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Understanding PGE/SVCE electricity bills/TrueUP

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Because all of this was likely written for large scale generation sites. Why would a residential customer ever want to install expensive and large batteries in their home? That would be just crazy. And then solar gets affordable, battery technology advances rapidly to support EVs with higher power densities and volume that lowers the cost and now there are a lot of unexpected residential users being shoe horned into a system that never consider us.

Slide 6 says "Battery Storage energy exports do not get NEM credits for energy which was originally charged from the grid.". Our interconnect agreement forbids us from charging from the grid, well except for StormWatch mode?, and we are prohibited from discharging form the grid also by the interconnect agreement. So WTF is right.
No, it just says we have to charge from renewable at least 75% of the time. Does not say we cannot charge from grid. But, we cannot export, technically that I have heard anyone making happen, yet
 
Ok, this is nuts. I'm was taking another look through the NEMPS FAQ and noticed this note that said "to learn more go to Battery storage for residential customers ". And on that page is the following:

Potentially reduce your energy costs: If you are on a PG&E Time-of-Use rate or Home Charging rate, your battery can charge when electricity is cheaper and discharge for use in your home when electricity from the grid is more expensive.

Explore rates that could be beneficial for battery storage customers:
LEARN ABOUT THE HOME CHARGING (EV2A) RATE
LEARN ABOUT TIME-OF-USE RATES

So PG&E will allow ESS to charge at night on the EV2A rate plan? Well probably not as the link only mentions EV charging on that page it goes to, but that is some deceptive language.

In the FAQ at the bottom, in the "What are the benefits of pairing my home battery with solar?" it says.
On an everyday basis:
If you are on a Time-of Use-rate or Home Charging rate, your battery can charge when electricity is cheaper and discharge electricity for home use when electricity from PG&E’s grid is more expensive. When paired with solar, a battery can help you get the most bill savings under Net Energy Metering and optimize the carbon-reduction impacts from your solar system.

It appears that one part of PG&E thinks that ESS systems are allowed to charge from the grid at night at low(er) rates, hence the need to only allow NEM credits up to the PV generation, but then another part of PG&E forbids this from happening unless it is StormWatch?.....
Yep, this is went I have quoted sending to Tesla, plus the stuff SGIP says is legal.

PGE forbids NOTHING! SGIP just says renewables at least 75% charge, so 25% charge can be from grid, SW or whatever.
 
Yes, PG&E believes all ESS can be grid-charged and can grid-export with no restrictions. It doesn't matter if Tesla (and just about every residential ESS maker) prohibits ESS to do this when installed alongside solar.

From PG&E's standpoint, they view the restriction to be a simple software control that can easily be bypassed. So they basically adopt the perspective that all Tesla Powerwall owners on NEM2-MT or NEM2-PS will grid-charge at off peak time and export at peak time. What is ironic is that I don't think anyone here at TMC has figured out a reliable way to automate grid-charging during off peak and grid exporting during peak.

This "estimation" method in absence of an expensive a$$ NGOM meter makes me want to barf. It basically limits the NEM credits you are actually producing by sending real energy to the grid. Like, instead of looking at the reading from the normal meter in the MSP meter socket, they just guestimate your PV and home loads. Barf.

Based on Tesla data obtained for the days in my most recent EV2-A billing cycle, I...
  • Source: Import from Grid: 80 kWh
  • Source: PV: 1,106 kWh
  • Uses: In Home 787 kWh
  • Uses: Export to Grid 320 kWh
So ignoring TOU and NBC malarkey, I should get generation record of 1,106 kWh from PV, and have a NEM credit worth (320 - 80 kWh or 240 kWh).

But, PG&E is claiming I only generated 814 kWh... because this EPBB calculator is absolute rubbish where it uses PV Watts and not actual weather experience in 2021. I punched in my 23 LG panels and 23 Enphase IQ7+ ... and I get a Mar/Apr blended number that is pretty close to the "estimation" on my PG&E bill. At least PG&E sees the 240 kWh of NEM export,

That means come the end of the year, I won't get credit for 292 kWh of generation. So when I get to the end of the year and it's time to true up, I feel like I'm going to get smashed with "wholesale" credit on a ton of my generation instead of normal NEM credit.

How are you guys going to try and fix this? Put in a NGOM? Or do you think this will not actually be a big deal during true-up time?

Edit: No, I do not plan on ever grid-charging these Powerwalls then Exporting to the Grid to arbitrage rates. The only time I would ever grid-charge is during a Stormwatch.
Do you know anyone who has Grid exported in Calif? Seems other parts of the country may have? If so, I guess this would prove it is technically possible.
And since it is legal to grid charge up to 25%, and yep, I have seen it done, .....
 
Do you know anyone who has Grid exported in Calif? Seems other parts of the country may have? If so, I guess this would prove it is technically possible.
And since it is legal to grid charge up to 25%, and yep, I have seen it done, .....
Well @holeydonut said that he received a mailing from PG&E and Sunrun offering $100 to allow PG&E to control his Powerwalls and export to improve the grid reliability.
 
Well @holeydonut said that he received a mailing from PG&E and Sunrun offering $100 to allow PG&E to control his Powerwalls and export to improve the grid reliability.
After I posted I thought about that. So, I guess technically, we cannot say it is impossible to send to grid

Now, as long as PGE uses the best case for solar, I guess it should not matter? Meaning, between shading and panel directions, I never will get output that is what my panel specs are? Its the winter where I would want to charge batteries from grid some. :)
 
Do you know anyone who has Grid exported in Calif? Seems other parts of the country may have? If so, I guess this would prove it is technically possible.
And since it is legal to grid charge up to 25%, and yep, I have seen it done, .....

Well @holeydonut said that he received a mailing from PG&E and Sunrun offering $100 to allow PG&E to control his Powerwalls and export to improve the grid reliability.


I don't think anyone has the ability to just grid-charge and grid-export without some weird hack-y type of thing. wwhitney had a thread a while back where he was trying to create a fake load that was registered on a CT. So I guess he could have a CT on a LED light bulb that got magnified by some factor. Maybe that bulb takes a real 10 watts when it's on, but then the CT on that circuit reads 480x the real load. 480 x 10 watts would be a fake load of 20 amps. So this metered load would command the powerwalls to feed 20A extra thinking it was powering a home load, but it just ended up backfeeding the PoCo.

Seems clever... PG&E already thinks we're doing this and bypassing the control software and exporting power back to them during peak time anyway. We're effectively punishing ourselves by not grid-exporting from our batteries during peak.

The "feature" that allows the power company to take control of the battery for grid export during peak time seems better implemented in areas outside of California. So you are seeing more "virtual power plants" out there where people with batteries are grid-exporting at peak time in a manner that actually makes economic sense. The $100 spiff that PG&E is offering me is bogus.
 
Yes, PG&E believes all ESS can be grid-charged and can grid-export with no restrictions. It doesn't matter if Tesla (and just about every residential ESS maker) prohibits ESS to do this when installed alongside solar.

From PG&E's standpoint, they view the restriction to be a simple software control that can easily be bypassed. So they basically adopt the perspective that all Tesla Powerwall owners on NEM2-MT or NEM2-PS will grid-charge at off peak time and export at peak time. What is ironic is that I don't think anyone here at TMC has figured out a reliable way to automate grid-charging during off peak and grid exporting during peak.

This "estimation" method in absence of an expensive a$$ NGOM meter makes me want to barf. It basically limits the NEM credits you are actually producing by sending real energy to the grid. Like, instead of looking at the reading from the normal meter in the MSP meter socket, they just guestimate your PV and home loads. Barf.

Based on Tesla data obtained for the days in my most recent EV2-A billing cycle, I...
  • Source: Import from Grid: 80 kWh
  • Source: PV: 1,106 kWh
  • Uses: In Home 787 kWh
  • Uses: Export to Grid 320 kWh
So ignoring TOU and NBC malarkey, I should get generation record of 1,106 kWh from PV, and have a NEM credit worth (320 - 80 kWh or 240 kWh).

But, PG&E is claiming I only generated 814 kWh... because this EPBB calculator is absolute rubbish where it uses PV Watts and not actual weather experience in 2021. I punched in my 23 LG panels and 23 Enphase IQ7+ ... and I get a Mar/Apr blended number that is pretty close to the "estimation" on my PG&E bill. At least PG&E sees the 240 kWh of NEM export,

That means come the end of the year, I won't get credit for 292 kWh of generation. So when I get to the end of the year and it's time to true up, I feel like I'm going to get smashed with "wholesale" credit on a ton of my generation instead of normal NEM credit.

How are you guys going to try and fix this? Put in a NGOM? Or do you think this will not actually be a big deal during true-up time?

Edit: No, I do not plan on ever grid-charging these Powerwalls then Exporting to the Grid to arbitrage rates. The only time I would ever grid-charge is during a Stormwatch.

Wait, so are you actually exceeding the estimate? Can you post a screenshot of your "Paired Storage: Maximum Export Estimation" from your DOB? Although in practice, it's possible to get close but in theory it should never actually happen and if it did by just a tiny bit unless your CSI EPBB estimate is in practice half of what you actually make.
 
Wait, so are you actually exceeding the estimate? Can you post a screenshot of your "Paired Storage: Maximum Export Estimation" from your DOB? Although in practice, it's possible to get close but in theory it should never actually happen and if it did by just a tiny bit unless your CSI EPBB estimate is in practice half of what you actually make.
I was thinking the same thing. Is is possible to exceed?
 
Ok, I found a PG&E NEM Paired Storage Billing FAQ document. It says that if you don't have NGOM meter installed then they use an alternative estimation methodology. This alternative method is the CSI EPBB Calculator.

I ran it through for my system with my zipcode, Hanwha Q Cells, Q.PEAK DUO BLK-G6+/SC 340, 24 panels, >6" average standoff (might be wrong), SolarEdge Technologies, SE7600H-US, 1 invertor, minimal shading, tilt of 20 degrees, azimuth 180 degrees (better than mine) and it gave me 1194 kWh for April vs the 1164 kWh that is on my PG&E bill. The annual amount is 12,653 kWh and Tesla estimated 11,584 kWh

View attachment 662421
So, now we know where the number estimate is coming from. I need to start using more electricity.
Thanks for that. We have the same equipment. Will see what we come up with after adjusting for our roof location etc. We’re also split 13 and 11 panels on two roof sections.
 
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That calculator doesn't have my Q.PEAK DUO G6+ 345 watt panels. The highest producing Q cell panel on that calculator is a 265 watt panel. No wonder PG&E's estimate for my system production is so low.
You have 345s? Did you go through someone other than Tesla for your install? Our Tesla install last fall used the 340/SC model (I have thought SC stood for Solar City — which version Hanwha does not list on their site BTW and think it’s manufactured solely for Tesla).
 
In case you missed in other threads. The reason I'm getting my export limited is PG&E has the wrong PV size for me. The likely source of the error was the fact that I had multiple PV systems. Most likely when Tesla installed Powerwalls 3 years ago they botched the application (one of the system was Solar City and other was not).

I was hoping to fix the problem with my 3rd PV system but Tesla submitted the wrong numbers (but to them right) and I signed off because they told them me that was the only way I would get my PTO and my newly assigned adviser was next to useless. The idiot I was dealing said Tesla didn't know about the other system. I was too frustrated at the time to remember that the plans that they submitted for the permit showed all the PV systems.

I've been reducing the issue by using balanced instead of cost savings which fortunately aligns more with my other goals anyway.

When I'm bored and have 4 hours to kill I might try calling PG&E solar support again.
 
I don't think anyone has the ability to just grid-charge and grid-export without some weird hack-y type of thing. wwhitney had a thread a while back where he was trying to create a fake load that was registered on a CT. So I guess he could have a CT on a LED light bulb that got magnified by some factor. Maybe that bulb takes a real 10 watts when it's on, but then the CT on that circuit reads 480x the real load. 480 x 10 watts would be a fake load of 20 amps. So this metered load would command the powerwalls to feed 20A extra thinking it was powering a home load, but it just ended up backfeeding the PoCo.

Seems clever... PG&E already thinks we're doing this and bypassing the control software and exporting power back to them during peak time anyway. We're effectively punishing ourselves by not grid-exporting from our batteries during peak.

The "feature" that allows the power company to take control of the battery for grid export during peak time seems better implemented in areas outside of California. So you are seeing more "virtual power plants" out there where people with batteries are grid-exporting at peak time in a manner that actually makes economic sense. The $100 spiff that PG&E is offering me is bogus.

Just read a Teslarati article on VPP in Australia. Maybe PG&E is thinking of testing this out in sample areas? I’m guessing the installer would be the one to change the software to allow it with PG&E’s permission. So far we have not received any such letter.

 
Maybe someone can help me understand my NEM paired storage bill, I have talked to PG&E and read the above info trying to understand my bill. I produced 1042kWh of Solar last month, my Powerwalls used around 200kWh to recharge. So that would leave 842kWh of solar but I only get 457kWh generation credit. So what happens to the other 385kWh left over.
 
Maybe someone can help me understand my NEM paired storage bill, I have talked to PG&E and read the above info trying to understand my bill. I produced 1042kWh of Solar last month, my Powerwalls used around 200kWh to recharge. So that would leave 842kWh of solar but I only get 457kWh generation credit. So what happens to the other 385kWh left over.
I would assume that your house used it? Power that was generated from solar either goes to Powerwall, grid, or house.
 
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The other issue I have that I’m trying to figure out is why my bill for April is $96 and using the same energy and having the same solar production as last April when my bill was $11. It does not look like the TOUC prices are that much higher than my E6 schedule that I was on before I installed Powerwalls. Plus I’m using the Powerwalls during the peak 4 to 9 so my bill has only off peak pricing.
 
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The other issue I have that I’m trying to figure out is why my bill for April is $96 and using the same energy and having the same solar production as last April when my bill was $11. It does not look like the TOUC prices are that much higher than my E6 schedule that I was on before I installed Powerwalls.
The TOU hours for E-6 last year were different. You would likely end up with more Peak credits on E-6 than TOU-C because you would normally use more of your Peak generation as consumption until 9pm. So, even if the prices for Peak and Off-Peak are nearly the same, the net quantities would be different with the same generation and usage profile. Of course, Powerwalls on TBC should skew this in your favor now.