ECOtality to kick out solar owners refusing TOU LADWP meter?

As a solar owner who already had a Blink installed in April, I declined to sign a new agreement last week sent via e-mail that includes the new LADWP requirement for second TOU meter. Here's the e-mail I got back from ECOtality:


Hi Sharyn,

While I respect your decision, I’m unclear at this time how this affects your participation. I’ll notate your account and also advise my corporate office of the refusal to sign the new RPA.

Thank you,

Valerie Lecesse

Regional OA


From this forum, I know other solar Leaf owners calculated that a second meter doesn't make sense financially.
Did anyone else get this e-mail from ECOtality suggesting that you might have to leave their project?
Any advice on what to do now?

SharonaLA said:

From this forum, I know other solar Leaf owners calculated that a second meter doesn't make sense financially.
Did anyone else get this e-mail from ECOtality suggesting that you might have to leave their project?
Any advice on what to do now?

Click to expand...

Is your only objection the second meter? There are other changes in the agreement. If it is only the 2nd meter, tell them you will sign the new agreement if they waive the 2nd meter requirement and state it is because you have solar electric.

They will take back the Blink unit if they drop you from the project but you will have the new breaker, electric line and QC port. There is nothing in the original agreement about reimbursing them for any of these. There is in the new agreement. As long as you have fulfilled your responsibilities in the original agreement they cannot terminate you for cause. They can terminate "without cause" but that means they have less legal standing. (I am not a lawyer so if it gets serious, consult one.)

I don't remember if you had your portable EVSE upgraded. You can charge just as fast with that (http://evseupgrade.com). If you want a wall unit, wait a while until the competition heats up and the cost comes down.

This situation seems like a lose/lose proposition. You lose the Blink and Ecotality loses access to data. I wonder to what advantage it is for them to alienate their customers?

Thanks for the advice. I haven't upgraded my portable charger yet. I guess I will wait to see what Ecotality does. I wonder how other people are handling this. Maybe they just ignored the revised agreement e-mail.

SharonaLA said:

As a solar owner who already had a Blink installed in April, I declined to sign a new agreement last week sent via e-mail that includes the new LADWP requirement for second TOU meter.

Click to expand...

Is that because they're making you pay for the installation of the second meter, or because you find the TOU rates unfavorable?

In San Diego they pay for the second meter, and after the EV Project is over we can choose to either continue with the EVSE being separately billed on TOU rates, or going back to whole house billing on one meter. They're testing 3 TOU rate schedules, and even the worst of them isn't too bad: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=89042#p89042 If they pick something like the X rate then we'll probably go back to single meter and possible add a few more solar panels to be sure to stay in the first cost tier. We'd have to be careful not to add too many since over-production will be paid at wholesale rates. If they pick something like Y or Z then we'll keep the separate billing.

LADWP also charges $8 a month just to have a second meter connected.