planet4ever
Well-known member
I really don't think I want to do that. There are only two large regional utility companies in the state; Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) in the north and Southern California Edison (SCE) in the south. San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) is much smaller, but could perhaps be added to the list. Utilities like SMUD in Sacramento and LADWP in Los Angeles are "publicly owned", i.e. run by local governments and not beholden to investers, so are not "similar" in any economic sense.srl99 said:Request - lobby the CPUC to get PG&E's rates in line with other similar California providers
I'm not personally familiar with SCE or SDG&E rate structures, but my understanding from things I've read on this board is that they both split out cost of generation from cost of transmission. When you buy power from them you naturally have to pay for generation plus transmission. But apparently they also charge you for transmission when you sell power to them, so the net is that they pay you for generation minus transmission.
PG&E does split out cost components in their rate tariffs, but from my experience they lump everything together in their billing. In effect, when I feed excess power onto the grid they pay me for generation plus transmission. So, no, I definitely don't want to lobby them to do it like SCE and SDG&E do.
You use less electricity than your 2kW solar generates? Wow! I'm impressed. You must not be using any air conditioning, or an electric dryer. You are either charging your LEAF away from home, or not driving it many miles at all per day.srl99 said:A home, partial year (~2 kW solar)- ended up with a surplus of electricity to the grid. E-1 rate plan, which would have resulted in a "check" from PG&E. PG&E paid 3c/kWH. They explained this as their "cost of acquiring electricity". Apparently in years prior, they would not have paid for a net excess.
You really threw me by saying E-1. I would think anyone who is charging an EV at night would want a time-of-use plan, not a flat rate like E-1. Even more so if you aren't using air conditioning during peak periods. Frankly, the "cost of acquiring electricity" sounds like a generation vs. transmission split, so perhaps for E1 PG&E is already playing the same nasty game that SCE and SDG&E do.
Ray