PG&E Rate Changes March 1, 2016; New ETOU Rates; E6 TOU option extended

[SunEagle]

Shifting peak period an hour later past sunset adds incentive for an hour of load reduction and/or storage. Eventually this will lead to TOU/battery status smarts in new dryers, water heaters, and HVAC systems, designed to transparently shift load to when power is cheap from the house's point of view. What a glorious, connected, fragile, hackable future!

You aren't kidding about a potential issue.

It might be energy efficient to have major appliances connected to the internet so they can be accessed and turned on/off during the most economical electrical cost charge periods but once connected there is always the fear of a potential hacker taking control.

Not necessarily a big issue with someone's home but hopefully critical locations have spent enough to install very strong fire walls.

[DanKegel]

Guess how many packets are going from your home to servers in China right now? I bet it's more than you think.

[SunEagle]

Guess how many packets are going from your home to servers in China right now? I bet it's more than you think.

Oh. I understand the amount of data that is being "reviewed" by all types of people. I keep waiting on the dark day (pun intended) when the lights go out like it did in the Ukraine last December.

[DanKegel]

Seems like the US ought to field tiger teams continuously to try to break into its own powerplant computer systems, and fine them a million dollars each time they get in.

Heck, the power plants ought to be offering bounties to known white hats to do the same.

[SunEagle]

Seems like the US ought to field tiger teams continuously to try to break into its own powerplant computer systems, and fine them a million dollars each time they get in.

Heck, the power plants ought to be offering bounties to known white hats to do the same.

We can only hope the firewalls are tested and strengthened each time an opening is found by their "tester". I hate to say it but Micro grids start to make sense if the potential of a major transmission line getting shut down.

[inetdog]

What is the difference between USA and USB?


One connects betwen your devices to access data and the other is just a hardware protocol.

[SunEagle]

What is the difference between USA and USB?


One connects betwen your devices to access data and the other is just a hardware protocol.

+1. Nice

[DanKegel]

We can only hope the firewalls are tested and strengthened each time an opening is found by their "tester". I hate to say it but Micro grids start to make sense if the potential of a major transmission line getting shut down.

First... it's not the firewalls so much as old buggy apps, and people who will click on things sent via email.

Second... microgrids will have the same problem.

[SunEagle]

I guess if people open the front door via email there isn't a need to break in the back way.

I would hope that a smart micro grid might isolate itself if it detected a hack but as you stated people seem to let in the garbage so no alarms would go off.

[dailo]

Unfortunately I saw this too late and it is now too late for me to sign-up for the E6 rate. I'm looking to add solar to my house soon now and it looks like my only options are E-TOU or the EV-A rate (looking to buy an EV). Since the E-TOU rate peak is now 3pm - 8pm, does it make sense to have my panels installed south-west? Going to bring it up with my installer as well, but just curious if anyone else had looked into what is the optimal roof layout with the new rate structures.

[ltbighorn]

Once you figure out your orientation and tilt options you could run the number through PVWatts (see other threads for how to use PVWatts). Download the hourly CSV data and see how the generation compares over the time-of-day with various orientations. A little southwest probably wouldn't noticeably impact overall yearly generation, but as you go further west you're going to get more generation shifted later, but have a greater impact on your overall generation. You then do your calcs based on rates or what you guess TOU rates will be.

A lot depends on your roof design. Installers like to install along the rafters, so picking an arbitrary orientation that doesn't match up with your rafters may increase your costs more than it'd save, or more than just adding an extra panel. Definitely a question to ask in your interviews with installers.

In trying to figure out the value of generation for myself, especially as TOUs shift over the years, I've found it very difficult for a non-spreadsheet wizard to work out thanks to baseline + net metering + tiers + TOU all interacting today, let alone the shifts in the future. Good luck!

[kouros]

I’d like to make sure I understand the mechanics of net-metering in the ETOU-A rate plan.

Let’s look at a single month period (let’s say July) assuming some basic numbers in order to keep things simple:

PV Peak production: 50 kwh
PV Off-Peak production: 500 kwh
Total PV production: 550 kwh

So, credits would equal:

50 * $0.40315 = $20.16
500 * $0.32757 = $163.79
Total credit: $183.95

Now, let’s say you use the following in July:

Peak Usage: 270 kwh
Off-Peak Usage: 330 kwh
Total usage: 600 kwh

So, assuming a tier baseline of 300 kwh and peak use being 45%, the charges would be:

135 * $0.2861 = $38.62 (discounted baseline peak usage)
165 * $0.21052 = $34.74 (discounted baseline off-peak usage)
135 * $0.40315 = $54.43 (full rate peak usage)
165 * $0.32757 = $54.05 (full rate off-peak usage)
Total charge: $181.84

Grand total = ($2.11)

So, even though the user consumed 50 kwh more than he produced, the baseline discount of $0.11705/kwh essentially covers the cost of this excess leaving him with a credit of $2.11 at the end of the month. Does this seem correct? If so, it seems that over the course of the year if your consumption exceeds your production by only a small margin, you’ll still be covered monetarily by the difference in sell/buy pricing on the ~300 kwh baseline tier. True???

[solardreamer]

The short answer is yes. I have EV-A and my consumption is significantly higher than production overall but due to the big difference between peak and off-peak pricing and high peak export I now have $100's of NEM credit that I am trying to use up before losing it at true-up. The general guideline of sizing production as percentage of consumption is really not good enough for TOU plans.

I’d like to make sure I understand the mechanics of net-metering in the ETOU-A rate plan.

Let’s look at a single month period (let’s say July) assuming some basic numbers in order to keep things simple:

PV Peak production: 50 kwh
PV Off-Peak production: 500 kwh
Total PV production: 550 kwh

So, credits would equal:

50 * $0.40315 = $20.16
500 * $0.32757 = $163.79
Total credit: $183.95

Now, let’s say you use the following in July:

Peak Usage: 270 kwh
Off-Peak Usage: 330 kwh
Total usage: 600 kwh

So, assuming a tier baseline of 300 kwh and peak use being 45%, the charges would be:

135 * $0.2861 = $38.62 (discounted baseline peak usage)
165 * $0.21052 = $34.74 (discounted baseline off-peak usage)
135 * $0.40315 = $54.43 (full rate peak usage)
165 * $0.32757 = $54.05 (full rate off-peak usage)
Total charge: $181.84

Grand total = ($2.11)

So, even though the user consumed 50 kwh more than he produced, the baseline discount of $0.11705/kwh essentially covers the cost of this excess leaving him with a credit of $2.11 at the end of the month. Does this seem correct? If so, it seems that over the course of the year if your consumption exceeds your production by only a small margin, you’ll still be covered monetarily by the difference in sell/buy pricing on the ~300 kwh baseline tier. True???

[J.P.M.]

The general guideline of sizing production as percentage of consumption is really not good enough for TOU plans.

Big +1 on that.