TOU metering report [RE-wrenches]

[Joel Davidson]

Bill,
TOU PV was "the hidden gold mine" as one SCE employee described it, but that was
before the new rates. I think it is going to come down to basics: design a good
system, hire a good installer and go for the long run. PV will win in the long
run.
Best regards,
Joel Davidson

Bill Brooks wrote:

> Joel,
>
> Thanks for the updated information. When they roled out the plan originally
> it was about $9.50/month for the meter charge. I would like to know what the
> actual number is now. The $277 hurts small users as you pointed out and
> those with large arrays (zeroing their energy consumption). TOU works best
> for people who are already making money on TOU w/o PV (as in the example)
> and have sized the system for no more than 75% of annual energy consumption.
>
> It was a clear winner before the new tiered rates. Now it is a cloudier
> issue. What about an array that faces east that peaks at 10:00 or 11:00
> a.m.? My point is--if you are willing to do a detailed analysis--go for it.
> If you want to make a general statement that will work for everyone--better
> safe than sorry.
>
> Customer's routinely say they will conserve, but when it comes down to it,
> they often don't. Should the installer be held accountable for the customers
> mistakes in this case?--Clear disclaimers in writing should accompany the
> advice to use TOU metering.
>
> Bill.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joel Davidson [mailto:joeldavidson at earthlink.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2002 5:11 PM
> To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
> Subject: Re: TOU metering report [RE-wrenches]
>
> A non-Wrench just sent me this:
>         On Bill Brooks' most recent posting, he's got it wrong -a TOU meter
> is
> not
> 5$ extra a month, it's less than $1 extra. If you have standard metering
> (PV or no PV) and use absolutely no electricity, you'll still get a bill
> for $4.82 every month.
>
>         Since a large percentage of people work outside the home on
> weekdays,
> TOU
> can work out positively for most residential customers, PV or no PV,
> -unless you use so little electricity overall that it would take too long
> to recoup the one-time fee of $277.
>
>         One minor, but nice benefit of PG&E's TOU is that they program the
> meter
>
> to display instantaneous watts, which can be pretty useful considering that
> a utility meter happens to be a first-class instrument for accuracy.
>
> Bill Brooks wrote:
>
> > Allan,
> >
> > That type of evaluation is fine for a spot check, but it leaves out
> several
> > very important factors that can cause the numbers to go the other way.
> > Safest bet in California is to stick with the tiered rate unless the
> > customer already has experience that their saving money with the TOU rate
> > without PV (as is obvious from your example).
> >
> > The current tiered rate structure in California is extremely beneficial to
> > PV and makes it very difficult to justify the additional $277 for the
> meter
> > and additional $5 per month for the meter charge. Just a caution so that
> > installers don't take this analysis and run with it and end up with angry
> > customers.
> >
> > Bill.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Allan Sindelar [mailto:allan at positiveenergysolar.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2002 12:20 PM
> > To: New wrenches posting
> > Subject: Fw: TOU metering report [RE-wrenches]
> >
> > Wrenches,
> >     This report was posted to the SW-GTI forum that was mentioned here
> about
> > 1-2 months ago. While it doesn't affect us in New Mexico (no TOU), I am
> > forwarding it to this group for those of us who can benefit.
> > Allan at Positive Energy
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Chris Brock" <cbrock at cisco.com>
> > To: <TraceSWGTI at eCompute.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2002 2:05 AM
> > Subject: TOU metering report
> >
> > > This is not related to the GTI, however, I thought this might be of
> > > interest to report on how Time of Use billing is working out for me. I
> > > distilled a lot data; to make it easier to comprehend, I've tried to
> > > explain it in plain English:
> > >
> > >
> > > The PG&E summer rate schedule began May1:
> > >
> > > peak (M-F noon to 6PM only):     31.5 cents /kwhr
> > > off-peak:                                     8.5 cents /kwhr
> > >
> > > from May 1 to Jun 25:
> > >
> > > I consumed  88 peak + 633 off-peak, totaling 721 kwhrs
> > >
> > > I generated 427 peak + 492 off-peak, totaling 919 kwhrs
> > >
> > > Looking just at off-peak, I used 633 kwhrs, but generated only 492
> kwhrs,
> > > so I had to buy 141 kwhrs from PGE, which cost me $12.41
> > >
> > > Looking at just peak, I used only 88 kwhrs, and generated 427 kwrhs,
> > > which, because of its superior value, the surplus of 339 kwhrs earned me
> > > $94.86 in credits
> > >
> > > Standard non-TOU metering is 12.5 cents per kwhr for the first tier. If
> I
> > > had been on standard metering, I would have earned a credit of $24.75
> for
> > > the surplus of 198 kwhrs I put into PG&E's grid.
> > >
> > > Because of TOU metering, the time of day is taken into consideration for
> > > the value of the electricity I put into the grid:
> > >
> > > $94.86 -$12.41 = $82.45
> > >
> > > Bottom line: For me, TOU more than tripled (3.33 times) the value of the
> > > electricity I exchanged with the public grid.
> > >
> > > Chris
> > >
> > >
> >
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