About Powerwall Usage
We use the data from your Tesla Powerwall gateway to assist in monitoring your electricity consumption. This helps you make smart decisions about when best to use energy in your home to save money using energy arbitrage.
Visualizing the cost difference between selling excess solar and using it from a battery.
Why use this app?
Most solar systems include monitoring to help you see how much energy your system is producing. Where this app really shines is with Time of Use billing.
Time of Use (TOU) Billing
Most people are used to flat rates for their electricity.Time of Use (TOU) billing is a billing strategy where the cost of electricity varies based on the time of day. Most utilities have a choice to use this billing strategy. Your time of use billing is usually separated into multiple time-based Tariff Periods, such as On-Peak and Off-Peak. Each Tariff Period has its rate or Tariff that you pay for electricity in that period. If you have a solar system and a battery it is likely you can save a lot of money on a TOU plan.
Example of shifting solar to Off-Peak periods to save money:
- On Peak OverProduction nets a credit: 500 kwh * $0.055 / kwh = $27.50
- Off Peak Consumption: 500 kwh * $0.106 / kwh = $53.00
Loss: $53.00 - $27.50 = $25.50 per month
Most people simply try to avoid consuming power during the Peak billing rates and shift usage to Off-Peak rates. However, your solar production happens mostly during the day during your expensive rate periods. Having solar and a battery can help you store excess solar energy and use it when you most benefit from it.This application helps you figure out when that is.
Monitoring Your Bill
Knowing how much energy you are importing and exporting during each Tariff Period helps you understand your energy consumption and will help you make smart decisions about when best to use energy in your home.
The goal is to use your estimated bill to monitor energy usage and consumption across your tariff periods. With this app you can try to keep usage in your expensive periods to a minimum.
Glossary
- Time of Use
- A billing strategy where the cost of electricity varies based on the time of day. There is usually multiple Tariff Periods with different rates or Tariffs for consuming energy from the grid and selling your solar overproduction.
Example: On-Peak $0.31 / kWh, Off-Peak $0.106 / kWh - Tariff
- A rate per kWh for electricity that you purchase from the grid and usually a separate rate for selling back to the grid.
- Tariff Period
- A range of time and the tariff it is being billed at.
Example: Monday 8am-8pm Tariff: On-Peak - Arbitrage
- Buying energy at the lowest price possible and selling it at the highest price possible.