Official Southern California Edison thread

[mwalsh]

[Boomer23]

I clicked on their link to send an email to their PEV (Plug In Vehicle) group. My questions were about my solar Net Metering Agreement (I currently make more kWh than I use, and I expect to use at least 2500 kWh more than I make once I'm charging an EV), whether I should consider a TOU rate plan for charging an EV and if such a rate plan is compatible with a Net Metering Agreement, and the cost for a second meter for an EV TOU rate plan.

Here is what I received back:

Thank you for visiting Southern California Edison's website.

SCE customers who have a solar generating system are eligible to enroll in the same PEV rates as customers who do not have solar generating systems.

Depending on how you use electricity, there could be significant differences among rate options. SCE customers who purchase a plug-in electric vehicle can sign up for one of the following three choices:

· SCE's standard residential rate. Under the standard residential rate plan, the price per kilowatt-hour is tiered and increases as the amount of energy usage over your baseline allocation increases. Unless you have specifically selected a different rate option, you are probably on SCE?s standard residential rate. Remaining on this rate is the simplest choice, but it may not be the cost-effective choice for some plug-in electric vehicle owners depending on how you use electricity.

· Whole-house 'time of use' rate. This rate option uses a tiered structure similar to the standard residential rate, but provides lower electricity rates at night, when many plug-in electric vehicle owners are likely to charge their vehicles. This rate may be ideal for customers who have low usage during peak daytime hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

· Electric-vehicle-only 'time of use' rate. This rate uses a second meter to measure the electricity you use to charge your vehicle, so that it can be billed at a separate rate from the rest of your home. Rates are discounted for charging that occurs during ?off peak? night-time hours. This option potentially gives customers the lowest rates for electric vehicle charging, but also involves more initial set-up cost and time.

SCE is in the process of developing a 'rate calculator' to help purchasers of plug-in electric vehicles compare their rate options.

While all customers are eligible for these PEV rates, SCE customers who produce their own power are eligible for a special metering and billing option called Net Energy Metering (NEM). The NEM schedule allows solar customers to receive a credit for the surplus electricity they supply to the grid. This credit is then applied to customers' bills to offset all or part of the 'Energy' portion of their electric bill.

For more information about SCE's solar programs, please visit www.sce.com/solarleadership/gosolar/.

If you have any additional questions, or if we may be of further assistance in getting your home Plug-In Ready, please visit us at www.sce.com/pev or call us at (800) 4EV-INFO.

Sincerely,


Customer Service Representative

So, not much new here beyond what is on their web site, except that I now know that I can have a TOU plan within a NEM schedule. I'll probably call their info line after my July 1 Nissan AV electrician visit.

[mwalsh]

SCE 'PEV Readiness Initiative' report from January of this year:

http://www.sae.org/events/gim/presentat ... dKjaer.pdf

[mwalsh]

SCE rates for currently open TOU programs

TOU-EV:

Winter Off-peak 10.3¢/kWh
Winter On-peak 20.9¢/kWh

Summer Off-peak 10.3¢/kWh
Summer On-peak 28.8¢/kWh

TOU-D-T:

Winter On-Peak Level 1 13.9¢/kWh
Winter On-Peak Level 2 25.9¢/kWh

Winter Off-Peak Level 1 12.3¢/kWh
Winter Off-Peak Level 2 22.3¢/kWh

Summer On-peak Level 1 26.8¢/kWh
Summer On-peak Level 2 60.0¢/kWh

Summer Off-peak Level 1 13.2¢/kWh
Summer Off-peak Level 2 24.7¢/kWh

TOU-D-TEV:

Winter On-Peak Level 1 14.6¢/kWh
Winter On-Peak Level 2 27.6¢/kWh

Winter Off-Peak Level 1 12.3¢/kWh
Winter Off-Peak Level 2 22.3¢/kWh

Winter Super Off-Peak Level 1 10.1¢/kWh
Winter Super Off-Peak Level 2 16.0¢/kWh

Summer On-peak Level 1 27.6¢/kWh
Summer On-peak Level 2 63.4¢/kWh

Summer Off-peak Level 1 14.0¢/kWh
Summer Off-peak Level 2 26.1¢/kWh

Summer Super Off-peak Level 1 10.0¢/kWh
Summer Super Off-peak Level 2 15.7¢/kWh

See the following SCE web pages for more details:

TOU-D-T fact sheet: http://www.sce.com/NR/rdonlyres/72EBB49 ... V11209.pdf
TOU-D-TEV and TOU-EV information: http://www.sce.com/residential/rates/el ... hicles.htm

[johnr]

Here's the link to SCE's main plug-in electric vehicles mini-site: http://www.sce.com/PowerandEnvironment/ ... ation/PEV/

SCE confirms here that a 240V EVSE should be hard-wired and requires a 40 amp breaker.

SCE residential customers who own an EV can choose from the following rate plans:

• SCE’s standard residential rate.
• Whole-house “time of use” rate.
• Electric-vehicle-only “time of use” rate.

They also have a short survey on this mini-site that they would like prospective EV owners to complete so they can prepare for any upgrades they'll need to make to the grid.

[mwalsh]

• SCE’s standard residential rate.
• Whole-house “time of use” rate.
• Electric-vehicle-only “time of use” rate.

You missed one...whole-house "time of use" WITH super off-peak for EV charging!

[johnr]

Yeah ... if you've got solar panels and an EV that's the way to go

[mwalsh]

I've tried to do some very rough numbers. This is based on a 5.76kwH system, and I'm sort of guessing the daily production numbers based on the monthlies the vendor supplied and by taking numbers from JimmyDreams system, which outputs 25% more production than I expect from mine. And, as you can see from the references to "super off-peak" I'm going with TOU-D-TEV. So, OK:

Typical summer weekday, when the car needs charging

23kwH generated during peak. Reimbursed at @ $0.276 each = $6.34
3kwH generated during off-peak in the AM. Reimbursed at @ $0.14 each = $0.42
5kwH used during peak. Purchased @ $0.276 each = <$1.38>
2kwH used during off-peak in the AM. Purchased @ $0.14 each = <$0.28>
9kwH used during off-peak in the PM. Purchased @ $0.14 each = <$1.38>
20kwH used during super off-peak in the AM. Purchased @ $0.10 each = <$2.00>

Summer weekday surplus $1.72

Typical summer weekend day, no car charging

26kwH generated during off-peak. Reimbursed at @ $0.14 each = $3.64
16kwH used during off-peak. Purchased @ $0.14 each = <$2.24>
4kwH used during super off-peak in the AM. Purchased @ $0.10 each = <$0.40>

Summer weekend day surplus $1.00.
If I should need to charge the car overnight, the surplus drops to <$0.60>.

Typical winter weekday, when the car needs charging

14.5kwH generated during peak. Reimbursed at @ $0.146 each = $2.11
1.5kwH generated during off-peak in the AM. Reimbursed at @ $0.123 each = $0.18
5kwH used during peak. Purchased @ $0.146 each = <$0.73>
2kwH used during off-peak in the AM. Purchased @ $0.123 each = <$0.25>
5kwH used during off-peak in the PM. Purchased @ $0.123 each = <$0.62>
20kwH used during super off-peak in the AM. Purchased @ $0.101 each = <$2.02>

Winter weekday surplus <$1.32>

Typical winter weekend day, no car charging

16kwH generated during off-peak. Reimbursed at @ $0.123 each = $1.97
12kwH used during off-peak. Purchased @ $0.123 each = <$1.48>
4kwH used during super off-peak in the AM. Purchased @ $0.101 each = <$0.40>

Winter weekend day surplus $0.09.
If I should need to charge the car overnight, the surplus drops to <$1.52>.

Now, to be fair to myself, I can barely balance my check book. I can't do "train A leaves the station X minutes before train B...." type math problems. And I'm guessing that the utility will pay me as much for my peak production as they would expect to pay me for any power I would need to buy at peak.

Edit: Offset 10% of daily production to off-peak rates, to make it more realistic.
Edit2: Lowered summer production to 26kwH. Starting to think 30kwH was a bit optimistic.

[garygid]

Not much summer A/C usage?

[mwalsh]

Not much summer A/C usage?

Nope.....

Ceiling fans
Cooling off in the communal pool before bed sometimes
Cold showers as necessary
No oven use during summer
Opening windows once the sun has gone down and the evening has started to cool off

....that sort of thing.

Worst summer average month use for us ever was July '06 ~26kwH daily, only 5kwH more than our normal summer use. Second worst was September '07 ~24kwH daily. I remember September '07 being hot. I don't remember July '06 clearly, but I guess it must have been the same.

Of course, once we get the PV going, especially if we do have a daily surplus, we may splurge. But we'll have to see.