sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
PG&E has laid out a master plan of the future, and in that plan is much higher rates for all. You can get a run down of their plan right here
https://www.pge.com/en_US/residenti...e-updates/general-rate-case-rate-updates.page
It starts by saying "It'll make things simpler" but the reality is that it makes things more expensive. Before August PG&E basically had 5 tiers of usage, where tier 5 was over 300% of any baseline quantities, however starting August that dropped to 3 tiers of usage, the first tier is under 100% of baseline, the second is up to 200% and the third is over 200%. Now here's the kicker, the current rate price for 200%+ is the same price as 300% (it's technically more, but I'm going to assume rates would have risen to be the same price).
Next year? It'll be reduced to 2 tiers plus a surcharge for high energy use. Now how will those tiers play out, a betting man would probably have a tier of less than 100% and more than 100%, now how much those prices will be I can only fathom, it wouldn't surprise me if they started charging 40cents/kWh for over 100% though, I'm hoping not, but maybe, and who knows what the "high energy usage surcharge" will be. Bottom line is PG&E does wants to penalize you for using power.
Now how much is too much? Well it depends where you live, for us who live right along the coast (San Francisco, Santa Cruz, etc) 7.0 kWh per day is our baseline in the Summer, thankfully it jumps to 12.3 in the winter months, for East Bay/South bay residents you get 10.1 in the summer, and 10.9 in the winter, the difference is because of the climate, you are warmer in the summer and winter, as a result A/C in summer, and less heating in the winter... but regardless that is your daily baseline usage rate.
How much does our tanks use?
Lets take an example of a modest sized tank, not nano, but not crazy big either, and use some random numbers here and there
Return pump 60watts on 24 hours a day, Skimmer 40 watts on 24 hours a day, in tank pumps 80 watts (2 vortech pumps) on 24 hours a day, 200 watts of lights (a couple LED fixtures) on 10 hours a day, 300 watt heater (on 12 hours a day). Now yeah these can be tweaked one way or another but the bottom line is this isn't an outrageous amount of stuff on a tank.
Total usage 9.92 kWh per day, you already exceeded the daily usage in San Francisco by 42% in the summer months, and you're about 98% of the EB/SB usage for summer months. Hey no problem that's not a lot... and then you add the electricity from everything else in your house, if you use AC, if you turn lights on, that 50+ inch TV you got on black friday, do you like your food chilled in a refrigerator and freezer? lets hope you have natural gas for a stove top.
So yeah staying under 300% was doable with most people I think, again with not insane large (120g+) tanks, however staying under 200% doesn't very feasible unless you had a nano tank.
Bottom line is the future electricity bills for the reefer looks bleak, PG&E does have lots of references about different rate structures (ToU, etc) so it might be worth looking into. https://www.pge.com/en_US/residenti...ding-rate-plans/understanding-rate-plans.page however who knows how this will change in the coming years. But anyway you slice it, it looks like the average reefer might be paying more for electricity than residents in Hawaii who are known to be the highest in the country, the upside is they don't pay for their reef tanks, they simply put on a snorkel mask to see them.
https://www.pge.com/en_US/residenti...e-updates/general-rate-case-rate-updates.page
It starts by saying "It'll make things simpler" but the reality is that it makes things more expensive. Before August PG&E basically had 5 tiers of usage, where tier 5 was over 300% of any baseline quantities, however starting August that dropped to 3 tiers of usage, the first tier is under 100% of baseline, the second is up to 200% and the third is over 200%. Now here's the kicker, the current rate price for 200%+ is the same price as 300% (it's technically more, but I'm going to assume rates would have risen to be the same price).
Next year? It'll be reduced to 2 tiers plus a surcharge for high energy use. Now how will those tiers play out, a betting man would probably have a tier of less than 100% and more than 100%, now how much those prices will be I can only fathom, it wouldn't surprise me if they started charging 40cents/kWh for over 100% though, I'm hoping not, but maybe, and who knows what the "high energy usage surcharge" will be. Bottom line is PG&E does wants to penalize you for using power.
Now how much is too much? Well it depends where you live, for us who live right along the coast (San Francisco, Santa Cruz, etc) 7.0 kWh per day is our baseline in the Summer, thankfully it jumps to 12.3 in the winter months, for East Bay/South bay residents you get 10.1 in the summer, and 10.9 in the winter, the difference is because of the climate, you are warmer in the summer and winter, as a result A/C in summer, and less heating in the winter... but regardless that is your daily baseline usage rate.
How much does our tanks use?
Lets take an example of a modest sized tank, not nano, but not crazy big either, and use some random numbers here and there
Return pump 60watts on 24 hours a day, Skimmer 40 watts on 24 hours a day, in tank pumps 80 watts (2 vortech pumps) on 24 hours a day, 200 watts of lights (a couple LED fixtures) on 10 hours a day, 300 watt heater (on 12 hours a day). Now yeah these can be tweaked one way or another but the bottom line is this isn't an outrageous amount of stuff on a tank.
Total usage 9.92 kWh per day, you already exceeded the daily usage in San Francisco by 42% in the summer months, and you're about 98% of the EB/SB usage for summer months. Hey no problem that's not a lot... and then you add the electricity from everything else in your house, if you use AC, if you turn lights on, that 50+ inch TV you got on black friday, do you like your food chilled in a refrigerator and freezer? lets hope you have natural gas for a stove top.
So yeah staying under 300% was doable with most people I think, again with not insane large (120g+) tanks, however staying under 200% doesn't very feasible unless you had a nano tank.
Bottom line is the future electricity bills for the reefer looks bleak, PG&E does have lots of references about different rate structures (ToU, etc) so it might be worth looking into. https://www.pge.com/en_US/residenti...ding-rate-plans/understanding-rate-plans.page however who knows how this will change in the coming years. But anyway you slice it, it looks like the average reefer might be paying more for electricity than residents in Hawaii who are known to be the highest in the country, the upside is they don't pay for their reef tanks, they simply put on a snorkel mask to see them.
