squowse
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2021
- Messages
- 588
So using your batteries to shave off the peaks is the way to go I suppose
Ive had solar for a year and now the utility company charges a demand fee... not cool.
- Thread starter vwaudiguy
- Start date
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
The issue with any collective is that it no one is willing to put forth the effort to get ahead because everyone is the same. The incentive is gone. In the Soviet Union it caused the downfall. Collective farming produced next to nothing because those farming just planted enough for their own needs on a small plot while the rest lay idle. Might be an interesting parallel to our electric grid and now small generators like DIY solar enthusiasts.
It also tends to create a parallel market where the black market and criminal market can thrive.
再生可能 エネルギー
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2019
- Messages
- 261
You could easilly turn off the car charging when one of the other heavy loads (Heat Pump or Watre Heater) is running.
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
Collective mindset is you give that excess and then some to the collective for free. There won't be any incentive to produce excess beyond your basic needs.
That is the problem with grid tie long term in a fascist state. One of the reasons I didn't want grid tie.
PotusGobbleBottom
Corn Pop was a bad dude.
0.168 here in Wi, with no BS caps or peak pricing.
vwaudiguy
New Member
My price per Kwh is actually cheap at $0.087 but I get the other BS along with it... yay
SunDave
Solar Enthusiast
You can rewire your water heater element to run from 120v which would drop power load by 3.4kW for free. But it would take 4x longer to heat up the water tank so you would need to overheat it to store more heat and install hot water mixing valve to not burn people. Another option is load dependent EV charger controller to automatically drop charge current to 6A via pilot signal saving you another 2.4 kW. Doing these 2 things saves you 5.8 kW or $22/mo in demand charge. Then you can go further and modify the stove/range to auto lock out burners so they never run at the same time. If you can keep your max demand to below 10kW then $38 fee is not too terrible.
There seems to be a lot of whining and moaning that electricity is getting more expensive. I guess the price of electricity should never go up? What else are you paying for that hasn't gone up since 2018?
The ops electric company has rates under .1/kWh, they haven't raised rates since 2018 and y'all are crying?
The ops electric company has rates under .1/kWh, they haven't raised rates since 2018 and y'all are crying?
SunDave
Solar Enthusiast
Ok. Just bookmark this for yourself when it finally hits your area.
zanydroid
Solar Wizard
For California some people are salty about the 15-20% per year increase combined with the impending mandate to ban all new gas appliances starting in 2030. Not sure if the car side mandate will stop at PHEV or go further (I don't think it's practical to go beyond PHEV, I hope sanity prevails. Haven't checked what the current plans are or the timeline).
Personally I think demand charges are appropriate/essential, otherwise how will they pay for winter delivery if everybody drops their consumption by 90%+ for the other 9 months. That is totally possible given the economics of solar + batteries (once enough of the non value providing markups are removed)
Ampster
Renewable Energy Hobbyist
I agree about some reasonable fixed delivery charge. I just hope the CPUC holds their feet to the fire and makes sure that money goes into necessary grid maintenance and upgrades.
vwaudiguy
New Member
If I could pick between different electric companies to get the best deal as with any other goods or service.. then complaints would be kept to a lower level.. but to have a rate change done in a way that is nearly out of my control to offset and a change that has the ability to triple my bill for 9 months out of the year with zero say... nope... they have and will continue to hear about it. If they need money... raise the rates.. don't add "junk fees"
zanydroid
Solar Wizard
There's a limited amount of free market that's viable with a natural monopoly like electricity. Nobody is going to string up separate wires for each company -- we tried that 100 years ago and it doesn't work.
Rates-only increase may not be able to cover the grid costs in all situations.
Why is it OK for all non-residential to have demand charges, usage charges, and power quality charges, but residential to only be subject to usage charges?
Sparks-n-Splinters
New Member
Part of my retirement plan is not to pay ever-increasing bills from the PoCo. My wife and I have been working diligently here to live comfortably while reducing our power consumption. The system I build will be off grid and my ROI will be peace of mind.
Here in NW Iowa we have a county full of wind mills that are supposed to reduce our bills and yet they still increase. Not actual usage rates, but goofy fees.
The last bill I actually laid eyes on was some months ago now when I exploded over a new "clean energy" fee. She has not let me see a bill since.
It's time to go off grid, or at the very least get serious about reducing as much grid usage as you can while your still allowed to do it.
Here in NW Iowa we have a county full of wind mills that are supposed to reduce our bills and yet they still increase. Not actual usage rates, but goofy fees.
The last bill I actually laid eyes on was some months ago now when I exploded over a new "clean energy" fee. She has not let me see a bill since.
It's time to go off grid, or at the very least get serious about reducing as much grid usage as you can while your still allowed to do it.
Ampster
Renewable Energy Hobbyist
Some markets have tried free market pricing for Generation. In California we have CCAs which serves a good portion of the market. Delivery is still a monopoly and in my opinion poorly regulated. The grid needs to be updated to adapt to today's distributed generation
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How's this change going to triple your bill?
vwaudiguy
New Member
I view electricity like I do gasoline... charge enough per gallon to pay all of the cost of production, transport, ect... the customer really doesn't need to be involved with your business by paying a pump fee and a fuel fee and a cost of doing business fee... if the price gets too high for some people, they will conserve... true those that drive gas guzzlers will be subsidizing those who have economy cars.. but again, the choice is the costumers as to what kind of car they buy. do the same with electricity. raise the rate to an amount that covers all cost of doing business as a power company. that way the customer can choose to conserve or pay. and again, the electricity guzzlers will possibly be subsidizing those that don't use much power. but they are the ones that use the most... and also have the choice to do something about it.. (solar)
vwaudiguy
New Member
my bill for 9 months was only $31 each... this change will add about $78 to each of those months.
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