Yeah. I'm beginning to wonder how this couples up with Solar/Powerwall. Ideal situation is solar & powerwall take care of home loads, and then the car charges at night off the grid. (Which would be a large mix of wind of coal.) If we're talking 6.5 cents per kWh in off peak (kWh charge, and fuel cost charge) that really isn't bad. Especially considering if you have two EV's.
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Xcel Time of Use Rates in Colorado
- Thread starter theheff
- Start date
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- Tags
- Mountain & Southwest USA
I got my first bill after only a couple of days with the new meter so it was too early to tell. I should be getting the next bill in two weeks or so. It will be interesting to see how much I'll be saving.
I received my first full bill a week or two ago. The results were about as expected. About $10-$20 in savings per month from shifting most of my usage to after 9PM. It's also been a pretty mild spring/summer so far, so that is probably a lot of it.
Have any of you figured out how to read the meter yet? I went out and looked at it now that it's been installed for a few hours and had moved across rate level periods (shoulder to peak). So far, mine cycles between several screens:
Time
Date
Service level (200 amps in my case)
Rate 1 (9 kWh)
Rate 2 (3 kWh)
All lit up (screen test?)
Along with the power flow directionality arrow and ticks, each of which the internet tells me corresponds to one Watt-hour.
What I'm curious about are the rate displays. Since my unit was installed during the morning shoulder period, I expect the '1' display with 9 kWh currently showing is my shoulder count (AC was on for awhile today, and it's been a mediocre solar day). I therefore judge '2' to be my peak count (AC off, lower elapsed time, so the small 3 kWh count jives with my expectations).
So should I expect a '3' for off-peak, or a '0' I guess would be the other option.
Does that interpretation match what you are seeing? My meter is a Centron OpenWay CL200.
Time
Date
Service level (200 amps in my case)
Rate 1 (9 kWh)
Rate 2 (3 kWh)
All lit up (screen test?)
Along with the power flow directionality arrow and ticks, each of which the internet tells me corresponds to one Watt-hour.
What I'm curious about are the rate displays. Since my unit was installed during the morning shoulder period, I expect the '1' display with 9 kWh currently showing is my shoulder count (AC was on for awhile today, and it's been a mediocre solar day). I therefore judge '2' to be my peak count (AC off, lower elapsed time, so the small 3 kWh count jives with my expectations).
So should I expect a '3' for off-peak, or a '0' I guess would be the other option.
Does that interpretation match what you are seeing? My meter is a Centron OpenWay CL200.
That's good to know. I think that would make it difficult for the numbers in Rate 1 and Rate 2 in Zaxxon's post to usefully represent usage if the accumulating time periods for those are off by an hour. Also since there are three time periods and it only has two numbers I'm guessing it means something else.
I went out to look tonight at 9:55 to see if it had started displaying a third rate counter. No. Checked again at 10:05 in case it was off by an hour, but still only two counters. Further, it was incrementing the same counter that it was using for the earlier shoulder period.
So something's up, as the last few kWh were consumed after 9 pm by our charging Volvo. But I recall the sign-ups details mentioned that the TOU billing would begin the day following meter installation, so we'll see what tomorrow brings. Perhaps it turns over properly at midnight...
I'd still be interested in hearing what those of you who have had your new meter for awhile are seeing.
So something's up, as the last few kWh were consumed after 9 pm by our charging Volvo. But I recall the sign-ups details mentioned that the TOU billing would begin the day following meter installation, so we'll see what tomorrow brings. Perhaps it turns over properly at midnight...
I'd still be interested in hearing what those of you who have had your new meter for awhile are seeing.
Went out again this AM during the off-peak time, and my meter still only displays two counters. I'm not sure whether this is expected or not. Can one of you with the new meter confirm that this is what you see, as well? Here's a video to illustrate what I see:
:00-:03 - Time (5:28 am displayed, 6:28 am actual)
:04-:08 - Date (060617)
:10-:14 - Service amps (I think? - 200)
:15-:21 - Display test (888888)
:22-:26 - Period 1 usage (24 kWh - I believe this is counting everything outside of 2-6 PM peak)
:27-:32 - Period 2 usage (3 kWh - I believe this is counting solely 2-6 PM peak)
:34 - Back to the beginning of the cycle, showing time again
So my question is: if this is the correct, expected display, how does Xcel split out the shoulder from off-peak? Is there a separate internal counter that is not displayed but does get read when the drive-by reading occurs? This seems strange as it leaves me with no way to verify Xcel's readings.
Also, I checked out their FAQ which does address the DST thing:
:04-:08 - Date (060617)
:10-:14 - Service amps (I think? - 200)
:15-:21 - Display test (888888)
:22-:26 - Period 1 usage (24 kWh - I believe this is counting everything outside of 2-6 PM peak)
:27-:32 - Period 2 usage (3 kWh - I believe this is counting solely 2-6 PM peak)
:34 - Back to the beginning of the cycle, showing time again
So my question is: if this is the correct, expected display, how does Xcel split out the shoulder from off-peak? Is there a separate internal counter that is not displayed but does get read when the drive-by reading occurs? This seems strange as it leaves me with no way to verify Xcel's readings.
Also, I checked out their FAQ which does address the DST thing:
My value for 803 currently shows 100 vs. your value of 200. I'll have to check it again after 9 am and see if it changes.
