Electric Bill Rate Advice

[byrnesy]

I'm eager to get an FFE, but just had an troubling call with Southern California Edison about what charging via 240 would do to my rates. The operator's first quote was for an additional $132 a month. She finally offered up an "off-peak" rate of approximately $38 a month.

But the kicker was - she said that if I took this new off-peak rate, my rates during the day would go up considerably. When I asked how much & asked her to run the math using any previous month, she said she couldn't. So, anything before 6pm would now be billed at peak!

Are there any other SoCal Edison folks on here that could share their experiences? Californians?

Bumming big time.

Also - lease rates out here aren't blowing me away either - what gives?

 

[WattsUp]

My utility, PG&E, up here in NorCal, has nice calculators you can use to compare.

For example, if I take the EV rate (which I haven't yet), supposedly my overall bill will be slighly lower because the bulk of my power usage (to charge the EV) will now be at a lower rate, even though my other usage would switch to a higher rate. It's the overall effect that you need to consider.

 

[jeffand]

Have second electrical service installed just for the electric car. This second service would be on time of use metering. I would look at your bill and see what sort of meter charges could be. This could give you an idea how much the charges are. It would worked like an apartment building were every unit gets its own bill. Other things could use the lower electrcal rates such as a pool filter, dish washer, clothes dryer.

 

[byrnesy]

The SoCal Edison rep told me a 2nd meter would cost $3000. Which she said was "reasonable." Smh.

I naively thought they'd help me [and others] save electricity, but I got the feeling that this is an opportunity to gouge folks.

 

[unplugged]

The SoCal Edison rep told me a 2nd meter would cost $3000. Which she said was "reasonable." Smh.

I naively thought they'd help me [and others] save electricity, but I got the feeling that this is an opportunity to gouge folks.

Yes, the second meter rarely pays for itself within anything less than four or five years. Don't go this route unless you know you will live there awhile AND you are going to use an EV for the future.

I elected to use the 3 tier time of use plan you mentioned. I have SCE here in Irvine and my rates have gone up about $35 a month for about a bit more than 1,000 miles per month. There are a few caveats:

1. If you don't use much electricity between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., you will be in good shape. I work from home, but there is rarely any need to use the A/C here in Irvine. If it does get hot, cool the home down between midnight and 6 a.m. The rate for this "super off-peak" is less than 1/4 of the regular rate.

2. The "off-peak" rate from 6 p.m. to midnight every weekday night (and all weekend) is about what you are paying for now. At this time, you can use the A/C like you do now, and it'll cost you the same.

3. The idea is that if you don't use power during the peak 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, your bill won't go up much at all. If you do use electricity (and I mean the A/C) during peak, you will pay through the nose.

 

[v_traveller]

I have the SCE Time of use plan and charge about 250kW per month more due to my FFE. Most of my charging is at super off peak so my bill went up maybe 20 bucks a month if at all. I usually use a Christmas light timer to limit charging to 12am to 6am using the stock 120v charge cord, but there are times when I do charge into the off peak time, probably about 30% of the time.

I adjusted my pool pump to run during super off peak rather than the middle of the day, this is actually saving me a ton of money. Also we don't do our wash during the weekday, only in the evening and on weekends. Our house is over 3600 sq ft so it has two HVAC units, but it's built like a cave so it retains a constant temp downstairs quite well. We only need to run the AC in the evening after the stucco has been heat soaked all day on days that reach 95F, and at night to cool the bedrooms upstairs down from mid-80s to mid 70s.

After all that we average about 0.5kW per hour during peak hours and our electricity bill has gone up maybe $20 at the most even though our consumption has risen 20% to 25%. We usually consume 1000-1400 kWh in the summer.

So to make a long story short (yeah I know - too late) the TOU plan is great if you can adjust your life and EV charging accordingly. If you have a smart meter you should be able to plot your current daily profile on sce.com and see if the TOU plan might be a detriment or windfall based on your current usage.