Official Southern California Edison thread

[danrjones]

No its not worth the risk. I think someone might notice me up on my roof installing a dozen plus new panels. I need to send SCE a few emails asking about it and run the math but I think over sizing is the cheapest solution.

[Valdemar]

Perhaps if you do the install yourself and SCE let's you to oversize. Run the numbers, estimate ROI, consider how long you're going to stay at your current home, after all you may decide it's not worth the effort in the large scheme of things.

[smkettner]

Actually there is one more option. Do the work and do not tell SCE. Think they would notice me suddenly sending a bunch more power to the grid? The city might get grumpy though with no permit.

No I doubt SCE will notice. If they call just tell them you cleaned the panels

[danrjones]

Actually there is one more option. Do the work and do not tell SCE. Think they would notice me suddenly sending a bunch more power to the grid? The city might get grumpy though with no permit.

No I doubt SCE will notice. If they call just tell them you cleaned the panels

How about this: I pull a permit like I'm suppose to, and get the city approval and inspection, but don't bother with SCE. I'm not sure that the city inspection involves SCE in any way. When I upgraded my breaker panel from 100A to 200A SCE shut my power off, but otherwise had nothing to do with the permit and inspection. Shouldn't need SCE at all for installing a second system.

[Valdemar]

Actually there is one more option. Do the work and do not tell SCE. Think they would notice me suddenly sending a bunch more power to the grid? The city might get grumpy though with no permit.

No I doubt SCE will notice. If they call just tell them you cleaned the panels

How about this: I pull a permit like I'm suppose to, and get the city approval and inspection, but don't bother with SCE. I'm not sure that the city inspection involves SCE in any way. When I upgraded my breaker panel from 100A to 200A SCE shut my power off, but otherwise had nothing to do with the permit and inspection. Shouldn't need SCE at all for installing a second system.

It's a slippery path. SCE owns the incoming wire and they can disconnect you any time if they find out and they will keep you off-grid until you bring the system to their requirements, size-wise or else.

Have you seen this? https://www.sce.com/sites/default/files ... FAQ__6.pdf

It answers some of your questions, for one adding a battery doesn't automatically kick you up to NEM 2.0. It also sounds like you can have a mix of NEM 1.0/2.0 on a single installation through a multi-tariff application and it appears you can add up to one 1kW in your situation and remain on NEM 1.0.

[danrjones]

No I doubt SCE will notice. If they call just tell them you cleaned the panels

How about this: I pull a permit like I'm suppose to, and get the city approval and inspection, but don't bother with SCE. I'm not sure that the city inspection involves SCE in any way. When I upgraded my breaker panel from 100A to 200A SCE shut my power off, but otherwise had nothing to do with the permit and inspection. Shouldn't need SCE at all for installing a second system.

It's a slippery path. SCE owns the incoming wire and they can disconnect you any time if they find out and they will keep you off-grid until you bring the system to their requirements, size-wise or else.

Have you seen this? https://www.sce.com/sites/default/files ... FAQ__6.pdf

It answers some of your questions, for one adding a battery doesn't automatically kick you up to NEM 2.0. It also sounds like you can have a mix of NEM 1.0/2.0 on a single installation through a multi-tariff application and it appears you can add up to one 1kW in your situation and remain on NEM 1.0.

Good stuff in there. Looks like yes I could add 1 KW. Might send the local office an email and see if they are willing to "stretch" that. Also looks like NEM -A is not eligible for end of year credits or payout, but it doesn't say NEM-2 is ineligible. I clearly would not be NEM-A. Also seems to allow both NEM-1 and NEM-2 but I have no idea how that mixed NEM would work for billing. The one thing the document lacks is specific charges listed for NEM-2 or for a mixed NEM.

I was looking at the current rate plans and it seems like even my grandfathered TOU-A plan is not as good as it used to be, Unless I read it wrong, TOU-1 has the same daily credits and daily min charge as NEM-A, and the price per KWhr must have gone up on NEM-A. I recall my night rate for charging used to be 12 cents but now its listed as 15 cents, which is the same night time TOU-1 rate.

[Valdemar]

NEM-A is for aggregating multiple meters on one NEM agreement when not all of them have solar connected. Do you have multiple meters? If not it doesn't apply in your case. Working with SCE on this will likely take you further than going rogue. I found them to be quite accommodating in the past, the difficulty usually is to find the right person to talk to. If they allow NEM 1/2 combo on one meter they will likely go per the before/added wattage ratio to prorate the calculations.

[danrjones]

NEM-A is for aggregating multiple meters on one NEM agreement when not all of them have solar connected. Do you have multiple meters? If not it doesn't apply in your case. Working with SCE on this will likely take you further than going rogue. I found them to be quite accommodating in the past, the difficulty usually is to find the right person to talk to. If they allow NEM 1/2 combo on one meter they will likely go per the before/added wattage ratio to prorate the calculations.

No, definitely not NEM-A. Though I was thinking you might need multiple meters for the NEM1/2 combo. I have a single smart meter which obviously handles TOU and my grid tie just fine.

Thanks!

[JeremyW]

Looks like SCE wants to jack up rates 14% in 2021.

https://www.sce.com/sites/default/files ... Notice.pdf

[Valdemar]

Looks like SCE wants to jack up rates 14% in 2021.

https://www.sce.com/sites/default/files ... Notice.pdf

I guess I shouldn't be too grumpy about new TOU rates as this will help with solar ROI.