Yes.
1.) The # of billing days SAM uses is the # of calendar days/month. This is inaccurate. If the #of billing days on your bill agrees with the calendar, it's a coincidence. There are 21 billing cycles and they change yearly. This screws up the monthly baseline. It also screws up how much solar is offset per billing cycle.
2.) There is no daily allowance for electric only customers. The daily allowances are thus way low for those users and no mention of it. This screws up the ( SAM calculated) bills for elec. only users and makes solar appear more cost effective than it actually will be for those cust. because it decreases the tier one allowance and thus increases the upper tier usage.
3.) There is no DWR bond charge or added taxes that all users pay. I understand that some very local municipal taxes that some users pay cannot be accounted for. DWR and ubiquitious taxes apply to all users. This makes all the rates appear lower than they actually are, making solar appear less cost effective.
4.) The rates are out of date. The latest are effective 04/01/2014.
All this has the effect of making the SAM published rate structure unreliable - some months high, some low. Some tier rates are off by 10% or so. I like and use SAM a fair amount, but I've found it best to plug in my own (correct) rate structure and adjust for the billing days manually. The mo./mo. billing date diff. as it interacts w/ daily solar output is something I'm still trying to figure out.
The plug & chug rate structures are a nice touch, but I think the subcontractor supplying the data ought to be replaced.
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Given that most of the reason the base monthly fees were conjured up at all was to offset some of the argument that solar users are freeloading on the system, I'd think solar owners will face the metering fees just like everyone else.
All of the proposed rate restructuring suggested is a result of AB 327. They seem to pretty much follow the mandate of that bill for timelines and the intent of the bill.
There are other rate structures besides residential, but those generally follow the same or similar logic to what's shown. T.O.U. rates may deviate from this a bit w/ periods shifting around some. I'd bet that to be revenue neutral for the near term, but also a reduction for large users.
One or two things to keep in mind: These are proposals from the utility. They need to be subjected to the review/approval/public comment phase before the CPUC. That can be a long process. Contrary to what cynics such as myself think and trying to be objective about it, history has shown that while many rate increases are approved, many of those are granted for less than requested and some (few) are rejected or sent back to the POCO for further review/revision. The other big POCOs - SDG & E and PGE will likely propose rate structure changes and prices similar to these. Still, things are going to change a fair amount.
Solar users can still get on net metering until 2017 OR until the POCO reaches its 5% rate cap. POCO's must file a progress report on that at %age @ reg. intervals. I'd keep an eye on that. As of last month, SDG & E was implementing solar at a rate such that the cap would be reached in about 63 months - far beyond 2017. HOWEVER, if installs pick up, that cap may be reached sooner. SO, thinking you're safe until 2017 to apply for net metering MAY be safe - MAYBE NOT. Keep an eye on it.
Those considering leases: If you are a large user, take some serious time to figure out as best you can what your bills are likely to be under the new tier flattening scenario. If you are a large user, your bills will likely go down, at least for a few years or so. Solar peddlers will probably bank on you thinking the common wisdom and tell you rates always go up (don't they ? - well of course !! DUH !) as a red herring to justify a monthly payment higher than it might be if accurate information were provided. In this case, that may well be B.S. for large users. Caveat Emptor.
Silver : Thanx for the info.Leave a comment:
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It does lower your bill if you are super high user, but for most of residents here might be a bad news. I'm not sure if solar owners will face those new base metering fees...Leave a comment:
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awesome thanks. If these rates go into effect my electricity bill would go down significantly in summer. For example my september bill from last year was $872 for 3,585 Kwh, and under the proposed 2 tier system it would drop to $683. So for heavy power users like myself dropping the T4 rate of 30 cents down to 20 cents Kwh makes a big difference. This makes solar less attractive for me as the payback would be longer as my savings / month for solar would not be as high.The links are in my PC and here is what I can get for you
https://www.sce.com/wps/wcm/connect/...df?MOD=AJPERESLeave a comment:
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The links are in my PC and here is what I can get for you
Base on those information, it is wise to plan your solar to cover 100% of usage since you can get a larger system at lower price per kW. The price of tier 1 rate will raise.Leave a comment:
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SCE just applied with the CA Public Utilities Commission for their 2014~ rate increase. The proposed increase including shrinking tier 1 baseline and raising tier 2 to $0.209 and raise tier 3 by eliminating tier 4. The monthly fixed charges might increase from $0.94 to $5 per month.....Leave a comment:
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I don't think the American Dream is dead. I think as a nation and a people we're squandering the best opportunities available, by far, anywhere in the world. Most Americans are clueless about how good we have it and are in general wasting a situation folks in other countries can only dream about.Leave a comment:
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