I have a 10kW solar with 2 powerswall 2s 27kW. I am thinking about the free nights plans since the power walls are depleted by 1am after being charged all day. Current plan is the old rhythm 1:1 with no cap which expires July. So I either flip to free nights or go with pulse that only give credit for the pulse energy charge and still no cap. So suggestions and also how would you setup the app if I went with a frees nights plan?
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
-
On today's TMC Podcast, we ask the question "What is the Tesla Cybercab?". Join us on YouTube live at 1PM and participate in the chat.
How to setup Tesla app for free nights in Texas and suggestions of plans.
- Thread starter Mickmo
- Start date
In the app go to settings -> Powerwall. Select Time based control. Then select the button right below that to enter your plans. So plans are prepopulated so you can just select it. If your plan is not in there you can enter you plan, with the prices for peak and off peak. It will use solar + powerwall to cover peak usage and draw from the grid for off peak.
Since plan is not in the app I would have to do custom. For that I would make peak the daytime to make it pull solar and battery and off peak nights to make it pull grid. For price would I do peak actual price and off peak 0 for the free mights. Being I have nothing to sell back those would be 0?
I have free nights via Amigo’s 9pm-7am plan. I set up a custom plan in the app with the daytime pricing and $0 during the off peak free time. Everything automatically happens after that. Powerwalls cut off at 9:00pm sharp and then come back on at 7:00am or earlier. My power bill has been effectively $0 using this strategy.
Wholesale rate of $.03/kWh which isn’t great so I just mine bitcoin with my excess instead which has been working out to around ~$.25/kWh lately with the equipment I use and the current usd exchange value.
I built a little simulation model of my consumption and overlayed each plan’s details. My big gap though was that I didn’t know my solar generation because I didn’t have my panels yet. As it turns out my solar generation was better than I was estimating.
I was initially more focused on a lower daytime peak rate and the ability to sell back. In retrospect I should have focused more on a longer free period. The Reliant product, at 12h of free, would have been better for me. As it stands now, I get close to intermittently hitting my main panel’s 200A limit with all the loads I cram into the free period. It would be nice to be able to spread that out over another two hours.
My recommendation would be to make a matrix of the different plans with things like how many hours free, start and stop time for the free period, buy back availability, term, pricing of peak period etc. Then you can compare to your usage or what you think you can use by load shifting.
I am probably leaning toward green mount and amigo now. Green mount is 8-6 free and amigo 9-7 GM is a 24 month and Amigo is 12 month. I like the idea of a little bit of buy back we should be owed something. I send back late March to around June. And then again late sept to Nov so those credits could cover the base charge.
This is a good point. You have to scrutinize the Facts Label on all of these to see what is actually “free”. I am in TNMP service area and Amigo’s plan was indeed fully free at the time I signed up but there was at least one other RSP that only comped the energy charge.
Where does it say there is a 0.03 buyback? Do you have to call in to get that info? If that is not in the contract, could they remove it during the contract period?
i am going to call to verify before doing anything. i will want it called out and written.
That might have come from me. That’s what my buyback was with them. But that’s from earlier in the year and in TNMP so maybe different for others?
Here is the proof
ATTACHMENT A
TO
AMIGO ENERGY’S
EXCESS GENERATION BUY BACK AGREEMENT
FOR DISTRIBUTED RENEWABLE GENERATION
Payment for Customer’s Out-flow:
• For Out-Flow associated with the ESI ID on the Enrollment Form, the price will be $0.03 per kilowatt hour
(kWh).
I decided to go with amigo as it made the best sense. If I can do free nights and also get a little buy back it is worth it IMO. Thanks For helping me out here come to a decision.
wiltoking
Member
Been an Amigo customer for 13 years and they have been great. Their Empower Plan with no TDU or Base Fee has worked out great for me with its fixed rate of 12.2c/kwh (when I started it used to be 7c!). Depending on your use, it actually beats out some of the Free Night plans out there. Even with the M3 charging every night 15-30kw it's only $7 more than Free Nights right now for me. You have to ask about the Empower Plan when you call because it's not on their website.
Solar changes that equation a bit and when it's installed I will probably switch. My system will be quite small though so having second doubts about it, especially since Tesla wants me to go with 2 PW's to have full home backup. *Sigh*
Similar threads
