Time required until PTO? (I'm at 58 days since final inspection. 104 days since install completion)

[sk240]

It has been a long time to get my Solarglass Roof (17kW) and 3 Powerwalls greenlit to operate.

My project started installation on May 18, 2020, completed on May 29th. After 2 failed inspections, on July 14, 2020, the City of San Jose issued the passing installation permit.

Only as of September 9 does PG&E have all of the necessary paperwork and payments to start the process of scheduling a PTO.

Is this normal? I have spent hours every week making phone calls and sending emails to move the project along. Tesla never seems to know what is going on.

-Sean

 

[BrettS]

Unfortunately I’m not sure it’s too unusual. It was about 10 weeks for me from installation to PTO. 8 weeks of that was waiting for tesla to update my permit and schedule my inspection, then about a week for them to get the payment to the utility and request PTO, then the utility took about a week to grant PTO. It sounds like you’re getting close to the end though.

 

[jboy210]

Our install started March 3 and finished April 2. The final inspection passed on the first try on August 3. PTO granted on Aug 27. Took 2+ weeks after passing the final inspection and paying Tesla for PG&E to receive the fixed version of PTO application.

One thing that worked for us was to work with our Tesla Project Coordinator in the Scheduling Department. She was able to get things moving when the people in inspection and other departments were of no help.

 

[Flick75]

My install happened on July 21st-24th. They left my system up and running since I was signed up for CSS and wasn't exporting to the grid. I then signed up for a TOU meter and progressed to a TOU PV netmeter on August 24th. I've been exporting to the grid for over two weeks now with out PTO and using he system how it will be used once I get PTO.

I really don't give a crap what HECO will do to me at this point since I already grossly over paid for my system to begin with(it was not installed by Tesla/Solar city). I'm just trying to get the most out of it as soon as possible.

 

[sk240]

I have a lengthy history of pushing on Tesla to move this project along. I have every call and email documented with who I have spoken and the outcome. Most of the time, I get the impression that if I didn't do the research, nothing would happen at all. Tesla had no idea that PG&E was missing paperwork for a month. Or if they did, they did nothing to move it forward. Both sides have been playing "it's not my fault" when I've just uncovered a lack of attention by the project manager. Getting a response without being on the phone and getting lucky enough to talk to a rep who tries to be helpful is very difficult.

After making sure all the paperwork was in order once with Tesla, after 21 days of silence, it took two weeks for them to submit it to PG&E after, and that was 37 days after final inspection had passed.

 

[bayareaever]

I have a lengthy history of pushing on Tesla to move this project along. I have every call and email documented with who I have spoken and the outcome. Most of the time, I get the impression that if I didn't do the research, nothing would happen at all. Tesla had no idea that PG&E was missing paperwork for a month. Or if they did, they did nothing to move it forward. Both sides have been playing "it's not my fault" when I've just uncovered a lack of attention by the project manager. Getting a response without being on the phone and getting lucky enough to talk to a rep who tries to be helpful is very difficult.

After making sure all the paperwork was in order once with Tesla, after 21 days of silence, it took two weeks for them to submit it to PG&E after, and that was 37 days after final inspection had passed.

can you just withhold final payment until pto or at least until Tesla does it’s part?

 

[wjgjr]

can you just withhold final payment until pto or at least until Tesla does it’s part?

At least for us, and I believe it is typical, Tesla states they will not apply for PTO until full payment is received, which is typically due after inspection. What exactly that means likely varies by jurisdiction, but there is a good chance at some point Tesla would not push the process further towards PTO without final payment.

 

[SoCal Dave]

At least for us, and I believe it is typical, Tesla states they will not apply for PTO until full payment is received, which is typically due after inspection. What exactly that means likely varies by jurisdiction, but there is a good chance at some point Tesla would not push the process further towards PTO without final payment.

Agreed. Withholding PTO is Tesla's leverage to get paid for the project. If they submitted PTO then they would likely have to go after people to get paid. It is my understanding this is common for most installers as well.

FYI - it is part of the email requiring payment.

 

[jboy210]

can you just withhold final payment until pto or at least until Tesla does it’s part?

Nope. PTO application is Tesla's last opportunity to have something to make you pay the bill. So until you pay, they do not apply for PTO. And it seems their PTO application system is interconnected with their payment system. In less than an hour after we made the final payment, we got an email from PG&E letting us know our PTO application had been received, was being processed, and had a certain ID number.

 

[sk240]

can you just withhold final payment until pto or at least until Tesla does it’s part?

I wish. They won't even file for PTO until the final payment is received. It's a huge hole in the contract that I didn't think would be a big deal. The final payment is due the day the city passes the inspection.

 

[sk240]

Nope. PTO application is Tesla's last opportunity to have something to make you pay the bill. So until you pay, they do not apply for PTO. And it seems their PTO application system is interconnected with their payment system. In less than an hour after we made the final payment, we got an email from PG&E letting us know our PTO application had been received, was being processed, and had a certain ID number.

You are living the dream!!! I am still waiting for that. 59 days and counting since I paid.

 

[jboy210]

You are living the dream!!! I am still waiting for that. 59 days and counting since I paid.

Read what I wrote closely. The short time was for PG&E to say they received the application. It still took 3-4 weeks and a Tesla correction to get it approved. And PTO was in August with the contract signed in Nov 2019, construction starting on March 2, finishing on April 2, and final inspection August 3. So around 9 months from signing till PTO.

Still, 59 days is a long time between the final payment and PTO. I hope it arrives soon.

Be sure to talk to your Project Coordinator in the Scheduling Dept. The good ones seem to know how to push the rest of Tesla forward.

 

[JP61]

I am having similar experience with Tesla/PG&E. 11.4kw solar with 3 Powerwalls installed on June 9. Today is Sep 11 and still no PTO. The worst part is getting information or updates from Tesla - nothing! Very disappointed.

 

[sorka]

It has been a long time to get my Solarglass Roof (17kW) and 3 Powerwalls greenlit to operate.

My project started installation on May 18, 2020, completed on May 29th. After 2 failed inspections, on July 14, 2020, the City of San Jose issued the passing installation permit.

Only as of September 9 does PG&E have all of the necessary paperwork and payments to start the process of scheduling a PTO.

Is this normal? I have spent hours every week making phone calls and sending emails to move the project along. Tesla never seems to know what is going on.

-Sean

When did they make you pay for it?

If I had to wait more than a few weeks, with the size of the system you have, I'd just turn off the main service breaker and go off grid. You don't need permission to operate for that.

 

[sk240]

When did they make you pay for it?

If I had to wait more than a few weeks, with the size of the system you have, I'd just turn off the main service breaker and go off grid. You don't need permission to operate for that.

I paid for it on July 14th.

I'm not saying I haven't been getting the benefit from it. However, it did give an arc-fault error on both of the inverters. Tesla refused to fix that until PTO because I wasn't supposed to be using it. After several phone calls, I finally got them to come out and fix it.

 

[sorka]

I paid for it on July 14th.

I'm not saying I haven't been getting the benefit from it. However, it did give an arc-fault error on both of the inverters. Tesla refused to fix that until PTO because I wasn't supposed to be using it. After several phone calls, I finally got them to come out and fix it.

Astonishing given that type of error could be grounds for the utility to NOT grant PTO until it's fixed since it could pollute the grid.
What did they do to fix it?

 

[Yodeller]

It would be nice if we set up a crowd tracking system that had a bunch of key dates for milestones. There’s one for immigration system applications called trackitt but it would basically work like this:
When someone does Tesla solar or solar + battery, they would submit some basic stats to a forum that go into a table
Example fields -
State, Utility, Deposit Date, system size system type (solar glass roof or panels), pw battery count, install appointment date, Actual install date, final payment date, city inspection, utility inspection (I don’t know which is final ..), ATO application no. Received (Y/N), and date, ATO communication Type and date. ..

All this stuff would gradually accumulate in a self reported table that becomes super helpful for others down the line. Trackitt for Tesla energy forum members. Now let me pause and check my own dates. System installed Aug 21, inspected same day, waiting ever since for PTO but left running as I would use it. 1 backup event already successfully handled. Check with PGE indicated that payment from tesla was the only outstanding item and in my case Tesla sent the check to PG&E almost 2 weeks ago. I was told to expect 5-6 weeks wait between install and PTO.i have no idea if the utility will physically come out for another inspection or whether there are consequences for exporting power to the grid before PTO.

 

[trautmane2]

Here's one for Solar Glass installs:

While I'm patiently waiting for my Tesla Solar Glass install, I've been trying to search the Interwebs for a resource to track Tesla's Solar Glass Installation, similar to the order and delivery trackers we see on cars. Based on recent threads here on TMC, it seems like it's over 100 roofs installed thus far.

So, I started a Google Sheet spreadsheet with hopes of tracking them. Please look into it and feel free to add your info:

Tesla Solar Glass Order Tracker

Let me know if you have any other column suggestions.

 

[BrettS]

It would be nice if we set up a crowd tracking system that had a bunch of key dates for milestones.

It’s a nice thought, but I’m not sure that it would really work out very well in practice. Many of these dates and delays are very very location dependent. For example it took my city only two days to approve my permit, but I’ve seen other people post that it’s normal for their city to take several weeks to approve permits. In at least one case, I think it even went into months for someone, due to covid.

Some utilities require inspections by the utility and some don’t.

Even the time from scheduling to install can very hugely from one location to another based on how many orders there are and how many install teams they have in the area.

I think if you were looking at this data nationally you would wind up with vague numbers like 1-6 weeks for each step.

I think in order to have any hope of being useful you’d need to be able to drill down locally, to look at other installs in your own city and utility company, but certainly in a lot of areas of the country there just aren’t enough installs to cover every combination. Even looking at the numbers for one city over wouldn’t necessarily be helpful if they have a different permitting authority and/or utility company.

And frankly, even within one locality I suspect that numbers can vary greatly. For example, it took more than 8 weeks from the time my system was installed until it was inspected by the city. But I believe that a large portion of that delay was caused by the fact that they needed to update my permit because some of the panel locations changed on install day. Other people in this same city could get an inspection in just a few days if they didn’t have to worry about permit changes.

I certainly understand where you’re coming from. I know that when I ordered my system I wanted to know exactly how long each step would take and I was trying to find that information, but having gone through the process and watched a number of others go through the process here I just don’t think it’s possible to predict those numbers because it’s really a huge project and there are so many different variables.

 

[wjgjr]

It’s a nice thought, but I’m not sure that it would really work out very well in practice. Many of these dates and delays are very very location dependent. For example it took my city only two days to approve my permit, but I’ve seen other people post that it’s normal for their city to take several weeks to approve permits. In at least one case, I think it even went into months for someone, due to covid.

Some utilities require inspections by the utility and some don’t.

Even the time from scheduling to install can very hugely from one location to another based on how many orders there are and how many install teams they have in the area.

I think if you were looking at this data nationally you would wind up with vague numbers like 1-6 weeks for each step.

I think in order to have any hope of being useful you’d need to be able to drill down locally, to look at other installs in your own city and utility company, but certainly in a lot of areas of the country there just aren’t enough installs to cover every combination. Even looking at the numbers for one city over wouldn’t necessarily be helpful if they have a different permitting authority and/or utility company.

And frankly, even within one locality I suspect that numbers can vary greatly. For example, it took more than 8 weeks from the time my system was installed until it was inspected by the city. But I believe that a large portion of that delay was caused by the fact that they needed to update my permit because some of the panel locations changed on install day. Other people in this same city could get an inspection in just a few days if they didn’t have to worry about permit changes.

I certainly understand where you’re coming from. I know that when I ordered my system I wanted to know exactly how long each step would take and I was trying to find that information, but having gone through the process and watched a number of others go through the process here I just don’t think it’s possible to predict those numbers because it’s really a huge project and there are so many different variables.

I agree - the real solution is for Tesla, local governments, and utilities to have better, more transparent systems so we can see the timelines and current status of our applications. It would at least allow us to have confidence that things are moving and/or see where the hold-up is. To me, the biggest issue is that the process is a black box, and it is very difficult to determine whether an application is proceeding normally, held up for legitimate questions, or just stuck somewhere and forgotten.