Moving in from Texas
- Thread starter jccaclimber
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sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Ok PG&E rates, currently, are $0.21536 for up to baseline usage, $0.28478 for between 101-400% baseline, and $0.44095 beyond 400% baseline. For basically the entire coast, and I don't just mean ocean front, we have one of the lowest baseline allowances, 8.3kWh for summer and 14.9kWh for winter which is actually better since we tend to use more reef energy in the winter keeping the tank warm
So for summer that's 249kWh baseline per month @ 0.21536 = $53.62, then the remaining 451-651kWh all fall in the 101-400% range @ 0.28478 so $128-313 extra. Which overall translates to $182 to 367 per month just for the tank. So yeah it can get pricey.sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Lyft has parking? Oh the irony
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Yes to a large house, although mostly because the big house came with the garage. By Midwest standards is call the yard small, although the locals disagree. While I like my green space cutting grass is a chore, not a joy. (Edit, you'd be amazed how much space is freed up when you don't have a TV.)
Position is Uber ATG, so Lyft was a decent guess. They'll get me from a train station, although I don't know the details. Personally I'd rather ride my bike from the train station if that's at all practical (chronic wrist injury may prevent this).
Baseline vs non baseline rates is a new one to me, that hurts. With electric rates that high I'm surprised I didn't see more solar, or does the fog make that impractical?
Position is Uber ATG, so Lyft was a decent guess. They'll get me from a train station, although I don't know the details. Personally I'd rather ride my bike from the train station if that's at all practical (chronic wrist injury may prevent this).
Baseline vs non baseline rates is a new one to me, that hurts. With electric rates that high I'm surprised I didn't see more solar, or does the fog make that impractical?
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Coral reefer
Past President
My uneducated opinion is fairly small rooftops, and lots of renters limit solar.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Riding a bike from the train is doable, have to double check restrictions though, used to be only in certain cars but I'm not sure how rules change.
But yeah, upfront costs and the fact most (at least in San Francisco) don't use a lot of electricity (the reason why the baseline is so low here) means there's no point in doing it, we reefers really are an anomaly for power usage at least on the coast, in-land they still use plenty of A/C. Fog really isn't that much of an issue for solar, as bad as it sounds it really isn't THAT bad, I have a relatively small 3.26kW system on my roof, and for 3 months in the summer it's made more than I used, in the winter months it makes a little less, and again because it's colder my tank uses more juice to heat.
But yeah, upfront costs and the fact most (at least in San Francisco) don't use a lot of electricity (the reason why the baseline is so low here) means there's no point in doing it, we reefers really are an anomaly for power usage at least on the coast, in-land they still use plenty of A/C. Fog really isn't that much of an issue for solar, as bad as it sounds it really isn't THAT bad, I have a relatively small 3.26kW system on my roof, and for 3 months in the summer it's made more than I used, in the winter months it makes a little less, and again because it's colder my tank uses more juice to heat.
Wlachnit
Past President
I'm out in the burbs and there is plenty fo solar around here....maybe as much as 10% (just an eyeball guess). In my hood, everyone goes into their highest tier about 2-3 weeks into the month (unless you have solar)...there are a lot of pools here as well, which doesn't help usage.
If you are willing to go full-Californian and get solar plus an electric car you can get your electricity bill to near zero even with heavy usage.
PG&E electric vehicle rate goes to time of use rather than tiers for the whole house, which is a big savings for high users. This saves me about as much in electricity cost as I do in gas savings.
PG&E electric vehicle rate goes to time of use rather than tiers for the whole house, which is a big savings for high users. This saves me about as much in electricity cost as I do in gas savings.
Well I was trying to ease him in slowly, hitting a Texan transplant with Powerwalls before he’s even moved here is a bit much lol
We still want him to come.But yeah, the combo of optimizing Powerwalls charge/discharge times based on the time-of-use PG&E rates you get having an electric car is a thing of beauty.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
If memory serves PG&E is now requiring new solar to be on ToU rates too, where the "peak" rate is from 4 to 9pm which you're not making much in the way of solar power, and it's disgustingly high rates too and it's "peak" for a reason so if you fall in line with the average joe that's when you're using most of your power as well.
The real downside, off peak hours are not any cheaper than regular rates that are under 400% of baseline (the exception is the E-car plan which does have reasonable off peak rates, but man it's nearly 50 cents per kWh in the summer for peak... no thank you PG&E.
PG&E and other power companies throughout the nation happily embraced solar power, then it seems like they got their quota now they're doing everything they can to fight it.
The real downside, off peak hours are not any cheaper than regular rates that are under 400% of baseline (the exception is the E-car plan which does have reasonable off peak rates, but man it's nearly 50 cents per kWh in the summer for peak... no thank you PG&E.
PG&E and other power companies throughout the nation happily embraced solar power, then it seems like they got their quota now they're doing everything they can to fight it.
Ranjib Dey
Guest
Welcome you’ll love it here
you’ll love it herejccaclimber
Supporting Member
Seems I missed a notification or something, I didn't realize there were more replies. I'm not a native Texan, although I have come to appreciate the cheap power, and oddly cheap water (ok, high base charge, but low usage charge). Not much in the way of water changes on the reef tank, although I will probably have to cut back on changes with the freshwater tank.
The two family cars I expect to bring out are both small (NC Miatas), but very non-electric. They aren't lowered, but wondering how they'll do with ground clearance over some of those roads.
The two family cars I expect to bring out are both small (NC Miatas), but very non-electric. They aren't lowered, but wondering how they'll do with ground clearance over some of those roads.
kinetic
Supporting Member
Ground clearance shouldn't be too bad. There are A LOT of super low cars around SF. Just watch for the hills and speed bumps. I have a extremely low clearance car, and don't have many issues in SF as I do in other places. Though in southern california it's even better. (It's an Audi s5, lowered about 2 inches from stock). I'm used to avoiding things, so I may be a bit desensitized. But in non-lowered miatas, you'll be fine!
For those talking about solar, I also learned that all new construction starting next year (or maybe 2020) will require solar panel ducts to be built in (not necessarily panels, but at least the house must be setup to allow them to be installed).
Welcome to BAR!
I moved to the bay area about 3.5 years ago. The choice of places to live also depends on your age, whether or not you want walking/easy access to amenities/restaurants/bars, if you have young kids etc.
In terms of fog, I have solar on my house and to be honest, even thick fog does not make a great deal of difference. Solar definitely makes running a big reef cheaper on PGE prices.
If you want to keep a big reef tank, then you'll probably need a house rather than apartment, which means not living in the city (there are houses in the city, but they are either tiny, cost mega-bucks, or are so old you wouldn't want to risk a big tank).
East bay still has relatively affordable homes, as does San Jose, but you pay for that with soul destroying commutes, as you are working in the city. The alternative, where I live, is the coast, but if you are coming from Texas you might not like the summer weather (although it is pretty much identical to the city).
I moved to the bay area about 3.5 years ago. The choice of places to live also depends on your age, whether or not you want walking/easy access to amenities/restaurants/bars, if you have young kids etc.
In terms of fog, I have solar on my house and to be honest, even thick fog does not make a great deal of difference. Solar definitely makes running a big reef cheaper on PGE prices.
If you want to keep a big reef tank, then you'll probably need a house rather than apartment, which means not living in the city (there are houses in the city, but they are either tiny, cost mega-bucks, or are so old you wouldn't want to risk a big tank).
East bay still has relatively affordable homes, as does San Jose, but you pay for that with soul destroying commutes, as you are working in the city. The alternative, where I live, is the coast, but if you are coming from Texas you might not like the summer weather (although it is pretty much identical to the city).
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Thank you Rob. I'm starting in about a week (before heading back home to wrap some things up), although the fish plan is still stuck behind things here. Starting to line up reefers in this area I can frag out half my tank to in case things move poorly. Harder to frag the clams and fish though.
No kids, although soon enough, so while I don't care what the schools are like now, I probably will in 6-7 years.
We aren't the bar/clubbing/night on the town type. Currently living in quiet suburbia (hardware and grocery stores nearby, drive to our occasional commercial entertainment and work).
Nice to know that the solar still works in foggy areas.
It'll take some acclimating but being originally from the north and would probably prefer San Diego, I'm looking forward to the weather. I can always on more clothing, but at some point you can't take more off.
Soon to be co-workers advised Daly City through San Mateo if SO ends up working closer to San Jose, and East bay if she ends up in the Berkeley area. Housing looks tons cheaper towards Hayward, but I'm not sure I can put that much of my soul in to the commute. I need to get a feel for what my office hours will be. It seems "starting time" varies from 5 AM to noon depending on what group you're in, and of course commute isn't constant at those times. I feel like I'm over-thinking this, but that's what engineers are good at.
No kids, although soon enough, so while I don't care what the schools are like now, I probably will in 6-7 years.
We aren't the bar/clubbing/night on the town type. Currently living in quiet suburbia (hardware and grocery stores nearby, drive to our occasional commercial entertainment and work).
Nice to know that the solar still works in foggy areas.
It'll take some acclimating but being originally from the north and would probably prefer San Diego, I'm looking forward to the weather. I can always on more clothing, but at some point you can't take more off.
Soon to be co-workers advised Daly City through San Mateo if SO ends up working closer to San Jose, and East bay if she ends up in the Berkeley area. Housing looks tons cheaper towards Hayward, but I'm not sure I can put that much of my soul in to the commute. I need to get a feel for what my office hours will be. It seems "starting time" varies from 5 AM to noon depending on what group you're in, and of course commute isn't constant at those times. I feel like I'm over-thinking this, but that's what engineers are good at.
As someone who relocated from Texas years ago I still kind of laugh at this idea of relatively affordable. I guess it's relative from prices in the city or on the peninsula.
It's certainly not relative to Texas. An East Bay home or a San Jose home is still going to be 750K+ and usually less than 1100 sq. ft and on a small lot. In "relative terms" my daughter just bought a 2400 sq ft house in Houston on a half acre (with a basketball court) completely updated for $210K. Note: she considers it a very small house relatively speaking.)jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Absolutely. We went from small town Indiana ($100k buys you a nice house from the early 20th century with great woodwork) to Dallas ($300k gets you a house that's the same size if account for the lack of a basement, it's newer and made of particle board), and now to the Bay area where price is 4x from DFW at half the size.
I'd initially assumed $1M and some waiting around for the right place, although I suspect I'm going to need to increase this a bit. Lots of soul searching at the moment on items we have that take space, but don't get used often. Here it's cheaper to own and store stuff you rarely use due to space being cheap. The economics are very different there.
I'd initially assumed $1M and some waiting around for the right place, although I suspect I'm going to need to increase this a bit. Lots of soul searching at the moment on items we have that take space, but don't get used often. Here it's cheaper to own and store stuff you rarely use due to space being cheap. The economics are very different there.
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
I'm curious, what do most of the people in the reef hobby out there do? In Lafayette it was an occasional plant engineer, and a ton of blue collar jobs, mainly because that's what the town was. As you might guess overlap was limited.
Here in DFW it's still a large spread, but a lot more people with white collar jobs (engineering, tech, legal, small business owners) and less blue collar jobs (warehouse, plant). Lots more overlap between those groups here.
Here in DFW it's still a large spread, but a lot more people with white collar jobs (engineering, tech, legal, small business owners) and less blue collar jobs (warehouse, plant). Lots more overlap between those groups here.