When the August 10th Los Angeles Times article, “Edison gave bad info on time-of-use cost,” reported that Southern California Edison (SCE) claimed that “Homeowners were getting a new rate plan, but the cost of electricity wouldn’t change,” I was, to say the least, disturbed.
This is about the newer Smart Meters that many Topanga clients refuse to accept, preferring to keep their tiered billing program.
WHAT IS TIME OF USE?
Everyone used to have analogue meters in a glass globe with a wheel spinning inside. The more power you used, the higher the priced tier you were given. If you were in a low tier, you’d be charged less per kilowatt hour; heavy use would be charged in the third tier.
Some years back, the utilities wanted to encourage users to avoid the afternoons when most air-conditioning is run. People could do their wash, charge their electric cars, and other non-essential activities early in the morning, or in the evening when demand was not so great.
This seemed like a good program, as Edison didn’t want to build multi-million-dollar generators that were only used five or six hours a day.
The original time-of-use also worked wonderfully for those with solar, as a photovoltaic system generates much of its power during the afternoon. Peak Hours were set up for 1 to 5 p.m. with the highest charges, which meant those with solar would be paid credits at the Peak- Hour rate making their solar more cost effective. Those without solar were promised no increase in monthly bills, but it hasn’t turned out that way.
When the utilities saw so many people saving money with solar, they decided to make the New Peak Hours: 4 to 9 p.m., when solar systems are not producing. That’s an impossible time to avoid as the sun is down, lights go on, you’ve just come home from work, open the fridge and make dinner. It’s hard to wait until midnight when the super off-peak rates apply!
Mark Toney, executive of The Utility Reform Network (TURN) said, “People have a right to be upset, when they are told one thing and it turns out to be something else.”
Edison claims to have switched 2.2 million customers from standard “tiered rate plans” to “time-of-use” (TOU) with only 609,000 opting out of TOU. Were Edison’s customers clearly told a smart meter may cost them more for the same power?
Congress just approved the Energy Security and Independence Act of 2022, that would “invest billions of dollars to reinvigorate domestic clean energy.” Will Congress address the utilities that are trying their level-best to discourage individually owned solar and energy storage batteries?
The claim that TOU billing will save customers money is not supported by any trustworthy data. The argument about TOU savings should be backed by real numbers!
YOUR OPTIONS
If you are upset by the sleight-of-hand by Edison, call SCE customer Service at (800) 684-8123, and request your analogue meter be restored. It will cost $75 to change meters, and $10 a month to pay for a meter reader to come to your house, maybe every other month, to save labor costs.
If you have solar, you must accept the Smart Meter; if you don’t, I would advise reverting to an analogue meter.
For further assistance with your new Edison bills or possibility of solar and batteries, Lee Rhoads can be contacted at: Leesolarconsulting@gmail.com; (310) 487-5750, mobile; (310) 455-2958, Topanga office.
