PIP Owners in Southern California Edison Areas

I've been thinking about the current options that SCE has for those of us with EVs or PiHEVs.

There's the usual "Rate Sheet D" tiered structure, that penalizes usage above 200% of baseline with rates that equate or exceed the costs of the equivalent amount of gasoline.

There's the "Home and EV" rate that charges upwards of $.50/kWh for daytime use, regardless of only charging at night. (Think home A/C, refrigeration, etc. that need to run on hot days at $.47/kWh.) Even with conservative temperature management, all LED lighting in a home, a high-SEER HVAC system and copious insulation, keeping within 200% of the baseline allowance will be a challenge, and of course, forget about topping off the Prius during the day with energy costing the equivalent of $6/gal gasoline.

Finally, there's the "EV Separate Meter" rate, which requires significant upfront costs. That plan certainly makes sense for those who own their homes, have relatively short runs from their service panel to the grid connection point, and have an electrician on retainer.

Interestingly, the "peak" rates for this plan are no higher than Sheet D Tier 4 rates.

Now, here's where I think there's an opportunity:

SCE could address the rate disparity for those where the separate meter is impractical by (a) simply adjusting the baseline consumption to take into account some significant percentage of EV charging consumption over a typical month, or (b) using technology to isolate and separately measure consumption from an EVSE that's behind a single household meter.

For years, SCE and others have had devices that connect to A/C compressors that allow the utility to shut off A/C during high demand times. This means that even past a meter, the utility has a way to "talk" (and listen) to control devices. So why not, rather than require a separate meter, use a secondary device between the service entrance meter and the EVSE to calculate and report that usage, subtract that from the meter reading, and charge some compromise rate that doesn't penalize EV owners with a single meter?

Thoughts? Is this worth pitching to the PUC and SCE?

 

If you have the standard residential plan (Schedule D I believe they call it), time of day isn't relevant. There are four tiers, with the highest $.31/kWh. Like tax rates, this is a "marginal" rate when one exceeds 200% of the baseline allowance (which is pretty meager). That top tier rate equates to roughly $4/gal gasoline; when/if gasoline prices drop below that, running the Prius on electricity could exceed the price of dino juice. Note that this assumes your home without your PiP consumes more than baseline and that PiP brings it up over the top tier. The actual "blended" rate will be less.

The least viable plan (feel free to chime in if this one works for you) is the Home and EV rate, which is cheap at night (<$.10/kWh) but kills at up to $.47/kWh during the day. I assume that they lump all usage to determine the tier at the time electricity is used (so even if you use a bunch of cheap nightime power, its consumption will put you into the top tier for all time periods). But if you have no A/C and very efficient refrigeration equipment, and you charge at night, this plan could work well. If you live in an area that gets hot during the summer and run A/C accordingly, this plan will kill.

And of course the separate meter EV plan is the best compromise, but its costs for equipment and wiring make this a nonstarter for most, especially for us with PiP's. (But if you plan a full EV down the road, it might make sense to install now.)

What I suggested in the top post is for SCE to use the technology it has already to essentially "sub-meter" EVSE consumption, subtract this from total consumption and bill the household use as Schedule D and the consumption for charging the EV at the "EV plan" rate. Minimal costs for the customer, a technically feasible approach for SCE, and everyone wins.

Which is why it probably won't fly with SCE.

 

Thanks, Jeff. I'm going to (in my very limited spare time) start some inquiries to both PUC and SCE.

 

Thanks, Doug. Solar isn't an option in the home I own now, and as my average electric bill runs way less than $100/mo, no solar company is interested in a subsidized model, as installation, financing and maintenance over 20 years would exceed what I pay today.

However, in a new home with a new soon-to-be spouse, I expect solar to be a very viable option as koi ponds and lofted ceilings tend to increase energy consumption beyond the (comparably) Thermos-like, LED-lit, high-SEER HVAC equipped energy saving box I have today.

 

Making progress with SCE!!! Here's their response to the suggestions about making their rates more rational for plug-in hybrid vehicle owners:

• SCE has submitted a new EV rate proposal to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to address your concerns regarding our single meter, time-of use rate, TOU-D-TEV.
  • SCE has proposed making significant changes to this rate schedule to provide a more cost effective solution for our EV customers.
  • This new rate is currently in CPUC review and could be available before the end of the year pending CPUC final approval.
  • SCE will advise our customers when this new rate becomes available.
• SCE is evaluating a submeter solution like you described in your email.
  • We have been directed by the CPUC to conduct two EV submetering pilots .
  • The first pilot is tentatively scheduled to start in August 2014 pending CPUC final approval.
  • Customers would be able to participate for 12 months.
  • The house would continue to be billed on the current residential rate while EV charging would be billed at our time-of-use, TOU-EV-1 rate that you discussed in your email.
  • At the end of a customer's 12 month participation in the pilot, the EV-1 rate would be removed and both the house and EV charging would revert back to being billed under the current residential rate.

 

I've been reminded by my SCE contact that the information I posted about their moves to improve EV charging rates is subject to CPUC approval, which may or may not occur.

Disclaimer now noted and posted.

 

Okay, some further news. CPUC will not let the utilities do submetering. Instead, new entities called Submeter Meter Data Management Agents (Submeter MDMAs) will be responsible for installing, maintaining, and reading consumption from customers' EVSEs.

This seems rather odd, adding another party to what should be a simple arrangement. I wonder who lobbied to get their foot in the door of the EV charging market? I wonder how much these MDMAs will charge. (Humorous note: MDMA is also known as "Ecstasy"; guess CPUC didn't consider that in going with the term.)

For details, see
http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M081/K786/81786001.PDF

 

Just using SCE's calculator (and pulling all my usage by hour into an Access database), the TOU plan that lumps EV with household consumption would be completely killer for my PiP. I do tend to charge between trips, which means that sometimes I charge during peak hours, and sometimes I charge twice in a day (once during peak and then what would be off peak). Again, the pure EV rate plan with a separate meter would obviate being punished for household usage for A/C during the summer. But it comes with the up-front substantial costs of a new service entrance and tie into the grid.