PG&E surcharges coming soon to a bill

[Doppler17]

I don't see PGE as evil, any more than the water company, the garbage company, cable companies, or the phone companies. They provide a service , just like the other companies do. I know the PGE GAS rates are determined by what they are charged to deliver and just pass that fee along. The Electric rates are not pass through. Those are determined by the CPUC and not sure if all the contracts have expired that came about in the deregulation debacle(I would hope so as that was long ago). Also what I do know... is when my power is out, I want it back on. Very glad this year with all the storms that I have not lost power.

Also no solar here , been thinking about a wind turbine lately. And my bill is frequtly over 400. Per month. I pay it and am happy I can live the lifestyle I have... 3kids, TVs, Computers, just 1 tank right now... choose to be upset and negative or choose to be happy and appreciative of the good things.

 

[sfsuphysics]

At least I can sell solar back to PG&E at the highest tier price I use. So if I'm in that 400% category the meter simply runs backwards as it "takes from the top" for pricing. I'm waiting for them to really screw over people by only giving back a fraction of the usage.

 

[d0ughb0y]

At least I can sell solar back to PG&E at the highest tier price I use. So if I'm in that 400% category the meter simply runs backwards as it "takes from the top" for pricing. I'm waiting for them to really screw over people by only giving back a fraction of the usage.

I know everything is accumulated till the end of the year, so the true cost is hidden unless you dig deep into it. So you don't actually sell the power to pg&e for Xcents per kwh at the time your meter is running backwards, but pg&e simply acts as your battery storage and gives it back to you when you are using power from the grid. At the end of the year, if your balance is negative usage, then pg&e pays you less than what you paid the solar company.

if that is not the case, then either I am mistaken or things changed since when I was dealing with the solar company.

 

[chicken]

At least I can sell solar back to PG&E at the highest tier price I use. So if I'm in that 400% category the meter simply runs backwards as it "takes from the top" for pricing. I'm waiting for them to really screw over people by only giving back a fraction of the usage.

Mike your time is coming. They are moving everyone over to time of use rates in like 2019 and will only pay you the rate when you produce the power and then you pay current rate when you use it. To screw over solar users they are moving peak from 2pm - 9pm soon so when solar is tapering off and you have to buy power at the highest rate. Again no idea how PUC is letting them get away with this BS.

 

[wwu123]

Mike your time is coming. They are moving everyone over to time of use rates in like 2019 and will only pay you the rate when you produce the power and then you pay current rate when you use it. To screw over solar users they are moving peak from 2pm - 9pm soon so when solar is tapering off and you have to buy power at the highest rate. Again no idea how PUC is letting them get away with this BS.

Yes, that's NEM 2.0, and once the NEM 2.0 caps are reached, future solar owners may get nothing for their excess daytime production. In Hawaii, that's what happened. After the original net metering, they had a short window last year where they had a wholesale reimbursement program that was quickly filled. Now in Hawaii you are not allowed to send any excess power back to the grid, let alone get compensated for it.

The huge increases in PG&E bills this winter is not from the electricity, as this rate hike just started March 1, but from gas. They snuck in a 30% increase in August for gas, back in summer when gas usage is at its lowest. That increase plus the colder rainy weather increased usage and pushed more into Tier 2 rates, so net result is at least a 60-70% in gas bills vs last year. And that is not because they are paying more for natural gas, but rather that the taxpayer pays for their screw-ups on the San Bruno explosion and the Aliso Viejo gas fields - to pay for fixing the infrastructure.

 

[Julius Chen]

Just got solar up and running a month ago. If pg&e screws me again, i am going with the tesla battery wall!!!!

I'd rather go broke by one shot from tesla than a thousand cuts by pg&e.

 

[SeaMonkee]

4 and 6 so it might look bad if I gave them the boot now. :hmm2:

Time to start dipping into that 529?

I died laughing reading this. Well played, and good forethought.

 

[sfsuphysics]

I know everything is accumulated till the end of the year, so the true cost is hidden unless you dig deep into it. So you don't actually sell the power to pg&e for Xcents per kwh at the time your meter is running backwards, but pg&e simply acts as your battery storage and gives it back to you when you are using power from the grid. At the end of the year, if your balance is negative usage, then pg&e pays you less than what you paid the solar company.

if that is not the case, then either I am mistaken or things changed since when I was dealing with the solar company.

Not sure that's true, since I get a monthly update on my net power usage, along with a cost (I never make more than I sell), although I have to say I wish they did it that way, since there are summer months where the net cost is anywhere from $5-20, and then there's winter months where it's a couple hundred, the summer definitely could average the winter months.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Yes, that's NEM 2.0, and once the NEM 2.0 caps are reached, future solar owners may get nothing for their excess daytime production. In Hawaii, that's what happened. After the original net metering, they had a short window last year where they had a wholesale reimbursement program that was quickly filled. Now in Hawaii you are not allowed to send any excess power back to the grid, let alone get compensated for it.

Ouch, that sucks. Wonder if it won't go down different in California, afterall we have a lot more sue happy lawyers here. Especially after PG&E actually encouraged people to use solar by giving rebates, and they even talked about things like "buy back time" when your solar would pay itself off.

Either way, here's hoping I get grandfathered into an older plan

 

[d-man]

How does the tesla wall work? I'm in a townhome and can't do solar in San diego here. My bill was 393 last month with some sort of winter BS surcharge of $97. Normally my bill is 280-300

 

[DivingTheWorld]

How does the tesla wall work? I'm in a townhome and can't do solar in San diego here. My bill was 393 last month with some sort of winter BS surcharge of $97. Normally my bill is 280-300

As I understand it, it's essentially a whole house battery backup. Your solar works the way it always does, but flows through the Tesla Wall keeping it charged. If the power goes out, you run off the Tesla Wall for whatever period of time it's good for (I believe there are various sizes available). I think it's basically just a new updated version of the old school solar battery back up which is a stack of batteries in your garage or shed.

We looked into adding it to our existing Solar City system, but the cost was prohibitive. If we add solar to our next home, I will definitely look at pricing that in.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Tesla wall is basically a battery bank, it just looks nicer as an object on your wall, IIRC it uses Li Ion batteries instead of the big lead acid batteries that most off the grid people use. But that's it, it stores power for you.

I can't tell you if it's "worth it" versus using a bunch of lead acid batteries as I haven't really looked into pricing as such.

 

[d-man]

Oh ok thanks.. No need for me then

 

[tmantaylor18]

Finally finished getting my whole house running on LEDs, other than my reef...