Official California SDG&E Thread

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I am within a few blocks of the NW boundry of the SDG&E service area.

I have had the PV system operational for a little over a year, but their rate schedules are still a mystery to me.
 
The SDG&E Residential "Rates" include only the "distribution, etc." charges, and not the energy cost (approx. an extra 9¢ per kWh). One needs to find the Residential "Total Rates", which include the power charges.

They also appear to supply the "dual meter adapter" (for one EV rate), but then charge over $9 per month extra.

The "new" (experimental) EV tariffs are not mentioned, as far as I can see.

There are three EV rates, all TOU:

1. EV-TOU: shy 14¢ low, to 26.5¢ summer peak, 17.2¢ winter peak, including energy, no tiers, and about $5 per month minimum bill.

2. EV-TOU-2: seems basically the same as EV-TOU, but allows PV generation and net metering as long as all-users generation is less than 0.5% of peak demand.

3. EV-TOU-3: uses SD&E's "dual meter adapter" (extra $9.32 per month), with basically the same rates as EV-TOU.

So, looks like some good in these "standard" EV rates.
 
The SDG&E Residential "Solar Power" rate (DR-SES) appears to be similar to the EV rates, but with a little higher charges, and TOU times changed a bit.

The standard Residential tariff (DR) "Total Rate" is tiered, with about 13.4¢, 15.5¢, 27¢, and 29¢ (including power) in the summer for tiers 1 (to 100% of base), 2 (101% to 130%), 3 (131 to 200% of base), and 4 (over 200% of base). The winter rates for Tiers 3 & 4 are about 2¢ lower than the summer rates.

Both have the approx. $5 monthly minimum.
 
I just called SDG&E again and left a message for their net metering department to call me back. This is my 2nd message, so we'll see if they ever call. I'd like to get to the bottom of exactly what I'm paying, how my net metering is being charged, and what the Leaf can/will do to my rates.
 
I just spoke to SDG&E and they tell me I'm on regular Schedule DR tariffs. I'm not on a solar time-of-use, which I find interesting. The DR rates start at $.03919/kWh and go up to $.19700/kWh for 200% or more of my baseline number. Since I generally generate a surplus, my rate doesn't affect me unless that rate is used for rebates. If THAT's the case, I want on the highest rate plan possible to generate the maximum rebate check.

Solar time-of-use rates are a flat $.10409/kWh regardless of time of day. (interesting)

EV time-of-use charges are around $.09/kWh, varying slightly depending on time of use.

Someone from SDG&E is supposed to call me back about the my options for an EV charging situation.

More when/if I find something.

(SDG&E tariff rates available here: http://www.sdge.com/regulatory/elec_residential.shtml
 
Jimmy,
All the SDG&E "Rates" do not include the power itself, which is a "Schedule EECC Rate". The "Total Rates" include the power.

When you are "credited" for over-production, I believe you get the power-only "credit" (about 6.6 winter or 9¢ per kWh summer in the basic "DR" rates). The Total Rate includes "distribution, etc.", and the "power" portion, to make up the amount that you are charged.

So, high "Total Rates" might be OK here, even though you are charged these high rates when you under-generate for the month, if you do get a higher credit when you over-generate for the month (just getting credit for the power).

At least, this is how it appears so far.
 
garygid said:
When you are "credited" for over-production, I believe you get the power-only "credit" (about 9¢ per kWh). The "rates" you mention are basically for "distribution", which you are charged for (in addition to the power you might use).
Actually, pretty sure you have it backwards - the rates he's looking at are the energy rates, not the distribution rates.

Remember - it's expensive to fire up those peaker plants on hot days to satisfy AC load.

No rates have been set yet for generation credits. Should happen by the end of the year.
 
garygid said:
Jimmy,
All of those "rates" do not include the power itself, which is usually in the vicinity of an additional 9¢ per kWh.

When you are "credited" for over-production, I believe you get the power-only "credit" (about 9¢ per kWh). The "rates" you mention are basically for "distribution", which you are charged for (in addition to the power you might use).

So, no, you do NOT want high "rates" here, because you are charged these rates (plus power) when you under-generate for the month, but you do not get credit for them if you over-generate (just credit for the power).

At least, this is my best guess so far.

Note: Some of the rates seem to be LOWER in the ON-PEAK times, and HIGHER in Winter.

You might ask them about this. As stated, the Residential TOU rates would seem to encourage more usage at PEAK times.

Then I'm confused. Where do I find the actual charge for the power itself? I always thought it was included in all the tariff columns and the total (UDC) column was the price you paid per kWh.
:?:
 
I compare my friend's bill with the DR tariff and the power charge is a constant per kWh at all tiers.

The power rate does vary a bit from month to month and is apparently something like the last quarter's average of what SDG&E had to pay for the power.

The "distribution, etc." (UDC Total) part of the bill varies by Tier (usage) to match the "Rates".

The power is an additional EECC rate (in DR-TOU it varies from 6.4 to 18¢ depending upon TOU).
 
garygid said:
I compare my friend's bill with the DR tariff and the power charge is a constant per kWh at all tiers.

The power rate does vary a bit from month to month and is apparently the month's average of what SDG&E had to pay for the power.

The "distribution" part of the bill varies by Tier (usage) to match these "rates".
For the TOU rates, they vary the energy costs (described as EECC, electric energy commodity cost), not the distribution costs.

See here:

http://www.sdge.com/documents/customer/totalrates/5-1-2010/schedule_ev.pdf

For DR rates, they vary the rate based on total usage using TRAC (Total Rate Adjustment Cost). The distribution cost stays the same (well almost, see below).

See here:

http://www.sdge.com/documents/customer/totalrates/5-1-2010/schedule_dr.pdf

and here for what TRAC means:

http://www.sdge.com/customer/rates/publicPurposePrograms.shtml

Distribution costs stay exactly the the same across all TOU periods: $0.06751 for EV-TOU
Distribution costs go up by less than $0.01 for DR rates when you exceed baseline: $0.07317 for baseline and $0.08245 for usage over baseline
 
Thanks.
The SDG&E site led me to Residential Rates (the UDC Total part only, which I labeled the non-energy "distribution"), not these Total Rates that you found.
Thanks again.

I have tried to correct my previous posts in this topic.
 
Did anyone else participate in the SDG&E Summer Saver program? We choose the 100% cycling program with weekend. So our credit for 2010 should be the full $194. It worked out well for us. I hardly noticed it had been cycled off. One thing I'm trying to figure out is how much wattage that radio uses. It's on 24/7 and it seems a waste to keep it powered on through the winter.
 
garygid said:
I was never aware that the option existed. Possibly SDG&E offered it only to bigger users, no longer me due to my PV system.
I don't believe it was a program were you needed to be selected. As I understand it, you simply enroll on the webpage. In a couple of weeks a tech shows up an installs a radio controlled adapter to your A/C and you're done.
 
indyflick said:
Did anyone else participate in the SDG&E Summer Saver program? We choose the 100% cycling program with weekend. So our credit for 2010 should be the full $194. It worked out well for us. I hardly noticed it had been cycled off. One thing I'm trying to figure out is how much wattage that radio uses. It's on 24/7 and it seems a waste to keep it powered on through the winter.

We have been participating for a couple of years and have received two credits so far. Last year it covered about 3 months of our energy bill, quite a nice incentive. I'm not sure how it's going to play out in the future though - we now have solar panels which will offset our electricity consumption. Ideally we could still use the summer saver credit to pay our gas bill, and our minimum (.17/day) connectivity charge...but with net metering our gas and electric bills are now on separate accounts and I don't know where (or frankly even if) the credit will show up this year, or if it can be applied to both accounts. I also don't know if they will issue a check for the remaining credit if the future bill(s) we can apply it to are not sufficient to consume it. If they do withhold it or deem it non-fungible across accounts, especially after having used the system this summer to control our AC at the same time that we've been feeding the grid a bunch of clean power (at peak, for free) I won't be happy. If we end up using more than I think for the Leaf, or our production is below expectations, the credit might still prove useful. Re: gary's comment - I think something like this has to be offered without prejudice - if you have a qualifying AC unit, and are willing to let them throttle it during emergencies, it shouldn't matter how much other power you use, or don't use, or generate - either way it gives them what they need, a tool to manage demand in real time.
 
indyflick said:
One thing I'm trying to figure out is how much wattage that radio uses. It's on 24/7 and it seems a waste to keep it powered on through the winter.
How's it plug in? Can you use a Kill-a-watt to measure it's consumption?
 
drees said:
indyflick said:
One thing I'm trying to figure out is how much wattage that radio uses. It's on 24/7 and it seems a waste to keep it powered on through the winter.
How's it plug in? Can you use a Kill-a-watt to measure it's consumption?
From a data sheet I found, it appears it draws power from the 220v line, not the 24VDC thermostat wiring. But the data sheet listed nothing on its power consumption. I'm going to call the manufacture and ask. They've not responded to my emails.
 
indyflick said:
Did anyone else participate in the SDG&E Summer Saver program? We choose the 100% cycling program with weekend. So our credit for 2010 should be the full $194. It worked out well for us. I hardly noticed it had been cycled off. One thing I'm trying to figure out is how much wattage that radio uses. It's on 24/7 and it seems a waste to keep it powered on through the winter.
I get this air conditioner cycling credit year after year from SC Edison. Only once in five years has SCE actually cycled it off. That was a long eight hours on that hot summer day with the air off from 3p to 11p. 1p to 9p would have seemed to help more and would have been easier for us but I think SCE was late to call for the restriction. But well worth the money every year ;)

I cannot imagine the device takes more than a dollar per year to idle.
 
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