Very High Electric Bill

[brucet999]

I actually have been meaning to call my utility company about this but keep forgetting. So tonight, I did. While PSE&G does not have a rate plan for residential accounts, I can get a another meter and have a separate account for my vehicle and then charge my car from midnight to 7am for .001 per kw plus a .32 cents a day meter charge fee. So basically, it's $10 per month for the meter, plus 0.001 per kw. Tagging fellow LI @wesley888 on this. I know there is a couple of other LI'ers on here, wondering if they knew about this?

According to my math, this would only save me $3.00 a month since I only drive around 600 miles per month.

Normal Rate: 600 x .23 per kw = $13.80

New Meter Rate: 600 x .001 per kw plus $9.60 per month meter fee = $10.20

Probably not worth the effort of setting up another meter on the side of my house and another billing account for me.....

Please excuse my pedantry, but you are not charged per kW. Electricity is sold by the kWh = kilowatt hour. The 1,150 kWh you were charged above the same month last year equals a 100W light bulb burning for 11,500 hours or a 1,000W hair dryer running for 1,150 hours.

More importantly, your option of installing a second meter would cost a lot of money. An electrician has to install a new service panel with a meter socket, interrupt existing poco wires before your existing meter (which may or may not be physically possible), make a Y-splice to join supply wires to your new and old panels, and then run conduit and wires from the new panel to your garage NEMA 14-50 outlet. Depending on where the service entrance is relative to the garage, that could cost $1,000 to $2,000.

 

[mbhforum]

Please excuse my pedantry, but you are not charged per kW. Electricity is sold by the kWh = kilowatt hour. The 1,150 kWh you were charged above the same month last year equals a 100W light bulb burning for 11,500 hours or a 1,000W hair dryer running for 1,150 hours.

More importantly, your option of installing a second meter would cost a lot of money. An electrician has to install a new service panel with a meter socket, interrupt existing poco wires before your existing meter (which may or may not be physically possible), make a Y-splice to join supply wires to your new and old panels, and then run conduit and wires from the new panel to your garage NEMA 14-50 outlet. Depending on where the service entrance is relative to the garage, that could cost $1,000 to $2,000.

Thanks for the clarification. According to PSE&G, there is no charge to install a meter. I definitely am calling back tomorrow to get a second opinion because all of this sounded strange to me. The fact none of this information is available on their website is weird. They even have a section discussing Electricsl Vehicles and no mention of this. PSEG Long Island

 

[mbhforum]

I should also note that my car was preheating every weekday for a good 30 minutes in my garage also which I'm sure sucked a lot of juice as well. I had a configuration with my Smartthings integration to do so which I am disabling as well now. This was in addition to my API polling every minute.

 

[Todd Burch]

If you look at the screenshot I posted, my kw is over 600 since my last charge. We've had a couple of cold days in NY though.

Only over the last 12 miles though. It would be crazy to average 600 Wh/mi over 1500 miles. The first few miles of a trip always have a higher average energy consumption for a number of reasons.

 

[Todd Burch]

Huh? The lowest electric rates in the USA are about 9 cents per KWh but you are quoting 5 cents.

I pay 5.5¢/kWh at night half the year.

 

[whitex]

I noticed my car takes 2.5-3 hours to charge usually from a 30 mile round trip commute.

Something doesn't add up. 2.5-3hr at 10KW is 25-30KWh, that would make you average 1000Wh/mile. Is your car parked outside at freezing temperatures while charging and the cabin heat is on? You should be able to get 30 miles of range in 1.5hrs easy when charging at 240V/40A.

 

[mbhforum]

Something doesn't add up. 2.5-3hr at 10KW is 25-30KWh, that would make you average 1000Wh/mile. Is your car parked outside at freezing temperatures while charging and the cabin heat is on? You should be able to get 30 miles of range in 1.5hrs easy when charging at 240V/40A.

So I've noticed I'm only charging at 30 amps. Tonight it charged from 192 miles to 245 in 2 hours and 20 minutes. The car is parked in my garage which can get cold, but not obviously as cold as outside.

 

[brkaus]

So I've noticed I'm only charging at 30 amps. Tonight it charged from 192 miles to 245 in 2 hours and 20 minutes. The car is parked in my garage which can get cold, but not obviously as cold as outside.

Unplug. Set amps to max. Plug in. Watch what happens. Does it start Hugh and drop?

Did I charge at higher rate before?

 

[mbhforum]

Unplug. Set amps to max. Plug in. Watch what happens. Does it start Hugh and drop?

Did I charge at higher rate before?

I've tried this before and it ends up going back down to 30. I actually posted this while back and was told this is normal and to try to set it 36 and see if it stays at that but obviously it didn't.

Ifs never charged at 40 and stayed there.

 

[brkaus]

I've tried this before and it ends up going back down to 30. I actually posted this while back and was told this is normal and to try to set it 36 and see if it stays at that but obviously it didn't.

Ifs never charged at 40 and stayed there.

Voltage drop significantly when it was ramping current?

Sounds like you have a wiring problem in house or on the utility side.

 

[wesley888]

I actually have been meaning to call my utility company about this but keep forgetting. So tonight, I did. While PSE&G does not have a rate plan for residential accounts, I can get a another meter and have a separate account for my vehicle and then charge my car from midnight to 7am for .001 per kw plus a .32 cents a day meter charge fee. So basically, it's $10 per month for the meter, plus 0.001 per kw. Tagging fellow LI @wesley888 on this. I know there is a couple of other LI'ers on here, wondering if they knew about this?

Thanks for tagging me. I've never heard of that. I drive even less, since I mostly work at home. I'm still interested in the detail though. Please keep us posted.

Regarding the charge rate, yours does sound like wiring issue. Mine always charge at 238V and at steady 48A, regardless of temperature.

 

[mbhforum]

Thanks for tagging me. I've never heard of that. I drive even less, since I mostly work at home. I'm still interested in the detail though. Please keep us posted.

Regarding the charge rate, yours does sound like wiring issue. Mine always charge at 238V and at steady 48A, regardless of temperature.

Thanks, I will. Would this charge rate issue be contributing to my high kWh usage the past two months? Or do you feel these are two separate issues?

 

[wesley888]

High kWh usage from your car's reading? or from the actual power usage from your utility bill? If it's just the car's reading, it's unrelated.

 

[mbhforum]

High kWh usage from your car's reading? or from the actual power usage from your utility bill? If it's just the car's reading, it's unrelated.

No, from my utility bill...

 

[wesley888]

I'm not too sure. It could be. When the temperature is cold, the car would keep the battery warm and use more energy while parking. Shouldn't be too much a different though.

 

[brkaus]

No, from my utility bill...

Definitely unrelated.

 

[brucet999]

Thanks for the clarification. According to PSE&G, there is no charge to install a meter. I definitely am calling back tomorrow to get a second opinion because all of this sounded strange to me. The fact none of this information is available on their website is weird. They even have a section discussing Electricsl Vehicles and no mention of this. PSEG Long Island

There is no charge for them to plug a meter into the socket, but you have to provide everything else.

 

[mbhforum]

The more I think about this, the more I think it was my API polling. I've always found the battery not performing well. For example, my commute to work is 30 miles round trip and I would use up 50 battery miles. I would attribute it to cold and me using climate control, but perhaps the poor battery performance was my polling?

 

[David29]

Nothing drastically changed from a year ago at this time besides the Tesla and my wife's business. That's $115 more in NY as I pay .21 per kWh. It has to be this vampire drain, I can't think of anything else.

One other possible (small?) contributor to the increase: Assuming the weather in New York is similar to where I am in Boston, this winter has been colder than last year's so to whatever extent your energy use is affected by weather (pumps and fans running more) that will contribute some. In Boston, the "heating degree days" so far this winter are about 11% over last year's.

 

[brkaus]

There is no charge for them to plug a meter into the socket, but you have to provide everything else.

Exactly. Wiring. Meter base. Panel. Breakers. Etc.