[soylentgreen]

SDGE has released new plans, called "Whenergy" http://www.sdge.com/whenergy/residential.php

These appear to be TOU (Time of use) plans, but with some differences.

For example, their "TOU+" (time of use plus) plan offers what appears to be a substantial kickback if you can reduce your usage on a "Reduce your use" day: the kickback is $1.16/kWH saved. How they determine this rebate, and whether there are limits on it, is not clear to me.

Us EV users are also eligible for the EV-TOU (or EV-TOU2) plans as well - these plans feature a very high peak summer price. If, however you have solar, this might be a good deal.

I'm interested if anyone has figured out the best options under the new pricing schemes?

 

[soylentgreen]

Annoying SDGE website won't link to the price sheet, but I've done a screenshot here. What's interesting is that these appear to be TOU plans that also have Tiers, and both the Tiers and TOU depend on the season (winter/summer). Check it out:

 

[soylentgreen]

Here are the current (?) EV-TOU2 prices:

So, with SDGE's net metering, if you have an EV and you have Solar, which plan is better seems to come down to your pattern of use. On EV-TOU2, If you can avoid charing your EV during the peak summer hours, and your solar panels over-generate, you get a whopping 0.46/kWh credit, which you can spend during the rest of the year. However you never drop below $0.18/kWh during the year.

On the other hand, the TOU+ plan has a very low summer off-peak rate ($0.11/kWh) and offers the possibility of the "RYU" (reduce your use) bonuses of up to $1.16/kWh. It's not clear how often these happen.

I have no idea how to model this!

 

[Ron in Omaha]

Good Gawd that's a crazy price chart! It's no wonder solar panels pencil out for you guys. I pay 12 cents for the expensive summer power. Right now, I'm paying about 6 cents for the cheap winter power. We actually get rewarded for using more power in the winter because the rate drops as you go over certain levels of usage. TOU is completely unheard of. Rates only change to summer or winter rates. Summer is flat rate no matter how much is used or what time of day it is used. http://www.oppd.com/residential/residential-rates/

 

[DonC]

I haven't looked at this carefully but the EV plan will be better. What makes those so attractive is the difference between the daytime rate and the evening rate. If you can sell at 3X the price you buy at, it doesn't matter a great deal what the absolute prices are. We added two electric cars to your solar system, switched to the EV plan, and had our total bill go up by $100/year. These plans are not going to be as attractive because of tiers. You'll be selling and buying at the lowest tiers where the difference isn't as great.

A net metering plan with tiers seems weird to me actually. You could end up being in a top tier if you charge at night.

The "Reduce Your Use" days are in effect now. The baseline is some average. Not all that helpful in changing behavior of people with solar. If your use is low and/or negative you have to go more negative, and that's a function of the panels not so much of your use. As a result you can do well for the first part of the summer. Then it's pointless.

Good Gawd that's a crazy price chart! It's no wonder solar panels pencil out for you guys. I pay 12 cents for the expensive summer power. Right now, I'm paying about 6 cents for the cheap winter power. We actually get rewarded for using more power in the winter because the rate drops as you go over certain levels of usage.

The tiers were designed to cut consumption. They worked. Consumption per cap is lowest in California. However, as you've suggested, the highest users (aka the utilities best customers) are now putting in solar. As a result, the utilities are trying to end the large price differences between the tiers.

 

[jazztrumpet216]

I'm with Xcel in Eau Claire, WI. Normal rates are about $.12/kWh. I'm on a TOU plan which increases my peak usage to $.23kWh, but my off-peak power is about $.045/kWh. With prices like that, I'd strongly consider solar too.

 

[larry4pyro]

I'm a SDG&E customer. I've become increasing disgusted with their attitude towards solar users, blaming them as the reason they have to raise rates. In their eyes anyone who dares to conserve power is bad, the worst however are the solar users because they no longer pay the profitable high tier rates. All this despite the fact that their solar users contribute a significant amount of power which is purchased by SDG&E at ridiculously low rates and resold to their non-solar neighbors at peak rates. In addition, the solar electricity produced locally offsets the need for power production facilities (like San Onofre or the Carlsbad oil fired plant), and expensive transmission lines to bring that power into the city (remember the Sunrise Power Link).

As technology develops, I look forward to the time when it will become feasible to go totally off-grid and get rid of SDG&E entirely.

 

[soylentgreen]

Larry4pyro: I feel your pain, though to be fair to SDGE, it could be worse (see the new Nevada anti-solar rate plans).

To SDGE's credit, their new plans have a calculator, and they review your last bill and suggest the best plan for you, AND offer a one year guarantee (roughly, if your bills are higher on the new plan after one year, you can switch back and get a refund).

This new calculator feature doesn't include EV-TOU2 as an option, so I'm not sure what is best.

 

[Paul]

I'm on EV-TOU2 and have solar. I have a question which SDG&E can't seem to answer. I know, shocking. If we overproduce during summer On-Peak, do they credit the 46 cents per kilowatt hour or only the kilowatt hours? I know this seem like a simple question but the bill is inconsistent and their telephone reps aren't exactly the brightest bulbs in the chandelier.

 

[soylentgreen]

I'm almost positive the net metering is done on a Dollar basis rather than kWH basis. E.g. if you overproduce during the $0.46 time you get $0.46 per kWH. The exception is at the 12-month "true up" period, if you have overproduced in total, you only get wholesale credit for that (which is about $0.05). See http://www.sdge.com/clean-energy/excess-generation-credit/annual-compensation-excess-generation

 

[Willaby]

I'm in the "don't get me started with SDG&E" group. I have solar and the (mostly) EV Volt, producing a little over 100% of my kwh usage so I should have a net credit balance regardless of any plan. I'm staying on the EV TOU2 plan because it has the largest peak/off differential, but know that the rates change every 2-3 months with the higher rates changing the highest percentage. They changed from 29c peak in mid-2014 to 51c last summer, thats >60%! The currently shown summer rate of 46c is down from 51c, but that is somewhat irrelevant since we are not in summer. I mean now in winter they could make it 25c. We'll see what the real rate is May, and if it gets back up over 50c. I'm going to vote "probable" on that.

 

[twoheeldrive]

Those are some rates! By my calculation, at 18.1 cents plus estimated 10% taxes, it would cost around $2.60 to charge up my Volt if I lived where you do.

It "only" costs me $1.74 to charge up here in Kansas City (13.4 cents/kWh inclusive of all fees and taxes). About equal to running on the ICE, premium is $1.69/gal. Last year it "only" cost $1.57 to charge up. Yup, an 11% increase in the electric rate. Thanks EPA and Obama.

 

[Paul]

I'm almost positive the net metering is done on a Dollar basis rather than kWH basis. E.g. if you overproduce during the $0.46 time you get $0.46 per kWH. The exception is at the 12-month "true up" period, if you have overproduced in total, you only get wholesale credit for that (which is about $0.05). See http://www.sdge.com/clean-energy/excess-generation-credit/annual-compensation-excess-generation

You are correct. I finally heard back from SDG&E and they confirmed that EV-TOU2 credits excess and charges based on the retail charge. That is very good news for us since on-peak in the summer is two and a half times the charge of super off-peak. Put another way, 200kWh of excess on-peak production buys 500kWh of super off-peak electricity for our three plug-ins that charge at night.