New owner, regrets at the moment

[Sheffield]

For your reference, here's my annual energy costs. Sacramento region, PGE. I was on E1 rate until June 2011. Bought the Volt mid-April 2011, used L1 charging until mid-June 2011.



Here's the actual energy usage, by month, for the last year.



Here's a sample of the time of use energy cost for a typical day. The high use in the off-peak not only refects the car charging between 12am and 3:45 am, but also swimming pool circulation starting at 2am.

[frankie joe]

I never considered the cost of electricity as a factor in purchasing the volt. Driving a car that gets 30mpg, I would have consumed 116 gals. of gas- to date I have only used 14.1. That is not only great for the environment, (its easier to control emissions from one stack vs individual exhaust) but also is less imported oil.

[Jeff N]

Anyone thinking of E9B (separate meter TOU rate) should be aware that PG&E is in the middle of trying to change it radically from a tier-based system to a flat rate with pricing that is worse for small to moderate use and only good for large kWh consumption. I'm sure you can find details through google. There has been a detailed discussion of this on a dedicated forum thread at mynissanleaf.com.

[Kgorman]

Yes, I am picking up a killawatt device on the way home. I need to figure out where the energy is going. I have downloaded the CSV data and am starting to do more analysis on it.

[artsci]

If PG&E moves ahead with rates that favor larger users, it's utter idiocy from an environmental and long-term economic point of view. The social costs of energy production (depletion of scarce resources, environmental hazards, damage to human health, etc.) rise with higher energy use, and higher volume users add disproportionately to those costs. We either pay these costs now, or we'll pay them later when they're much higher and the climate is in crisis.

So the heavy energy users should pay more, not less. PG&E is not a department store, and IMHO should not be offering volume discounts for energy consumption. In fact, to encourage conservation, and to cover the unpaid social costs, rates should scale up as volume increases.

But I'm not holding my breath waiting for rationality to guide energy pricing policies.

[saghost]

The problem is that here in Northern California electricity is so expensive to charge a volt, I pay damn near gasoline prices. I am at the highest E1 tier, and pay $.34/kWh for energy. Thus for a 10kWh charge (full battery) I pay $3.40. It takes me exactly 1 gallon to get to work or exactly 1 battery charge to get to work. So gas and electricity are darn near financially equivalent.

I know 'going green' isn't a priority here, but in your situation, I'd be looking at as much solar as I'm allowed to put on (to avoid overloading panel busbars, you're generally limited to 20% of your house rating, so the typical modern 200 amp service house is allowed 8kW nameplate rating; your roof might be limiting too.)

Modern panels and new microinverters are warranteed for 25 years. With the incentive CA gives (in addition to the federal tax credit) and the price of electricity out there now (which will only go up...) solar panels are a better investment than anything you can find on Wall Street. (Even here in DE, my 4.7 kW should pay for themselves in 5-7 years, (look at that as time to double the money, since the original investment is still in the panels, and will continue to pay better "royalties" than most stocks, with little to no risk.)

You (or at least I) can't get that sort of deal on the stock market (and it gives you security from future whims of the market, and you're "saving the planet" and helping your neighbors (and helping the power company - they won't have to put in infrastructure upgrades as soon in your neighborhood.))

For a double whammy, go to time of use with your net metering. The solar panels produce the most power during on peak periods, and the Volt gives you substantial off peak use. More bang for your buck.

[Kgorman]

Water, good reply. Thx.

I am going to look deeper into Solar. Sunpower seems to be a local supplier here, anyone in CA using solar and have suggestions as to vendors?

[Rozmitch]

Hi Kgorman,
Had no idea California had a tiered system with such high rates for higher usage. Guess it's to limit demand in a supply limited market? Maybe encourage alternative energy sources too?

From what I can tell from your usage, you will always be in the top tier for marginal KWhs, even without using the Volt, and however 'medieval' you get with usage. We use about the same base (excluding summer aircon) power as you do, just for the basic modern day household needs.

I checked 2nd meter installation costs and see that the below link suggest $250. If that is the case then it's a no brainer. We have stuck with 120V charging overnight for 6 months. It's simple, hence we have avoided installing a 240V charging unit that would cost many $100s, if not $1000s.

My view is the Volt is a brilliant concept, drives superbly, and saves us $13-15c/mile over our previous car (Honda Pilot) - over $100 savings per month for 800 miles/month. So your payback on the new meter would be a few months.....
Good luck.

http://www.pge.com/myhome/environmen...hicles/pevfaq/

[Fulgerite]

You should inquire about getting the charger connected to a TOU meter. If you charge at night your bill should be significantly less. Here in Los Angeles I can get my bill down to 3.5 cents per kWH if I charge after 8:00pm.

SPX or your local power utility may have a way to get the work done for free too...

[AllenL]

I live in NorCal in the southbay. I know of the .34/kwh price which is tier 5+. Theres no reason why anyone should be in that range. From reading the threads replies, yes if you don't know, theres something sapping large amounts of power. The price adjusts for usage in your neighborhood. So this is just you, it sounds like, not that everyone in your neighborhood is in tier 5. My volt charges at .11/kwh at the normal 6A rate from 7pm till when its done. Got a PC that runs 24/7 there?