timbop

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Glad to hear you're moving forward with the panels. Did you select someone for your install or trying to get your usage up first?

We had a similar issue with wanting more capacity than our current usage when we installed solar in 2018. We're in Mercer County, PSE&G territory, and there was an alternate usage form the contractor could complete to justify a larger system. The intent is for situations, like yours, where past usage may not be a good estimate of future. Ours was approved without issue and to date we've been overproducing by about 20%. We've got 2 young kids and the MME on the way so we knew our usage was only going up when we moved forward with getting solar installed.

You're not going to regret going solar. I wish we had done it even sooner.
I waited until I took delivery of the Mach-E and had a month's worth of increased usage. I assume my installers filled in that form you're talking about; I had to send my installer a copy of the registration and bill of sale. I actually got a call yesterday morning that the additional usage was approved, and they're coming tuesday to start the install ?
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Carsinmyblood

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? Tier 2 rates for PG&E (Parts of SF Bay Area and “Northern” CA) are $.31/kWH, which most SFH get to, so EV charging is always on top of that. EV rates here do allow for time of use pricing, off-peak gets to .18, peak is close to .50 in the summer, .37 in the winter.
50 cents/kwh. Yikes! Do they hand deliver it with flowers?
 

Infinite_Jester

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Here in Georgia one can sign up for a special electric car charging rate plan which is $0.01 per kWh overnight (between 11p and 7a). So a charge of say 80kW costs less than $1.00!

— this plan charges $0.20 per kWh during peak times and $0.07 all other times, so they get it back elsewhere. But we have solar panels which mitigate the peak costs…
 

Orangefirefish

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nope. they don't even call you the next day
Hah, first do no harm would be a start… instead they’re busy starting fires, blowing up neighborhoods, and going bankrupt. ?
 


dml105

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My first two electric bills since getting the mach-e are delightful normal. We switched to dominion Virginia’s off peak plan and it actually showed that it would have saved us a bunch before we even added the EV.
But yeah, getting the EV has almost been like free fuel budget wise.
 

Nklem

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? Tier 2 rates for PG&E (Parts of SF Bay Area and “Northern” CA) are $.31/kWH, which most SFH get to, so EV charging is always on top of that. EV rates here do allow for time of use pricing, off-peak gets to .18, peak is close to .50 in the summer, .37 in the winter.
I think your average .21-.23 cents with total cost/total KW.. Your peak is between 4-6 PM? Have a look at an overall bill and report back. I would love to know.
 

JamieGeek

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My electric bill hasn't really changed that much: I'm finding I "burn" about the same amount of electricity with the Mach-E as I did with the Bolt prior to that (perhaps if/when I'm commuting more I'll notice more of a difference then).

Our big change was with the first BEV (Focus Electric): Went from spending $350+ in gas/month driving an F-350 around to spending around $50/month on electricity for the Focus driving the same amount of miles (around 1000 miles/month). The Bolt worked out to about the same.

Strangely enough our C-Max Energi typically would cost about the same as well: I would manage to only fill its gas tank once per month and that plus its electricity still was around the $50 mark.
 

bruceski88

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? Tier 2 rates for PG&E (Parts of SF Bay Area and “Northern” CA) are $.31/kWH, which most SFH get to, so EV charging is always on top of that. EV rates here do allow for time of use pricing, off-peak gets to .18, peak is close to .50 in the summer, .37 in the winter.
Just finished adding 2.4kW of capacity. Only cost me $5k before tax credits because I did it myself. I am generating about 20 extra KWhr per day so worth at least $5 a day here in NCal. Considering I could get $5 a year from the bank, its a pretty good investment
 

jeffdawgfan

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In Rural Georgia we get power from EMC. There is no off peak plan. We pay 9.2 cents/kwh which is some of the lowest in the country. Our garage is ideally situated for solar cells and I would love to install but it would take forever to break even at that rate. Last month (April) our electric usage was only $72 for the entire month. In peak winter or summer that goes up to about $150. If I assume an average of $125/month and a installation cost of $15K, it would take me ten years to break even....that is before any credits of course. Not sure if it would even be worth while thing to do unless just trying to be more green.
 

EVS

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Hah, first do no harm would be a start… instead they’re busy starting fires, blowing up neighborhoods, and going bankrupt. ?
I believe most of it has to do with CPUC & the courts finding PG&E as the scapegoat for the wildfires instead of blaming the government for mismanagement of forests. So now every summer and even fall seasons, millions of homeowners and businesses have to suffer from hours and even days of proactive power shutdowns, called PSPO (public safety power shutdowns), often during the days of extreme heat. May be it a new ploy to force people to buy expensive battery backup systems by intentionally making the grid less stable. The CA govt has become a joke to be frank.

Also, a major part of the rate increases by PG&E is due to net metering and the CPUC forcing it to buy expensive batteries etc. If fewer people actually buy electricity, then the infrastructure costs and costs of these new projects have to be recouped from the amount of electricity PG&E does sell. So the rates just keep going up.

But take a look at the San Diego utility rates. They are even higher! If someone can't install their own solar, he or she is in big trouble with these crazy high rates.
https://www.sdge.com/residential/pricing-plans
Ford Mustang Mach-E Got my first electric bill.... share yours SDG_rates_std.JPG
Ford Mustang Mach-E Got my first electric bill.... share yours SDG_rates_TOU.JPG
 
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gpgrim

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? Tier 2 rates for PG&E (Parts of SF Bay Area and “Northern” CA) are $.31/kWH, which most SFH get to, so EV charging is always on top of that. EV rates here do allow for time of use pricing, off-peak gets to .18, peak is close to .50 in the summer, .37 in the winter.
I too was curious about PG&E's tiered system, so I just analyzed my last two years of bills. Since I live in the Tri-Valley area, my average electrical usage is on the higher side for the greater Bay Area. The data showed my annual average cost per kWh, sits between $0.18 and $0.20, with the higher costs coming in this past year, when a certain coed decamped from UCSB to keep her parents entertained, well fed, and looking forward to the fall of '21, but I digress. The reason the actual kWh cost is lower than the tiered rates is due to a generator credit PGE customers receive for sourcing renewable energy. This credit tends to be about 30% of the electrical usage.

The analysis indicates that for a comparable "refuel/charge range," say 280 mi. in my ICE commuter ('19 Subaru CrossTrek), or 85 kWh in the MME4X, the energy cost should average $17.50 over the course of the year for the MME, whereas the XTrek cost is currently running near $42. Even with the Bay Area's high energy prices and the MME4's ~30%'ish inefficiency relative to Tesla, it's still about twice as cheep to operate as a reasonably fuel efficient ICE. That's pretty impressive.

This level of performance will, of course, vary with local energy costs, but I'd be surprised if by more than 20% or so.
 
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RyanSD

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I believe most of it has to do with CPUC & the courts finding PG&E as the scapegoat for the wildfires instead of blaming the government for mismanagement of forests. So now every summer and even fall seasons, millions of homeowners and businesses have to suffer from hours and even days of proactive power shutdowns, called PSPO (public safety power shutdowns), often during the days of extreme heat. May be it a new ploy to force people to buy expensive battery backup systems by intentionally making the grid less stable. The CA govt has become a joke to be frank.

Also, a major part of the rate increases by PG&E is due to net metering and the CPUC forcing it to buy expensive batteries etc. If fewer people actually buy electricity, then the infrastructure costs and costs of these new projects have to be recouped from the amount of electricity PG&E does sell. So the rates just keep going up.

But take a look at the San Diego utility rates. They are even higher! If someone can't install their own solar, he or she is in big trouble with these crazy high rates.
https://www.sdge.com/residential/pricing-plans
Ford Mustang Mach-E Got my first electric bill.... share yours SDG_rates_TOU.JPG
Ford Mustang Mach-E Got my first electric bill.... share yours SDG_rates_TOU.JPG
It's not as bad if you sign up for one of their "EV" Time of Use programs. I've chosen to pay the "Basic service fee" of $16 to get the lower rates as I will primarily be charging at home and avoiding public stations.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Got my first electric bill.... share yours Screenshot_2021-05-29 20.31.39_5K2fMD


SDG&E EV Plans

I have yet to see my first bill yet though, so we shall see.

Here, you can see my normal power usage at home ... the spikes are the car charging after midnight using the included 32A Ford mobile charger hooked up to a 50A circuit in my garage. I have a ChargePoint station on back order. Once that arrives, I'll configure it for 40A and let it do it's thing.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Got my first electric bill.... share yours IMG_C61A2A3994A7-1
 

timbop

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In Rural Georgia we get power from EMC. There is no off peak plan. We pay 9.2 cents/kwh which is some of the lowest in the country. Our garage is ideally situated for solar cells and I would love to install but it would take forever to break even at that rate. Last month (April) our electric usage was only $72 for the entire month. In peak winter or summer that goes up to about $150. If I assume an average of $125/month and a installation cost of $15K, it would take me ten years to break even....that is before any credits of course. Not sure if it would even be worth while thing to do unless just trying to be more green.
It might be worth checking into what incentives are available at the state level. With the 26% fed tax rebate (that can be partially rolled over to the following year) and the NJ $92 credit per megawatt hour generated, solar will cost half of what I was paying to PSE&G ($0.18).
 

timbop

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In Rural Georgia we get power from EMC. There is no off peak plan. We pay 9.2 cents/kwh which is some of the lowest in the country. Our garage is ideally situated for solar cells and I would love to install but it would take forever to break even at that rate. Last month (April) our electric usage was only $72 for the entire month. In peak winter or summer that goes up to about $150. If I assume an average of $125/month and a installation cost of $15K, it would take me ten years to break even....that is before any credits of course. Not sure if it would even be worth while thing to do unless just trying to be more green.
Also, do you have "energy choice" in your state? Here in NJ you can also choose your energy supplier, and there are actually quite a few that generate with renewables.
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