TOU-D-1 vs. TOU-D-2 -- Looking for clarity..

Hi Folks-- This time, I'm writing in the hopes that someone in the community would be able to shine some light on an area where I'm a bit confused.

I'm working towards getting onto the net-metering arrangement, and while I'm going down that road, I figure that to get the biggest bang for my buck, I should be switching to a TOU (time of use) plan too. I've received the information from SCE, and they've got two different TOU schedules (1 and 2).

It seems that the differences are the rates for kWh's and the meter charges. The actual costs for the kWh are lower for D-2, but the meter charges are a bit more.

From my non-methodical observation unless we're really running a ton of stuff, during the sunlight hours, my meter is running backwards, that tells me that I'm creating a surplus of energy which could be better utilized if I went TOU.

The issue I'm having now is which TOU plan do I want to go with? I'm leaning towards the D-2 since it's less expensive kWh wise. I guess it's a risk/reward game. I see that once I change to TOU I can opt out, but then I need to wait 12 months before making another choice.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks!

Glad to be back!

Sorry folks that's I've been so quiet for so long. Things got crazy around the holidays and I didn't have much time to update my blog.

I've got a few interesting things to share with you.

I've received my first SCE bill. It was about $100 less than the previous month. I'm going to show some interesting pictures which tell the story pretty well. First picture here is the generation from my system over the course of the month that my Edison billing period (11/12-12/12). During this time, I generated 385.75kWh for the period, see below:

Here's a clip from my bill which shows historical utilization, it's the lowest it's been in the past two years:

I still utilized 446kWh which put me a little of the way into Tier 3, see below:

It'll be interesting to see how next month goes, I promise I'll have it updated a lot quicker than I did for this month. :) We had lots of clouds over the holidays and had some low production, but it's been cool too so I haven't have to run the AC or the whole house fans. The last piece of the puzzle I'm still waiting for is SCE to change the meter to get me to a net-metering plan. Not sure how much longer that's going to take.

I'll keep you posted!

I have to say that i'm impressed with the system so far, it hasn't gotten old for me to go and watch the meter spin backwards. It's really enjoyable, and it makes me feel like I'm doing the right thing, not just for my wallet but also for the environment.

That said, I heard from my sales person that they're doing the $0/down $0/installation lease again (that's the deal I signed up for last summer). I've already covered my investment with the savings of my bills. If you're interested in getting more information, I'd suggest giving my sales person a call:

Mike Schmel - 714-331-6873 or mschmel@solarcity.com

Let him know that Paul over at socal-solar.blogspot.com sent you. :)

Until next time,
-paul