Home Electric Rates

[Jimct]

I know our electric rates here in CT are high, but I wonder as I read on various threads where people claim to pay 6 - 10 cents per kWh if they factor in the delivery fees. I say we have to divide the entire monthly bill by kWh used to determine the true rate. My statement shows the cost per kWh is 8 cents, but the delivery fee is almost double that, bringing the true cost to almost 22 cents, and it's consistently that every month. Still cheaper than a 30 mpg gas car, though. Comments?

 

[Genevamech]

Long Island here; It's about the same after fees and taxes

PSEG has an incentive if you use an EVSE that reports usage to them, so I get a $0.05/kWh discount for power used by the EVSE between 11PM-6AM. They also offer a $500 rebate on a handful qualified chargers. Check with your utility provider if they have similar incentives in place.

5 cents isn't much, but it's almost 25% off the cost of energy for your car which ain't nothing either!

 

[Rickker]

I know our electric rates here in CT are high, but I wonder as I read on various threads where people claim to pay 6 - 10 cents per kWh if they factor in the delivery fees. I say we have to divide the entire monthly bill by kWh used to determine the true rate. My statement shows the cost per kWh is 8 cents, but the delivery fee is almost double that, bringing the true cost to almost 22 cents, and it's consistently that every month. Still cheaper than a 30 mpg gas car, though. Comments?

I agree, the only realistic way to compare residential rates is to take the total dollars paid divided by the number of kilowatt-hours used. The base rate varies all over the place, and there may be rebates in some states/provinces. FWIW, the residential rate here in southern Ontario is about 15 cents (Canadian) for most people. And of course TOU billing is now back in effect. ....Rickker

 

[Fastnf]

I have 6 kws of solar panels. I haven't bought electricity since I installed them 8 years ago. I have net metering so I usually get about $100 a year back from Southern California Edison. Just for information the house I live in is all electric. I heat the house with a heat pump. I am currently charging two BEV's on a regular basis, both Konas. One gets driven about 250 aweek. It belongs to a friend who live on my property in a tiny house/bus. I also supply his electricity in addition to a second house( not electrically heated) on the property which I also rent out. I drive about 75 miles a week. Needless to say I am very happy having put in the solar array.

 

[R P]

I have 6 kws of solar panels. I haven't bought electricity since I installed them 8 years ago. I have net metering so I usually get about $100 a year back from Southern California Edison. Just for information the house I live in is all electric. I heat the house with a heat pump. I am currently charging two BEV's on a regular basis, both Konas. One gets driven about 250 aweek. It belongs to a friend who live on my property in a tiny house/bus. I also supply his electricity in addition to a second house( not electrically heated) on the property which I also rent out. I drive about 75 miles a week. Needless to say I am very happy having put in the solar array.

Just out of curiosity, what was your total capital outlay for your installation, not incl your own labour. I assume also that you were able scrounge/manufacture some parts that others might have to pay for. But what was your actual cost?

 

[Fastnf]

Just out of curiosity, what was your total capital outlay for your installation, not incl your own labour. I assume also that you were able scrounge/manufacture some parts that others might have to pay for. But what was your actual cost?

$12k after a 30% tax credit. I designed and built my own rack system out of old oil well piping. The Keocera panels were new as was the Fronius inverter. The system was permitted under county cods and signed off by a registered Professional Electrical engineer as required by the code. I am in a high wind area so the engineering needed to right. Below is a shot of the finished system and the construction of the racking and inverter shed.d

 

[R P]

How big is your battery bank, and what type of batteries do you use?

 

[Fastnf]

How big is your battery bank, and what type of batteries do you use?

Right now I am grid tied so I have no batteries. I was planning to installing a battery back up system but now I don't have to.
The sate of California has a program that if you are in a high fire area on a well as you sole water supply they will install battery back up system. I guess they want access to water during fires. So California is going to give me two Tesla power walls and install them for free. Go figure.

 

[R P]

Yeah, that certainly is a big savings.

 

[Jimct]

$12k after a 30% tax credit. I designed and built my own rack system out of old oil well piping. The Keocera panels were new as was the Fronius inverter. The system was permitted under county cods and signed off by a registered Professional Electrical engineer as required by the code. I am in a high wind area so the engineering needed to right. Below is a shot of the finished system and the construction of the racking and inverter shed.dView attachment 10705 View attachment 10706

The landscape shows you have a lot of sunny days, your installation makes perfect sense. In New England when the sun comes out we run outside to see what all the brightness is about.

 

[Jamas]

$12k after a 30% tax credit. I designed and built my own rack system out of old oil well piping. The Keocera panels were new as was the Fronius inverter. The system was permitted under county cods and signed off by a registered Professional Electrical engineer as required by the code. I am in a high wind area so the engineering needed to right. Below is a shot of the finished system and the construction of the racking and inverter shed.dView attachment 10705 View attachment 10706

Nice! Since you're in a high wind area, have you considered residential windmills?

 

[Fastnf]

Ye

Nice! Since you're in a high wind area, have you considered residential windmills?

Yes, I consider wind initially. However when sizing wind generator I found that for a continuous output at given kw rate its much more expensive than a similar sized solar array. Usually turbine outputs are listed at their peak wind capacity so for a continuous 6 kw output I would have needed close to a 20kw peak turbine. We have a lot of commercial wind turbines in the area. Below is a picture just over the hill from me.

 

[KiwiME]

... but the delivery fee is almost double that, bringing the true cost to almost 22 cents...

I'll assume you're referring to a fixed daily cost for the connection. Here in NZ that would normally be $1.50 to $3 a day but if your total monthly use is under 666 kWh you can go on a govt-mandated low-user plan which drops that to $0.30 a day with an accompanied slightly higher per-kWh rate.

I record my weekly usage and billing in Excel and it returns the overall $/kWh, which is typically $0.32 on the low-user, dual rate plan. My per-kWh rates are $0.40 for the 8 hours from 07:00-11:00 and 17:00-21:00, then $0.20 the remaining 16 hours - which of course is plenty of time to charge the Kona. Before signing up to this plan I had determined that having a peak/off-peak plan v.s. a fixed "anytime" plan at $0.30/kWh did not materially affect the non-EV portion of my bill.

Our power is relatively expensive on a worldwide basis but it has to serve 5m population spread over a relatively large area. Power is nearly 90% green and the majority comes from South Island hydro, for us in the North Island via a 500kVDC undersea link. The remaining is thermal, wind, and solar with peaks handled by natural gas. I'll just note that gasoline costs $8.15/us gal.

 

[Jimct]

I'll assume you're referring to a fixed daily cost for the connection. Here in NZ that would normally be $1.50 to $3 a day but if your total monthly use is under 666 kWh you can go on a govt-mandated low-user plan which drops that to $0.30 a day with an accompanied slightly higher per-kWh rate.

I record my weekly usage and billing in Excel and it returns the overall $/kWh, which is typically $0.32 on the low-user, dual rate plan. My per-kWh rates are $0.40 for the 8 hours from 07:00-11:00 and 17:00-21:00, then $0.20 the remaining 16 hours - which of course is plenty of time to charge the Kona. Before signing up to this plan I had determined that having a peak/off-peak plan v.s. a fixed "anytime" plan at $0.30/kWh did not materially affect the non-EV portion of my bill.

Our power is relatively expensive on a worldwide basis but it has to serve 5m population spread over a relatively large area. Power is nearly 90% green and the majority comes from South Island hydro, for us in the North Island via a 500kVDC undersea link. The remaining is thermal, wind, and solar with peaks handled by natural gas. I'll just note that gasoline costs $8.15/us gal.

We visited NZ almost exactly nine years ago - you're doing even better with renewables now than you were then. We were stunned at the contrast with your neighbor Australia which relies on coal.

Money seems to drive everything in the U.S., and as long as politics and big oil rule, gas prices will stay relatively low and fossil cars will continue to dominate. Things will change, hopefully, as the big carmakers see the writing on the wall and convert to EV production (GM, for example).

Meanwhile renewable energy sources are slowly gaining ground, my state is chiefly NG but solar and wind is increasing. My power provider hasn't signed on to the idea of off peak rates but that may have to change as more EV's are on the road, overloading the daytime grid.

Your country is beautiful, btw, we enjoyed our visit tremendously.

 

[KiwiME]

It's nearly as difficult for NZ to move away from fossil fuels as it is in the US despite our head start with power generation. EVs are still very expensive here ($75k for my base Kona) and we have similar difficulties with the population understanding why change is needed. There are no purchase incentives, only an exemption on paying road tax which expires at the end of this year and will add 8 cents/km to my 4 cents/km for electricity.

Your country is beautiful, btw, we enjoyed our visit tremendously.

Glad you did. I lived some 30 years total in the US before moving here 15 years ago, Ithaca NY and San Diego CA.

 

[Recoil45]

I know our electric rates here in CT are high, but I wonder as I read on various threads where people claim to pay 6 - 10 cents per kWh if they factor in the delivery fees. I say we have to divide the entire monthly bill by kWh used to determine the true rate. My statement shows the cost per kWh is 8 cents, but the delivery fee is almost double that, bringing the true cost to almost 22 cents, and it's consistently that every month. Still cheaper than a 30 mpg gas car, though. Comments?

You are honest and get it. Many people are dishonest as to what they pay.

My rates in NY were 16.5 kWh. My rates here in TX are 10.5. NY doesn't seem to bad with that info right? Well NY had tons of taxes and a delivery fee nearly equal to the electric rate. Texas has none. Being honest i was around 32 cents per kWh in NY. Finding an EV owner in NY who uses 32cents and not 16cents to calculate their EV charging costs is a unicorn.


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[Genevamech]

Finding an EV owner in NY who uses 32cents and not 16cents to calculate their EV charging costs is a unicorn.

The difficulty is the fees are not necessarily linear, so simply dividing the bill by the total kWh consumed doesn't give an accurate number but a pessimistic estimate. EV charging being eligible for a discount also muddies the waters if we don't know if the cost includes a discount or not. Any discussion of costs will need a lot of footnotes and qualifiers.

Also I have no idea where you're getting those prices since I live in NY and they bear no resemblance to what's on my bill...

 

[FloridaSun]

January, I used 328kwh peak and 1742kwh off peak (mostly heater use... unusually cold January here in Florida). After all fees, I paid $177.5 for a total of 2070kwh.. so my average per kwh was 8.5 cents..
In summer, I used more peak. August was 463kwh peak and 1388kwh off peak..$172.80 for 1851 kwh, 9.3 cents per kwh. Those numbers are after all fees and taxes..