and just now discovered the changes. I called Tesla to have them walk through it with me, and they said I needed to get certain info from PGE. I called them and started with asking the Utility Rate Plan name. Currently it says, Tesla_TOU (edited). PGE said it should be EV2A which is a Time of Use plan. However, when I enter EV2A, the app won't let me save that name. Can someone let me know the entries I should use for this section, including the Seasons, Dates, and Buy and Sell prices they have used which work well?

Thank you for the help and advice.

 

[cwied]

Just looking for the basics here. I live in Oakland, CA and have had solar for several years and a Powerwall for two. I hadn't checked the Tesla app for a while and just now discovered the changes. I called Tesla to have them walk through it with me, and they said I needed to get certain info from PGE. I called them and started with asking the Utility Rate Plan name. Currently it says, Tesla_TOU (edited). PGE said it should be EV2A which is a Time of Use plan. However, when I enter EV2A, the app won't let me save that name. Can someone let me know the entries I should use for this section, including the Seasons, Dates, and Buy and Sell prices they have used which work well?

Thank you for the help and advice.

I haven't tried changing the plan, but the name in my app is "EV2-A". You might try adding the dash to see if it works. Note that the buy and sell prices were not updated for the March changes, but I think it doesn't affect the way the Powerwalls behave as long as the relationship between off-peak, shoulder and peak rates is correct.

 

[miimura]

Just looking for the basics here. I live in Oakland, CA and have had solar for several years and a Powerwall for two. I hadn't checked the Tesla app for a while and just now discovered the changes. I called Tesla to have them walk through it with me, and they said I needed to get certain info from PGE. I called them and started with asking the Utility Rate Plan name. Currently it says, Tesla_TOU (edited). PGE said it should be EV2A which is a Time of Use plan. However, when I enter EV2A, the app won't let me save that name. Can someone let me know the entries I should use for this section, including the Seasons, Dates, and Buy and Sell prices they have used which work well?

Thank you for the help and advice.

This is what my EV2-A rate plan looks like in the app. I never had the option to choose pre-defined rate plans, so I just entered it myself.

I am on NEM1, so my buy and sell is equal. If you are on NEM2, then you could increase the Buy price by $0.03/kWh or reduce the Sell price by $0.03/kWh to compensate for the Non-Bypassable Charges. I'm not sure which adjustment is better.
These are the correct tariff prices as of 3/1/2022.

 

[RobbL]

Thank you. That is very helpful. And, Yes, I did need to enter it as EV2-A.

 

[TheHut]

Now that we switched to summer rates in the AZ SRP territory, my system is sending all my solar to the grid rather than just excess solar. I’d rather have only excess solar so that the batteries last through the evening peak period and I don’t end up with demand charges if depleted. I can’t seem to correct this behavior by adjusting but/sell rates. Changing to self-powered does the trick so I may have to go back to Darwin’s automation app? Any ideas?

I’m on SRP Average Demand, 12kW/3PW with PTO May 17th and fought with my system for a bit before I figured out the settings I was looking for.

Setting off-peak buy/sell rates to $0.00 was what ended up doing the trick. I set the peak buy to the demand $ rate but I probably don’t need that much of a differential between the peak buy and sell rates.

Desired behavior was to have all solar charge PWs to 100% in the morning and only then send to house and excess to grid so I could hit peak every day at 100% but then stop drawing from PW once peak ends.

Attached pics for reference.

 

[Merrill]

I have been using time based controls and scheduled to run off the powerwalls from 4 to 9pm but for some reason I’m not running off the powerwalls during peak, I have played with the settings but still no change. How do I get back to running the house off powerwalls at peak times.

 

[dcoakley]

Double check settings, look for your utility company and verify your rate plan is the same as it appears on your bill. You could also call them directly. Another option would be to switch to self powered. Though you might drain them (power walls) prior to 9 pm depending on usage. Btw how long has this been going on…

 

[Merrill]

Double check settings, look for your utility company and verify your rate plan is the same as it appears on your bill. You could also call them directly. Another option would be to switch to self powered. Though you might drain them (power walls) prior to 9 pm depending on usage. Btw how long has this been going on…

Yes, I went thru all the settings to make sure they are correct. This just started yesterday and last night around 8:45pm it started working correctly so I will check again today after 4pm.

 

[skepticcyclist]

Has anyone figured out how to make the TOU setting behave like the old "balanced" mode?

 

[skepticcyclist]

Has anyone figured out how to make the TOU setting behave like the old "balanced" mode?

Anyone?

 

[Redhill_qik]

Anyone?

I have the following pricing for my system that results in Powerwalls discharging to handle the house load during Peak with any solar going to the grid and during Off-Peak solar goes first to the house then to the Powerwall recharge and then to the grid. I think this is the equivalent of the original Balanced mode.

Period	Buy	Sell
Off-Peak	$0.07	$0.06
Peak	$0.10	$0.09

 

[skepticcyclist]

I have the following pricing for my system that results in Powerwalls discharging to handle the house load during Peak with any solar going to the grid and during Off-Peak solar goes first to the house then to the Powerwall recharge and then to the grid. I think this is the equivalent of the original Balanced mode.

Period	Buy	Sell
Off-Peak	$0.07	$0.06
Peak	$0.10	$0.09

I will try that. Basically make the buy and sell difference negligible, like by 1 cent?