For those in Colorado (and other states with Xcel), there is now a time-of-use rate plan available to enroll in. I think it's been available for a couple months, but I hadn't noticed until paying my electric bill online this week. Since Tesla allows scheduled charging, I went ahead and enrolled for TOU billing and should be converted sometime in the next 6 weeks (they have to install a smart meter at my house). The rates for CO are below. Has anyone else switched over? 8 cents per kWh overnight to charge the S seems like a no-brainer, but I suppose it depends on your overall usage. Of course, solar would be most ideal.
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Xcel Time of Use Rates in Colorado
- Thread starter theheff
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- Mountain & Southwest USA
Are those rates inclusive of both power generation as well as delivery charges? In my state (MA), the two are separate on the bill, and the TOU rate applies only to delivery services, not to energy (power generation). Ever since the utilities were deregulated 20 -25 years ago, they just pass through the cost of power, and the power generating company has no knowledge of who uses what when, so their portion of the bill is not affected by time of use....sadly!
Anyway, if those rates include both components, I would say they are very good rates! Mine run about double that or more, even with TOU.
Well, based on ...
https://www.xcelenergy.com/staticfiles/xe/Regulatory/COResRates.pdf
XCel said:
... it reads like there are "adjustments":
A Purchased Capacity Cost Adjustment (PCCA) (1/1/2017)
Schedule R $0.00465/kWh
Schedule RD $0.49/kW-Mo
Demand-Side Management Cost Adjustment (DSMCA) (1/1/2017)
Schedule R $0.00132/kWh
Schedule RD $0.13/kW-Mo
Transmission Cost Adjustment (TCA) (1/1/2017)
Schedule R $0.00109/kWh
Schedule RD $0.11 /kW-Mo
Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act Rider (CACJA) (1/1/2017)
Schedule R $0.00503/kWh
Schedule RD $0.53/kW-Mo
Electric Commodity Adjustment (ECA) (1/1/2017)
$0.03078 per kilowatt hour (kWh),
An Earning Sharing Adjustment (ESA) 8/1/2016
(0.94)% credit (=>-0.94%/kWh), all base monthly amounts as calculated under rate schedules
Renewable Energy Standard Adjustment (RESA) (1/1/2009)
2% on pre-tax, pre-franchise-fee bill (=> +2%/kWh after ESA)
So that implies for kWh at rate $r/kWh
Effective rate before sales tax = 1.02((1-0.0094)r + 0.04287)
= 1.010412r + 0.0437274
= r + 0.010412r + 0.0437274
So pre-tax additions are:
= 0.010412r + 0.0437274
TL;DR
Add-ons are about 4.4c to 4.6c pre tax.
They break down the rate into a bunch of line items here in CO. That rate in the OP's screenshot above includes everything in the red and blue boxes in the screenshot of my bill here. I think the only thing that really changes though is what's in the red box. That should change as shown in the rates in the second screenshot here (from their 12/8/2016 public filing).
That the sum of both red and blue boxed items is 9.748 cents, which rounds to the 10 cents they mention as the current rates.
Change the red box to .13814 and the total is 18.101 cents, which wouldn't quite round to 19 unless you always round up. Maybe some other rate changes slightly too? Some of the others don't quite line up either so maybe there's a newer filing that adjusts those numbers slightly.
Edit: or maybe different people get slightly different add ons and they're just giving an approximate number that sort of works for everyone.
I opted not to change for now. (No Tesla yet, but we have a Leaf and PHEV). The winter rates might work as the peak and shoulder times aren't raised too radically, but the summer kills it for me. That peak rate seems too risky to me.
I work from home, and with 2 plug-ins I often have to charge one of them during the day (or at least during shoulder periods). We've got solar but I'm not certain our peak generation would fully make up for the increased rates.
For our usage, the benefits aren't clear enough to make the switch.
I work from home, and with 2 plug-ins I often have to charge one of them during the day (or at least during shoulder periods). We've got solar but I'm not certain our peak generation would fully make up for the increased rates.
For our usage, the benefits aren't clear enough to make the switch.
I just signed up and am awaiting approval and more information. They do have a "peak usage" plan too but I do not want to sign up for that plan. While it might be even cheaper, rates would go up with charging multiple cars at once.
We don't have (or need) A/C so I don't really have any usage between 2pm and 6pm. With the Powerwall 2s that are coming, we'll be able to balance the load and charge them when rates are lower.
I don't know enough about the Powerwalls yet to know if they would be sufficient to handle the peak loads...so just interested in the regular TOU plan right now.
We don't have (or need) A/C so I don't really have any usage between 2pm and 6pm. With the Powerwall 2s that are coming, we'll be able to balance the load and charge them when rates are lower.
I don't know enough about the Powerwalls yet to know if they would be sufficient to handle the peak loads...so just interested in the regular TOU plan right now.
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
Say the EV(s) put on 15,000 miles a year, all charged at night when electricity is 2 cents a kWh cheaper. At 3 miles a kWh, that works out to $100 a year in savings. During peak hours the charges increase by 9 cents a kWh so the break-even point occurs at 1,111 kWh.
Meh.
Now, if you have PV to serve the peak hours; or even better are re-imbursed peak rates for excess PV production then TOU looks quite attractive.
Meh.
Now, if you have PV to serve the peak hours; or even better are re-imbursed peak rates for excess PV production then TOU looks quite attractive.
I also signed up for time of use. With solar it's hard not to win with that arrangement because you get credits at those same TOU rates for overproduction. So 1 kwh over-produced from 2-6pm credited at 19 cents can offset 2 kwh between 9pm-9am (charged at 8 cents). Same idea for the shoulder period overproduction. As long as you can shift usage to the 9pm-9am area, your solar will offset significantly more than it did before TOU rates.
Edit: The overproduction credits described above only work if you have opted for credits to rollover year to year. If you're on the cash out option at the end of year, the overproduction credits are different and nowhere near as favorable. I switched mine to rollover to take advantage of this TOU pricing (you cannot switch back to cash out later though).
Edit: The overproduction credits described above only work if you have opted for credits to rollover year to year. If you're on the cash out option at the end of year, the overproduction credits are different and nowhere near as favorable. I switched mine to rollover to take advantage of this TOU pricing (you cannot switch back to cash out later though).
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
Indeed. That's a rounding error on my part.
With the Powerwall 2s that are coming, we'll be able to balance the load and charge them when rates are lower.
A Powerwall2 can output 7kw or about 30 amps according to what they told me. The powerwall (or couple) would make the TOU work out even better especially if you work at home or have to start making dinner before 6pm for those young kids. Unfortunately the Powerwall ROI is unreasonable unless you use a lot of electricity off peak and go with the more aggressive peak demand plan.
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I don't think they have that here yet unless I've just missed it. Even the TOU plans are just a pilot program at this point.
Yeah. I think many of us here would sign up for an EV plan if offered in Colorado. At least the TOU plan is a step in the right direction, even if the savings aren't that much.
Thanks for the info - just signed up for the demand plan and waiting to hear from them. I guess we'll see how it turns out. I'm glad they give a 6-month grace period to opt-out if it isn't working for you. I've been wondering if they were ever going to offer any ToU options after seeing people from other states talk about them. We have a Model S and a Volt so scheduling to off-peak and setting the amps down should make it easy.
I hope you mean the Time of Use plan because the Peak Demand plan is brutal unless you can zero out your 2-6pm usage with a battery. Unless I don't understand how that one works.
Really? At what elevation are you?
For me it's the opposite - I have a wall of windows facing south in several rooms, and barely use any heat. My winter bills are usually in the $30-$40 range and summer $100+.
Only 5900 feet but we live right by Bear Creek Canyon and get almost constant winds coming down the canyon or down from Mt. Morrison. We just open up the windows at night and can lower the temperature down to the 60s or lower nearly all summer long. There might be a week every summer that is uncomfortable at night but we can just move down to the walkout basement where it rarely gets above 72.
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
Same for us. Barry needs to shade his windows in the summer and open them at night.Only 5900 feet but we live right by Bear Creek Canyon and get almost constant winds coming down the canyon or down from Mt. Morrison. We just open up the windows at night and can lower the temperature down to the 60s or lower nearly all summer long. There might be a week every summer that is uncomfortable at night but we can just move down to the walkout basement where it rarely gets above 72.
Crunched some numbers and we should be able to easily stay under 2KW of demand during peak which would still bring us under our current bill (looks like it will be a problem and cost more than our current bill if we go above 4KW at peak) - goal will to be under 1KW but we'll see. We don't have A/C - just a small swamp cooler (~.2KW) that keeps it comfortable most of the summer except for the 1-2 weeks of more extreme heat. Those times adding a fan to our living room is enough. All our large draws (cars, dryer, oven) will be easy to move after peak - they're mostly after peak anyway. I could be wrong - in which case they let you switch within 6 months to time-of-use or to the normal residential rates. We don't have a battery but this type of plan would be the perfect use of it - I'll have to look into it if we get approved into the plan.
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