I haven't yet been confirmed 'in' by Xcel, but figured I'd share some more detailed info that I've dug up so far. Boy, it'd be nice if Xcel would have prepared an actual direct comparison page for us...
Xcel Colorado Residential rate card:
https://www.xcelenergy.com/staticfiles/xe/Regulatory/COResRates.pdf
The charges detailed below are the electric rates themselves. For simplicity they do not include the adjustments (Transmission $0.001090/kWh, PCCA ($0.004650/kWh), DSMCA ($0.001320/kWh), CACJA ($0.005030/kWh), ECA ($0.030780/kWh), RESA (2% of electric bill sans taxes), ESA (0.94% credit to base monthly amount)) which I do not believe vary between the plans. Since we're talking about shifting usage rather than reducing usage, I don't think these adjustments are relevant to the discussion.
On the Residential General Service (Schedule R) which most of us are currently on:
Static charges:
$5.39 Service/Facility Charge
$1.15 Production Meter Charge (for PV owners--note, I do not see this charge on my bills. Must apply only to relatively new PV owners?)
Energy charges: (per kWh)
Winter (10/1-5/31): $0.05461
Summer (6/1-9/30)): $0.05461 (Tier 1, first 500 kWh), and $0.09902 (Tier 2, all over 501 kWh)
On Residential Time-of-Use (Schedule RE-TOU):
Static charges:
$8.75 Service/Facility Charge (
$3.36 increase over Res General) - Note that the TOU web pages list $5.39, but both the full rate card and the
TOU-specific one mention $8.75, making me think that's the actual number.
$1.15 Production Meter Charge (Same as Res General)
Energy charges: (per kWh)
Winter (10/1-5/31):
On-Peak (2p-6p): $0.08880
Shoulder (9a-2p,6p-9p): $0.05413
Off-Peak (9p-9a): $0.04440
Summer (6/1-9/30):
On-Peak (2p-6p): $0.13814
Shoulder (9a-2p,6p-9p): $0.08420
Off-Peak (9p-9a): $0.04440
Note that holidays and weekends include no peak period. Instead the shoulder category encompasses the full 9a-9p period. Holidays are defined as New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.
There's a 6-month grace period, during which new TOU customers can opt back out to the R schedule, however after opting out you will continue to pay the higher service/facility charge per the TOU-specific link above. After the grace period, you must stick with TOU for at least 12 months.
Take-aways (if I'm reading this stuff properly!):
- Switching to this plan brings a $3.36 increase in the base service/facility charge, plus a $1.15 production meter charge for anyone who's not already paying it. That totals $4.51, or 82.6 kWh worth of old (winter/Tier1 summer) Residential General electricity that must be recouped by the TOU rates before a switching customer breaks even.
- Switching to this plan and then switching back will leave you with the increased service/facility charge permanently. Of course it's likely that this becomes the normal service/facility charge in 2020 when these rates presumably roll out beyond the elective period's voluntary set-up, but it's something to be aware of.
- Compared to the base Residential General winter and summer tier1 service, the TOU rates relate as follows:
- Off-Peak - 19% cheaper
- Winter Shoulder - 0.9% cheaper
- Winter Peak - 63% more expensive
- Summer Shoulder - 54% more expensive
- Summer Peak - 153% more expensive
- Compared to the base Residential General summer tier 2 service, the TOU rates relate as follows:
- Off-Peak - 55% cheaper
- Summer Shoulder - 15% cheaper
- Summer Peak - 39.5% more expensive
- Therefore, in order to be cheaper than the Residential General plan, a switching customer must migrate enough usage away from winter/summer tier 1 to off-peak, and/or enough summer tier 2 usage to off-peak or shoulder, to offset the increased costs in every other category as well as the $3.36-$4.51 increased fixed facility fees that come with switching to the TOU plan.
- This is a very tough sell for typical, non-EV-owning, non-solar PV generation customers, I think. It seems like it'd be an extreme long shot for typical customers to come out ahead given these rates. For those of us who have solar to reduce our peak and shoulder usage, and a good chunk of our consumption happening during off-peak times when vehicles charge overnight, the TOU rates could be advantageous.
Whew. Please check my math here and let me know if I've bungled any calculations up.