Getting a E-1 vs. ToU rate comparison from PG&E?

So, searched the forum and found a lot of stuff about which rate makes sense if you've got an EV, but right now I'm trying to find a source for some friends who just got solar but don't have an EV, and are considering going ToU. This link

http://www.pge.com/en/mybusiness/rates/rateinfo/tools.page" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

seems to be aimed at business rather than residential customers. Is there a rate comparator for residential customers on their website, or do you just have to call them?

It looks like PG&E just re-did the residential pages a bit. Currently, the way you can get a comparison is by logging into your PG&E account then going to Compare Rates (under My Usage). Previously, the steps were similar and got you the same info.

It returns basically a page that has what I posted here and/or another board before.

You can drill down to see stuff like this:

Strange - when I go to "Compare Rates", I get the error message below. I wonder if it is because I am on Solar and Time-of-Day with Smart Meter ? In any case, to the person considering Solar : I found time-of-day makes the most sense - you sell your generated power back to PG&E at peak rates that way. For the year, I find I consume more than I produce - but with ToD rate, my bill for the year is negative. Of course that was BEFORE the Leaf - just got the Leaf 3 weeks ago, so things coudl chaneg dramatically in 2014 for my E-bill...



We're sorry, the My Rates tool is not available for your rate at this time. Please check back later as we continue to improve this site.
Other steps you can take:

Explore the best ways to reduce your bills
Set a goal to reduce your use
View your energy use over time

sunil said:

Strange - when I go to "Compare Rates", I get the error message below. I wonder if it is because I am on Solar and Time-of-Day with Smart Meter ? In any case, to the person considering Solar : I found time-of-day makes the most sense - you sell your generated power back to PG&E at peak rates that way. For the year, I find I consume more than I produce - but with ToD rate, my bill for the year is negative. Of course that was BEFORE the Leaf - just got the Leaf 3 weeks ago, so things could change dramatically in 2014 for my E-bill...



We're sorry, the My Rates tool is not available for your rate at this time. Please check back later as we continue to improve this site.
Other steps you can take:

Explore the best ways to reduce your bills
Set a goal to reduce your use
View your energy use over time

Click to expand...

Thanks to both of you, I'll pass the info along and we'll see if the 'compare rates' link works for them. I suspect their usage pattern may differ substantially from the norm, so although I would normally recommend ToU almost automatically for someone with PV, I'll be very curious to hear what the numbers look like for them.

sunil said:

Strange - when I go to "Compare Rates", I get the error message below. I wonder if it is because I am on Solar and Time-of-Day with Smart Meter ? In any case, to the person considering Solar : I found time-of-day makes the most sense - you sell your generated power back to PG&E at peak rates that way. For the year, I find I consume more than I produce - but with ToD rate, my bill for the year is negative. Of course that was BEFORE the Leaf - just got the Leaf 3 weeks ago, so things coudl chaneg dramatically in 2014 for my E-bill...



We're sorry, the My Rates tool is not available for your rate at this time. Please check back later as we continue to improve this site.
Other steps you can take:

Explore the best ways to reduce your bills
Set a goal to reduce your use
View your energy use over time

Click to expand...

sunil,

I am on E-6 and get the same message.

Question... (sorry to piggyback on the thread)

If you have TOU rates, and then get a PV System (lets assume with surplus production)... does PGE credit you the peak/partial-peak rate during the day? Or do you guys know if they use a different rate for credits?

pachakutek said:

If you have TOU rates, and then get a PV System (lets assume with surplus production)... does PGE credit you the peak/partial-peak rate during the day? Or do you guys know if they use a different rate for credits?

Click to expand...

I can't speak to the new EV rates, but with my E-6 solar rate I get full credit, including both generation and transmission components. They just take the total hours in each TOU slot for the billing period directly from the meter, whether positive or negative, and multiply it by the Total (bundled) Energy Rate, then either credit or debit that from my running balance. More precisely, I don't even have a smart meter, but the meter I have maintains three cumulative kWh counters for the three TOU periods. The "positive or negative" is really the latest meter reading minus the previous reading for each counter.

Given that PG&E still supports the old meters like mine that are read by guys who walk the neighborhood every month, there's not any way they can track positive and negative flow separately within the billing period. And that is what they would have to do to truly charge full price but give partial credit. Yes, they could do it on the billing period net, but that seems pretty lame, since it would vary depending on what days they read the meter.

By the way, it's not that I have refused to be upgraded to a smart meter. When they started installing them in this area PG&E apparently hadn't figured out how to program their computers to handle net metering fort smart meters. They now have that working, but haven't gotten around to changing my meter.

Ray

Cool! Thanks for the answer.

So it's possible to harvest (and sell) energy during peak hours at a high rate (especially during summer), and then charge the car (buy energy) at a much lower cost at night.

It can get even better if, for example, you use your car to power your home during the day (LEAF-to-HOME in the future or converter), which could greatly maximize your net credit... right?

If anyone has solar, time of use pge metering, and a Nissan leaf, I'd love to hear about your experience. We currently have solar and are considering getting a Nissan Leaf.

^^^
Madbrain does (who also posted earlier), but he hasn't been active here in awhile.

I've seen him sometimes post on https://www.facebook.com/groups/BayLeafs/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

natel said:

If anyone has solar, time of use pge metering, and a Nissan leaf, I'd love to hear about your experience. We currently have solar and are considering getting a Nissan Leaf.

Click to expand...

I have solar, TOU PGE (E9AXB) and a LEAF. Look at LEAF House on PVOUTPUT.ORG and use the live view to see the use as well as the generation. (Note there is a problem with the measureit app running on raspberry pi that overwrites the last hour of use with the first hour of the next day).

I generate 9,000 KWHr in a year, use about 10,000 KWHr/year, drive the LEAF 11,000 miles a year, 99% charge at home on offpeak and have about a -$350 electric bill on NEM. Since I use more than I generate I don't get any cash from PG&E but the peak energy rate compared to the off peak is about 8 to 1 so that is the main contributor to the credit. I also do not have AC but do have pool filter. For my use patterns, the E9A rate and E6 rates are equivalent since the E6 peak rate also applies on the weekend while the E9A is off peak on the weekend. For rate comparison there is an iPhone app called PG&E Toolkit that compares all the current plans with your history energy use. I charge the LEAF every night and with the 3.8KW 240V charging it takes 2.5 hours or about 10KWHr per day. What other questions do you have?