Xcel Energy 2.7 cents kWh charging program for evs

You'll be future-proofed with a 50-Amp EVSE. 2.8 cents is a great rate!

 

My off peak is $0.26 per kwh. Peak is $0.62 per kwh, and that doesn't include delivery and fixed charges. There is a reason besides the sun that solar makes sense in 'California. And that's why I charge from solar instead of the grid.

 

(The Xcel Energy rates differ by state, my rates are for Minnesota)

When I installed my home charging in 2020 Xcel Energy had limited choices. I'm on the "EV Meter" Xcel Energy plan which is a separate EV charging meter: $0.04/kWh off-peak 21:00-09:00 weekdays, all-day weekends and $0.16/kWh on-peak. I get to use any EVSE I want, which is going to be good when I install the 80 Amp Ford Charge Station Pro for the Intelligent Backup Power. What I like about the Ford F-150 Lightning is it knows about all of the plans so I could select my Xcel Energy's plan and the F-150 Lightning automatically charges correctly when at home. My MINI Cooper SE has to be manually switched by me between off-peak weekdays and charge immediately on weekends or when I'm at a public charger. There have been a couple times when I plugged my SE into a public charger and thought I was charging only to realize it was set for a low-cost window of 9pm-9am!

 

I have an Enphase system with a whole house backup and a 20 kwh battery that I put in before I got the Lightning. I can program to charge solar only or on off peak hours. The Enphase system also down loads all of the utility rates and times. But I am retired so I am always around and I just plug in my Old GE Durostation dumb charger when I have excess solar. Pus I have net metering so if I need to I can charge from the grid and the export the solar. It works so I haven't bothered with a smart charger. A the lot of the people on F150 Lightning forum have had trouble getting the Home integration Systems (HIS) from Ford operating properly. The HIS system seems to have software communication problems with the truck that are slowly being worked through. I think I will wait till V2H is a little more mature before I go down that path. For now if I need to I can plug an extension cord into the truck in an emergency if the grid and the Enphase system are down.

 

Part of me wants to say that those rates are pretty attractive, but I assume that's just the cost to generate and not the transmission cost. But the peak rates are pretty eye watering. For us, we have two heat pumps, so it almost becomes a deal-breaker.

For us, we are on a plan with a fixed rate 24x7 that is around 12c/kWh (that includes all fees/taxes). There does exist an EV charging plan, but to get that you have to accept much higher rates on-peak. The solar on the roof takes a big dent out of that, but in the winter, the usage is still pretty significant.

 

I'm all electric with a heat pump, also retired, so sitting around with the lights & TV on all day (not really). I looked at my consumption using data from my iotawatt system & concluded that I'd come out ahead with a time of use plan. This was before I had an EV, probably even more beneficial now. For me, xcel in CO, peak is 3pm - 7pm, mid peak is 1pm-3pm, the rest is off peak. Our rates are roughly 0.08/0.10/0.12 in the winter and 0.08/0.12/0.16 (going by memory). I do have a grid tied solar so much of my solar production is at peak rates. Most of our heating is in the off peak hours too. Most of the peak consumption is cooking. I think that MN rate plan would be even better for me.