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Figuring cost to charge my Prime

Discussion in 'Gen 5 Prime Charging' started by Mark Robert Trottier, Sep 6, 2023.

  1. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    it happens too often, unfortunately
     
  2. Blizzard_Persona

    Blizzard_Persona Senior Member

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    Can someone help me understand my electric bill?

    Is my actual rate what I circled in yellow, or is it the total of all those other numbers on the second picture added up? I know in the other thread some fellas came up with the formula to see how much it’s gonna cost to charge your Prime. That would be nice to know because I’m gonna be using in essence a full charge every day on my commute. My wife just pays the bill. I have no idea about this stuff.

    FYI we have a separate dedicated meter and panel for my garage, that’s why the bill is so low. We get 2 Peco electric bills (House & Garage).

    Heck, if someone would like to do the math and let me know with my rate, what I’ll be expecting to pay daily on a full charge that would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

    IMG_6503.jpeg IMG_6504.png
     
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    it's like taxes. your effective rate is the total bill divided by the number of kwh used. so about 28 cents/kwh

    i wish that were my bill :p our total for last year was $3,300. :(
     
  4. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    If what you posted is the garage ONLY; it's just the total bill divided by KWh used, 0.288/KWh. That's assuming nothing else is a major power draw. Fridge, arc welder, air compressor.

    Those of us that gets only one bill, needs to separate the car from the rest of the house. My assumptions are, all service & transmission fees or fixed infrastructure charges belong to the house - I would have to pay that anyways. Incremental charges tied to usage gets added to the KWh charges/usage. We are on time-of-use billing, So I programmed the car to charge at the cheapest rate, 12AM-6AM. I use that as my rough gestimate of car electricity usage. I recharge every-night and got billed for 220 KWh last month.

    Hopes this helps..
     
  5. Blizzard_Persona

    Blizzard_Persona Senior Member

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    This is just for my garage. I get 2 separate bills as I have 2 separate meters. The bill is roughly $12+ a month with nothing plugged in just to have service hooked up. The old old owners used to work on cars in the garage (2 car detached) and had air tools and a big furnace, etc. I only have a 12.1 cu/ft standing deep freeze and a kegerator fridge. Sometimes run a fan or air purifier. Also charge my EGO batteries 1-2 times a week and run a tender on my motorcycle. Have two 4’ led shop lights.


    Is the $0.1031 rate that I circle in yellow my actual kw/hr rate though? Seems like the other page I attached has distribution / transmission & Generation charges?? Added up they don’t equal the 0.1031? Still confused.

    They could def make this bill less complicated and straightforward.
     
    #25 Blizzard_Persona, Sep 14, 2023
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2023
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  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    yes, 10 cents/kwh. but that's camouflage. when your as old as me, you remember when that was all the electric bill consisted of.
    but then the electric companies got smart and figured out a scheme to get around the utilities regulators.
     
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  7. Blizzard_Persona

    Blizzard_Persona Senior Member

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    Ahh ok. So it is 10 Cents but with all the extra fees I’m at 28. Thank you :)

    I think someone mentioned the new prime can only take 10-10-5 KW when EV is depleted not the 13.6 advertised due to top and bottom battery safety threshold.
     
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    that's correct. get a watt meter if you want to know your charging costs
     
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  9. Blizzard_Persona

    Blizzard_Persona Senior Member

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    Thank you Sir, I’ll look into that for sure.
    Any recommendations?
     
  10. Hammersmith

    Hammersmith Senior Member

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    My take: (different from some of the others)

    Your bill is divided into three categories. It helps to remember that your local power company is buying the electricity from somewhere, not making it on its own. It's then passing those costs onto you, plus adding additional charges. So the categories are:

    1. Power generation costs
    2. Local distribution costs
    3. Taxes

    Your bill:
    1. [99 x (0.00919+0.09393)] = [99 x 0.10312] = $10.21
    - this is where that 0.1031 comes from; this is what your power company is saying the electricity is costing them per kWh

    2. 99 x 0.07813 = $7.73
    - this is what your power company is saying they're charging per kWh on top of the costs above to distribute it to you

    2a. $10.56
    - this is a base fee that the power company is going to charge you whether you use 0kWh or 1000kWh

    3. -$0.02
    - this is money you're getting back for some kind of tax/government reasons


    So if I was doing this, I'd set aside the base fee(2a. $10.56) from my calculations since that's not going to change. You could make an argument that you should include it if you're only getting power to your garage because of the car. But if you were going to have power to the garage regardless(like you're doing with the freezer, electric lawn tools, etc.), then I wouldn't include it. I'd also set aside the taxes, but that's a negligible amount so it doesn't matter either way.

    So I would just add the parts of the bill that are determined by usage. In this case, that would be $0.18125 per kWh. That's the number I would multiply by whatever kWh your car used that month.
     
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  11. tovli

    tovli 2023 Prius Prime replaced 09 Prius

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    - Your bill shows a rate of $0.18125 per kWh
    - Full charge of my 2023 Prius Prime XSE draws 13.3 - 13.6 kWh from the wall (*1).
    Let's use 13.5 kWh for your single full charge.

    Therefore each daily charge will cost you about $2.50

    *1) Based on 47 charges in 2 1/2 months using a Meecher PM01-US (Mfg: Ningbo Jijia Electric, China) meter.
     
  12. tovli

    tovli 2023 Prius Prime replaced 09 Prius

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    I chose this one for ease of reading the numbers and $12 price. (It reads about 1% high which is 2 cents high per charge)

     
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  13. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    looking into solar, have to put on a new roof even though this one has 5-10 years left at least and the cost is around $25,000. for the roof. then the solar is around $25,000. after tax credits, and it's a 10 year breakeven, not counting the roof expense.
    just a tough decision making process.
     
  14. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i don't have one, but if you look through other gen 5 electric usage threads, people have posted what they use.
     
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  15. Alessandro_Ibi

    Alessandro_Ibi Junior Member

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    @bisco
    Take into consideration the growing cost of electricity, that will shorten the breakeven length. The amount of the PV plant cost looks to include some battery also? If so all good to go. 7kwh PV - 10Kw batteries. I have something less in the home and I am still satisfied.
    Regards
    Alessandro
     
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  16. Marine Ray

    Marine Ray Senior Member

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    For me, solar is a non starter until solar tiles replace regular tiles. I'm not putting solar panels on my perfectly good existing roof. Then those solar panels have to be removed (at a cost) if any roof maintenance/future tile replacement needs to be done.

    Further, my average monthly kWh usage over the past 12 months is 400 kWh/month at $40/month. Nevada Energy is my utility company here in the Reno/Lake Tahoe area.

    For now, the cost of going solar is not financially favorable.
     
    #36 Marine Ray, Sep 17, 2023
    Last edited: Sep 17, 2023
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  17. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    Whenever those Solar (snake oil) salesmen come to my door; they always try to tell me that they are going to save me money. They don't ask to see my utility bill first - That's how you know it's a scam. I usually ask them, what will they pay me, if they don't save me money - some will actually double-down and start lying.
    For the most part, if your a PG&E customer - it's worth doing the math. In most cases, your prepaying for your utilities in hopes of the system lasting longer than the payback/breakeven point. My take on this is, your out the money up front and a additional second mortgage on your house.

    Just my 2 cents
     
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  18. Marine Ray

    Marine Ray Senior Member

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    Agree with you on the "snake oil" part. There's got to be a better way to sell solar without making it seem like, and I'm going back a few generations, I'm being sold a vacuum cleaner or encyclopedia set by a door to door saleman.
     
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  19. Mr.Vanvandenburg

    Mr.Vanvandenburg Senior Member

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    I got the same one, because $12. Works pretty nice. I guess chips are available now.
    When the car is new it’s interesting to know exactly. A person has the car awhile and it becomes ballpark is ok. I figure 1.5 hours computes to about 30% soc increase on my 2020, on 120 volt. I get back to the car and it is always about right. So that’s about 2 kwh for my car. Two times my rate of electric there is the cost.
    I have a 6 kwh battery, the new model,11, usable. It’s peanuts to charge it, especially where electricity is cheap. Drive, be happy it’s not a 13 mpg vehicle.
     
  20. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    thanks!
    no battery, the excess is sold back to the utility.