Warning! PG&E E-9 Massive Rate Increase

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miimura

Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2014
Messages
15
Location
Los Altos, CA
I just reviewed the January PG&E rate increase and I must say PG&E is really trying to screw EV owners that have elected to stay on Schedule E-9. This is the "Experimental" rate schedule that was developed to encourage customers to charge their Electric Vehicles Off Peak. This rate plan has been closed to new customers since Schedule EV was introduced. The tariff has stated that customers would eventually be kicked off this rate plan around this time. It looks like they are getting some resistance to kicking people off, so they just cranked up the rates to encourage people to leave. Let me tell you, it looks like it will work. If you don't have solar, don't even think about it. Call PG&E and change to Schedule EV immediately.

Here is the problem.

PGE%20E9%20Rate%20Increase_zpsmiljm1lc.jpg


Let's look at Winter for a moment. You can see that they increased the Part Peak rates by about 1c/kWh across the board. No problem, they do that all the time. The problem is the Off-Peak rates. They increased the Tier 1 and Tier 2 rates by about 2c/kWh, but they increased the Tier 3, 4, 5 rates by 12c/kWh. They more than doubled Tier 3 from 11c/kWh to 22.7c/kWh. Summer is similar, Off-Peak was increased more than 10c/kWh in Tier 3, 4, 5.

I calculated my January usage on E-9A and EV and this was the result.

PGE%20E9%20vs%20EV%20Jan%202015_zpsktgibu3s.jpg


Since I have solar, I will be running a comparison of my full year 2014 usage at then-current rates and these new rates. I'm pretty sure I will be calling PG&E to change to Schedule EV.
 
It's an easy mistake to make (especially when posting at 1am), but you are comparing "sheet 2" or E9A rates from August 2014 with "sheet 4" or E9B rates from January 2015.

In other words, what you have labeled above as "E-9A Rates Effective 1/1/2015" are really the E-9B rates.
 
Wow now I feel lucky that mine is so simple.
I only have off peak 7pm to 7am, mid peak and on peak. Summer and winter mid and on peak are switched with 5 hours around noon being mid peak in the winter and on peak in summer.

It's roughly off peak is 50% off peak, mid peak is 90% And peak is about $0.12 usd ($0.14 Canadian).

I would love to go solar but it just doesn't make sense.

I can't believe with more expensive gas, $3 a gal usd right now, that we don't have more BEVs. But then again my sv lease is $365 usd for 48 months.
 
minispeed said:
Wow now I feel lucky that mine is so simple.
I only have off peak 7pm to 7am, mid peak and on peak. Summer and winter mid and on peak are switched with 5 hours around noon being mid peak in the winter and on peak in summer.

It's roughly off peak is 50% off peak, mid peak is 90% And peak is about $0.12 usd ($0.14 Canadian).

I would love to go solar but it just doesn't make sense.

I can't believe with more expensive gas, $3 a gal usd right now, that we don't have more BEVs. But then again my sv lease is $365 usd for 48 months.
Where I am (Nissan HQ down the road), the electrical rates are flat-rate 9.5 cents / kWh. Charge day or night, cost the same. :)
Actually, if you use over a certain amount, it goes down to 8.5 cents / kWh, etc.

Explains why the Nissan HQ has 3 Wall Outlet (120v)s, 3 EV Plug (J1772)s, 3 CHAdeMO DCFCs all free to the public 24/7 because the electrical rates are so low for flat-rate use.
 
knightmb said:
minispeed said:
Wow now I feel lucky that mine is so simple.
I only have off peak 7pm to 7am, mid peak and on peak. Summer and winter mid and on peak are switched with 5 hours around noon being mid peak in the winter and on peak in summer.

It's roughly off peak is 50% off peak, mid peak is 90% And peak is about $0.12 usd ($0.14 Canadian).

I would love to go solar but it just doesn't make sense.

I can't believe with more expensive gas, $3 a gal usd right now, that we don't have more BEVs. But then again my sv lease is $365 usd for 48 months.
Where I am (Nissan HQ down the road), the electrical rates are flat-rate 9.5 cents / kWh. Charge day or night, cost the same. :)
Actually, if you use over a certain amount, it goes down to 8.5 cents / kWh, etc.

Explains why the Nissan HQ has 3 Wall Outlet (120v)s, 3 EV Plug (J1772)s, 3 CHAdeMO DCFCs all free to the public 24/7 because the electrical rates are so low for flat-rate use.

Are you one of the state's that sells power burn off to others? That would explain getting cheaper to use more.

At least a few years back there was news that ontario was spending tons of $ to burn off power off peak.

I'm also right by nissan Canada HQ, 7 240v but only 1 CHAdeMO. It's only ever been in use one when I've beem there. 24 7 all free. Mitsubishi Canada is on the same Block but they sometimes shut the L3 down at night and advertise free during hours.
 
minispeed said:
Are you one of the state's that sells power burn off to others? That would explain getting cheaper to use more.

At least a few years back there was news that ontario was spending tons of $ to burn off power off peak.

I'm also right by nissan Canada HQ, 7 240v but only 1 CHAdeMO. It's only ever been in use one when I've beem there. 24 7 all free. Mitsubishi Canada is on the same Block but they sometimes shut the L3 down at night and advertise free during hours.
All of our power comes from TVA, which actually has kind of a bad reputation, no so much for power but for how they acquired the land that later became lakes to back-fill with rain water to run the hydro-generation. The region supplies power to all neighboring areas, but a large push here has been for more solar and wind generation. The city I live in for example, setup a 1MW solar array Satellite Picture Link (with more planned to use the rest of the open land) that run the water plants and the excess power is sold back to TVA, along with several businesses here (The Factory for example) Satellite Picture Link have setup several 200 kW solar arrays on the roof to resell power back to the grid. So at least according to our bills, we get lower rates due to all the solar reselling in the area.
 
Wow, my utility has an incredibly simple plan for EV owners:

$40/mo per vehicle (all you can eat)
-or-
$0.18195 per kwh peak.
$0.07695 per kwh off-peak.
(Plus distribution fees and such)
 
kubel said:
Wow, my utility has an incredibly simple plan for EV owners:

$40/mo per vehicle (all you can eat)
-or-
$0.18195 per kwh peak.
$0.07695 per kwh off-peak.
(Plus distribution fees and such)


In PG&E land we like plans that are complex to the point of near-total obfuscation. We like to pretend that it encourages wise consumer choices.
 
miimura said:
Since I have solar, I will be running a comparison of my full year 2014 usage at then-current rates and these new rates. I'm pretty sure I will be calling PG&E to change to Schedule EV.

Because you have a PV system, you will probably be better off with E-6 or E-1. The E-9 rate is going to end in a few months, so you won't have that option even if you want it. Everybody's situation is different. In my case, I only exceed the baseline from November through February, when there isn't any peak on the E-6 rate. I will probably switch from E-9A to E-6, although my system produces enough electricity during the summer peak hours that I doubt I would end up paying anything under any of the rates. YMMV.
 
JeffN said:
It's an easy mistake to make (especially when posting at 1am), but you are comparing "sheet 2" or E9A rates from August 2014 with "sheet 4" or E9B rates from January 2015.

In other words, what you have labeled above as "E-9A Rates Effective 1/1/2015" are really the E-9B rates.
OMG! You are right. I was flipping through the new rate tariff and must have been on the wrong page when I was entering the rates in my spreadsheet. I won't do that any more. If you go to the PGE.com web site, they have all the historical rates in XLS, so I will be cutting and pasting to update my calculation spreadsheet in the future.

Nothing to see here.... sorry for the alarmist thread.
 
miimura said:
Nothing to see here.... sorry for the alarmist thread.

Easy mistake to make.

However, for many of us, the nub of your post is correct--there will be a massive rate increase when E9-A goes away. For low users, the EV rate is by far the most expensive of the options (roughly doubling my costs). E-6 may be advantageous, although I am annoyed enough about the change (and the way that PG&E and the PUC placated those of us who originally protested by delaying the end of E9) that I might switch to E-1 and charge (and use my washer, and mow my lawn...) when I want.

FYI, there was a letter in the SF Chron a few days ago by a similar Tier 1/2 user. I'd link it, but I can't find it.
 
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