Switched my Electric Billing Plan

We have been on that rate for a few months (see my post above). Combined with solar PV and a storage battery, and the extremely high peak rates, we have actually had generation credits the past couple of months. We will see what happens in the fall when weather is still hot and solar production is reduced.

On top of that, there's an $850 EV Climate Credit coming our way through the utility. This is an annual credit that you need to apply for early in the calendar year. It's financed by California's cap and trade program, but it's first come first serve and varies from year to year.

 

Here in BC smart metres were rolled out to reduce costs as the primary and sole justification for the one time expense. As a public utility, the commission, current/past governments & the general public were not interested in time of day usage rates. A benefit of the largely hydro based energy system bc hydro has never really struggled with peak and base demand issues that warrant pushing for time of day usage. Hydro dam power by it’s very nature is both peak and base demand capable so long as the peak demand can be maintained hydro power is perfect for fluctuating energy demands. Energy conservation programs like “energy smart” and the two tear system have proven highly affective. Time of day programs aren’t about giving discounts they’re truly meant to curb usage during peak demands. What will be nice to see with smart metres and connected chargers is a separate tariff rate for home charging an EV that can be tracked and billed separate on an account at a fixed rate that doesn’t go against the step 1/2 rate system that could be two step time of day billed apart from our existing system.