Nevada EV Energy Rates/Plans...And You

[Buster1]

I geeked out the past few days in effort to figure out which NV energy plan is best for me.

In case you didn't know, NV Energy offers two plans for southern NV that allows owners of EVs (electric vehicles) to have different energy rates and varying kWh at different times of the day. A third plan is actually "no plan" and you pay $0.11 / kWh 24/7, every day of the week, every month...it never flexes. Call that the Basic plan I suppose.

Here's a link for your own viewing.
Electric Vehicle Rate | NV Energy

So do these EV plans really save you money? I would assume so...right!? Why else would NV Energy offer them to us, the adopters of these new and space age electric vehicles. I think what you find and what I found, will be interesting. If you'd like to see how I did it, and what I did, keep on reading.

First, I broke down the different times of the day that Option A and Option B changed rates per kWh. I made a simple spreadsheet and started recording the kWh reading off my meter at those times. I did this for four days and at the end I came up with an average kWh used for each "window."

Option A has the following rates, from June thru Sept.
10p - 6a - $.05
6a - 1p - $.06
1p - 7p - $.36
7p - 10p - $.06

The other eight months of the year have a flat rate of $0.04 per kWh...24/7!!! That's pretty cool!

Option B has the following rates, from July thru Aug only.
10p - 6a - $.05
6a - 2p - $.06
2p - 7p - $.50
7p - 10p - $.06

The other ten months of the year have a $0.04 to $0.05 per kWh daily rate.

Lastly, the final or third option we discussed above is the "basic" rate we all get of $0.11 per kWh 24/7 365 days a year. We're currently on that plan as we don't have a Tesla yet.

Okay, so to do this you have to collect data at the times when the rates change. Basically at 6a, 1 pm, 2pm, 7pm, and 10pm I went out and wrote down the meter reading. Doing the math later can let you know how many kWh you "burned" doing the various windows.

To keep this from getting too math heavy, I will summarize my findings. Of note, we collected data in late June this past week and we had local temps in the 108dF to 115dF range...so needless to say it was HOT! My data would seem to be for a worst case hot summer and after collecting four days worth, I was able to get average kWs burned for the various windows. I also found that we used about 105 total kWs every day (24 hrs) at the house.

I found that for me Option A was THE MOST EXPENSIVE OPTION. Paying $.36 cents per kW from 1p to 7p was a huge cost, multiply that by four months of hot days here in Vegas and it added up fast. I also included historical winter kWh usage and multiplied that by the Option A rate of $0.04/kWh and then multiplied that by eight months. In total, this was the most expensive plan for my house at over $500 per year more than the next plan. Annual Cost: $2837

I found that the "no plan" baseline plan that we are currently on, was the second most expensive option, and $500 cheaper than the Option A. Simple kWh per day, using our numbers and historical winter usage, multiplied by $0.11 a kWh came out with numbers we are used to seeing. Annual Cost: $2386

Option B was the cheapest option, and about $200 cheaper than our current basic no frills plan above. Note you are paying $0.50 a kWh from 2p - 7p. That is high! Our projected bill for the hot months would be $750 a month! But here is where things differ. It's important to note that Option B only goes for two months of the year (July/Aug). Sure, you're paying a huge electric bill for those two months, but then for the next 10 months of the year you are on a simple $0.04 or $0.05 per kWh plan...for 10 months! I used some historical numbers as well as my "hot month" averages just recorded for some data points on the other 10 months...but the bottom line is that it works out to be the cheapest...for us. Annual Cost: $2189

Please let me know if you have any questions or thoughts on how to do this yourself. I'd encourage it. I was surprised to actually see the figures based on real world data matched to the specific "windows" and rates given my NV Energy.

See what works for you, I'm curious to hear. Thanks and happy electric driving!

Buster

 

[ProphetM]

Wow, thanks for all of that work! I hope it is helpful for folks. As an aside, that seems like a ridiculous amount of energy usage to me. It's roughly double what I used in my last billing cycle. I've got two kids at home during the day since school is out, so for about half the billing cycle we've had to keep the AC at a reasonable temperature all day long. I am in Las Vegas also. I must assume you've got a pretty big house!

Based on this I am really glad I went ahead with getting solar when I did. I pretty much sought out SolarCity when I heard they were starting up here, and got a system set up near the beginning of 2015. As such, I have been grandfathered in to NV Energy's net metering plan that they had before the whole solar-killing rules change. Thankfully I have a large roof and SolarCity put in a 9kW system, which outpaces my usage for almost the whole year. I've been building up kWh credit since net metering was brought back at the beginning of the year, and with my last bill I still managed to just beat my usage with my generation. I'll probably use up some of those credits for my next 2 bills before being a net generator again after the kids head back to school.

It will be very interesting to see what happens to the bill once I have a Model 3 to charge! I don't know if it will push me into net user territory or if I will remain a net generator overall.

 

[Buster1]

Well we have a 2500 sq/ft house and we keep it comfortable, but not overly so. We even have Nest thermostats which help a little. 105 kWh is definitely a summer high per day. Our winter usage is closer to 35 kWh per day.

Definitely measure your usage and plot it against the NV Energy rates and see what you get. I'm also told that after a year of using one of their plans, if it ends up being more expensive they will switch you back to the old plan. So that's good.

Is like to hear more about your solar and how charging an EV goes with that. We've considered installing solar, but we won't be in this house long enough to recoup the expenditures of installation. At least that's the plan.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

If you want the really cheap rates off peak, you have to take the expensive rates on peak.
One positive in paying the very high peak rate is that it gives you a stronger incentive to improve insulation and cooling efficiency, as well as install solar.

 

[ProphetM]

Is like to hear more about your solar and how charging an EV goes with that. We've considered installing solar, but we won't be in this house long enough to recoup the expenditures of installation. At least that's the plan.

Since I've had my panels for over 2 years, I'm part of the grandfathered net metered group. I am not sure what the new rules are for installations now, I expect there would be a lot of numbers to run to figure out just what the advantages are for a new customer.

For my own billing under net metering, I am given a straight credit in kWh for the energy that I send to the grid, and if that amount is less then I pull from them, my bill is very small - just the $12.75 basic service charge for being connected, plus a few small kWh-based line items that I assume must be charged for each kWh delivered to me. These kWh charges amounted to less than $3. So my bill from the power company was just $15.

My deal with SolarCity is a lease - I don't own the panels but that means I also don't have to maintain them. I paid nothing for the setup. The deal is that I pay SolarCity for the power they generate. Some of that power is used by me directly, and the rest is pushed to the grid to appear as a credit on my NV energy bill, in kWhs. I'm not totally sure what this will mean for EV charging, other than that I will want to charge the car during daylight hours when I can pull the power directly from the panels. Unless I start outpacing the generation from the panels, my SolarCity and NV Energy bills should both remain unchanged. If I do start using enough power to eat up my credit, my NV Energy bill will go up.

 

[Venomcoupe]

Buster,

I am also grandfathered in to the old net metering rates. I am in a quandary on what option I should do. Dids you take into effect the $33 vs the $12 basic service charge? Most of my power generated is before 3pm, and they say they credit power used at the same time it was banked. So if banked at 11am at .05 that is what I get credit for not the .50 rate at 4pm.

 

[Buster1]

No I did not take into account service charges, I assumed they were the same or similar. I'll dig into that.

What do you mean about "most of my power generated is before 3pm..." And your note about credit power and banking. I'm not familiar with any of that. Do you have solar? I didn't run any math or comparative analysis for net metering or energy inputs from solar. Simply KWH draw and cost per hour math.

Thanks!

 

[ProphetM]

Buster,

I am also grandfathered in to the old net metering rates. I am in a quandary on what option I should do. Dids you take into effect the $33 vs the $12 basic service charge? Most of my power generated is before 3pm, and they say they credit power used at the same time it was banked. So if banked at 11am at .05 that is what I get credit for not the .50 rate at 4pm.

If you are under the original 1-to-1 net meeting credits as they were before 2016, you should probably not change anything. If you have a big enough system like me, the rates are kind of moot as you will be paying very little in energy charges to begin with. What does your bill from NV Energy normally look like?

 

[Buster1]

The wife and I literally just went over our last year's electric bill, month by month and did our best cost comparo between the current $0.11 / kWh and the 2 NV Energy EV Plans.

Honestly, the NV Energy EV plans don't save us much at all. With no EV yet in the house.

We're in the 700-900 kW for the Spring / Fall months, per month. And 2300-2800 kW for the hot months. And someone is always home during the peak cost timeframes (2p - 7p) when the rates go way up in the summer. We calculated our kWh and cost during those timeframes as well and took that into account.

The only big different I predict we'll see is in the cost for EV charging which I ran on the Tesla calculator. We'll average $100/mo on the current plan, or pay $56/Mo with the NV Energy EV plan when charging at night. So not a huge diff.

 

[talkingevs]

Sorry to bring this back up.....but we are in the market for a Tesla solar panel and Powerwalls setup in Las Vegas. Are we allowed to go completely solar here? I understand we have to be hooked up with the net meter and a basic service charge....but with the Powerwalls I would think we'd never be using power from NV energy if that's allowed. And then do the net meter credits cut back what is owed on the service charge? Our goal is to own the panels and powerwalls and have no power bill. Thanks

 

[Buster1]

I’m learning about solar too. I have a few co-workers who have solar.

What they are telling me is that NV Energy looks at a year’s worth of energy use and then the installers are “permitted” to build you a panel setup that gives you basically what your house requires daily. The goal is a zero net game, so no excess production. NV Energy controls this closely, because if everyone could generate more electricity than they need...then their monopoly of selling electricity would be out of business.

Depending on how much your solar system generates and how much you use during the day (a lot in the hot summer, typically) you may not have much going into powerwalls.

My friends don’t have powerwalls, but they basically use what the generate daily. In the cooler months, they “sell back” more electric credits as the panels are making good juice while the house is not needing much.

 

[talkingevs]

How does NV energy have any say? That new law they passed last year states consumers are allowed to create their own power and must be treated the same way as all other customers.

 

[Buster1]

I wish I knew. But both of my co-workers say the same thing. One can’t install gobs of PV panels even if you have the real estate.

 

[talkingevs]

Just a little update on this, NV energy redid the time of use plans and have only one now. It is $.44 between 1300 and 1900 and then $.06 the other times. This is only between June and September and only on weekdays. The other months and weekends year round have the base cost 24 hours.

I sat down and did a calculation and it seems the time of use plan is quite a bit more expensive than just sticking with the base plan. We have a somewhat large 2 story house with a solar system that provides about 70-80% of our power depending on the day in those summer months. Now this was before we picked up the model 3 but we had a Prius prime before which charged 6 or 7kwh daily so it's not a huge difference.

 

[lvrouter]

I have no solar and a relatively large house, but do extensive power monitoring on my house at the individual large item level (ACs, Ovens, Tesla Charging, etc.) and have full automation on all thermostats and lighting to lower costs. In the winter we get down to about 60kWh per day (I guess we have too many electronic things running!). Summer is brutal, running above 200kWh per day and up to 260kWh on crazy hot days with hot nights and Tesla charging.

One thing I do not see mentioned here is that NV Energy will let you sign up for the program, then at 12 months they review it and if it doesn't save you money they revert you back to the original plan. I'm going to give it a try but wait until summer hot months are over, thinking I can be 'ahead' of them instead of 'behind'.

 

[EVcommuter]

@Buster1 - you had made your original post a few years ago. Any updates or insight on what one should do now? It looks like they do not offer multiple Plans as you had shown or maybe I am not looking at the right page. We are new to Tesla and Las Vegas.

 

[talkingevs]

@Buster1 - you had made your original post a few years ago. Any updates or insight on what one should do now? It looks like they do not offer multiple Plans as you had shown or maybe I am not looking at the right page. We are new to Tesla and Las Vegas.

They no longer offer multiple plans, just the one. They do offer an EV option in addition to the time of use which drops the rate like a half cent between 10pm and 7am. We just switched to the time of use plan last month and our bill ended up being only $10 (for the last 100 degree month of the year), so we are actually really happy. But we have solar which provided about 70-80% of what we used. Like the above poster said, it is for 12 months and you can get the difference back if you end up being more expensive

 

[Buster1]

@Buster1 - you had made your original post a few years ago. Any updates or insight on what one should do now? It looks like they do not offer multiple Plans as you had shown or maybe I am not looking at the right page. We are new to Tesla and Las Vegas.

Yeah, sorry. I don’t have any updates. We’re still on the ‘regular’ plan paying $0.11 / kWh. Maybe we’re fools. But when we crunched our numbers again we end up paying $750/mo electric bills for the hot months, and like $40/mo on the cool months. It works out to be about the same per year for us overall.

We have someone in the house during the hot hours of the day so the ACs are running. If your house is empty during the day, and want to let it warm up somewhat, it makes sense to get on the TOU plans.

BTW, welcome to Vegas, and Tesla!

 

[EVcommuter]

Yeah, sorry. I don’t have any updates. We’re still on the ‘regular’ plan paying $0.11 / kWh. Maybe we’re fools. But when we crunched our numbers again we end up paying $750/mo electric bills for the hot months, and like $40/mo on the cool months. It works out to be about the same per year for us overall.

We have someone in the house during the hot hours of the day so the ACs are running. If your house is empty during the day, and want to let it warm up somewhat, it makes sense to get on the TOU plans.

BTW, welcome to Vegas, and Tesla!

Great, thank you for your response and Thank You for the welcome!

 

[shred86]

Recently moved to Las Vegas and bought a Model S so I’m looking into the EV rates offered by NV Energy. Has anyone actually tried it for a year and it came out cheaper? Unfortunately I don’t have any historical data to really be able to run numbers, but what I’m seeing is I’ll basically reduce my electrical bill by over 50% 8 months out of the year and also the hours outside of 1pm-7pm (where the rates shoot up to $0.44/kWh) from Jun-Sep. Since I haven’t lived here (permanently) through a summer, I can only imagine the AC is probably running non-stop from 1pm-7pm during Jun-Sep. Is that a fairly accurate statement?

We were averaging about 13 kWh/day before I got the Model S and now it’s about 30 kWh/day. Anyways, might give the program a shot since they’ll reimburse you after a year anyways if the normal plan was cheaper.