In this video
- PG&E just got approved for a $32+/month rate increase starting January 2024, on top of a 49% increase since 2020, while executives collect multi-million-dollar pay
- Southern California Edison customers have seen rates rise 53% since 2020, with more increases requested for 2024 and 2025
- NEM 3.0 (the new net metering rules for solar installed after April 2023) now credits only 1 kWh back for every 4 kWh sent to the grid
- A DC nanogrid keeps the power your solar panels make in DC form instead of converting it back and forth, so you can run DC appliances like an Airspool heat pump directly off your own battery-stored solar power
- With Inflation Reduction Act incentives, an Airspool DC heat pump system can come in under $2,500 and pay for itself in about a year and a half through summer cooling savings
Questions this video answers
Why did my PG&E bill go up so much in 2024?
The California Public Utilities Commission approved a PG&E rate increase of more than $32 per month per household starting in January 2024. That's on top of a 49% rate increase customers have already absorbed since 2020, even as PG&E's CEO was paid over $14 million in 2022 and the utility is allowed roughly a 10.25% annual return on equity.
Are Southern California Edison rates going up too?
Yes. SCE customer rates have risen 53% since 2020, with another 6.2% increase set for 2024 and a 23% increase requested for 2025 pending approval from the California Public Utilities Commission.
What is NEM 3.0 and how does it affect solar owners?
NEM 3.0 is the net metering policy that took effect in April 2023 for new solar customers. Instead of the old one-for-one credit, you now have to send about 4 kilowatt-hours of solar power back to the grid to get credit for just 1 kilowatt-hour, making grid-tied solar a much less attractive deal than it used to be.
What is a DC nanogrid?
A DC nanogrid is a small home power system where you keep the DC electricity your solar panels generate instead of sending it to the utility and buying it back. You store it in batteries and use it to directly power DC appliances, like a DC heat pump, cutting out the energy lost when power is converted from DC to AC and back again.
How does a DC heat pump help me save on my electric bill?
Cooling can account for up to 70% of a Southern California home's summer electric bill, so running a DC heat pump like Airspool's off your own solar-charged batteries avoids most of that cost. Dave says customers in hot inland areas can save around $150 a month, paying back the unit's cost in about a year and a half.
What happens at night or when my batteries run low on a DC nanogrid?
A hybrid inverter lets you pull power back in from the grid when your batteries aren't fully charged from solar, rectify it, and store it for later use. In that setup, the grid becomes a backup to your DC nanogrid rather than your primary power source.
Does an Airspool heat pump qualify for any tax credits or discounts?
Yes. Dave notes that under the Inflation Reduction Act, the unit qualifies for a 30% discount plus an additional 30% for being Energy Star approved, bringing the whole system in under $2,500 for many buyers.
What other DC appliances are coming for home nanogrids?
Dave says the future includes DC charging stations for electric vehicles and 24-volt DC LED lighting, with nanogrids eventually running different voltage nodes for different devices so homes rely less on inefficient AC-to-DC conversion.
Transcript
Read the full transcript
Guys, Dave here. Some of this is a little dry, but stick with me and we'll get through it together. So today it was announced that the California Public Utilities Commission agreed to a Pacific Gas and Electric, better known as PG&E, rate increase of more than $32 per month per household starting in January of 2024. This is on top of the 49% rate increase that's already hit you since 2020.
Meanwhile, middle managers are earning on average $153,000 a year, and the CEO got paid $14 million in 2022, actually more than 14 million in change, but who's counting. That should be the job of the Public Utilities Commission as well. They regulate executive pay to an extent, as well as voting in any rate increases, and in this case for PG&E they also allow the company to make 10.25% per year return on equity. So that's pretty good for the shareholders, pretty good for the executives, all around good for everyone except the ratepayer, probably.
And if you think you're doing any better, SCE, Southern California Edison, if you're in LA or the vicinity or somewhere else in Southern California and you're an SCE customer, your rates have increased 53% since 2020. They're supposed to go up another 6.2% in 2024, and they're asking for 23% in 2025, which still needs to be approved by the PUC.
You've probably heard something about this too: net metering, NEM 3.0. If you went solar prior to April of 2023, good on you, you're getting a one-for-one credit with your local utility. You produce one kilowatt-hour of solar from your solar panels, that gets inverted and sent up to the utility, and you get it back when you need it at nighttime or whenever it's not sunny. But starting in April of this year, you need to push up 4 kilowatt-hours to get one back. So that's a pretty shoddy deal for anyone wanting to go solar now. That's really not a viable option.
So what to do? Well, there's this new concept called the DC nanogrid, and the idea of that is, instead of selling your power back to your local utility, you keep your own power. You're your own power plant, and you're using that DC-generated power, solar power, solar panels create DC power, to run DC appliances, like in this case an Airspool heat pump.
Right now, this one is manna from heaven, the Inflation Reduction Act gets you a 30% discount, and also 30% off for Energy Star approved appliances. So this whole unit comes in under $2,500. It's quickly paid back for a lot of people. In Southern California, for instance, people paying high energy bills in the summer for cooling can save $150 a month, with a payback period within a year and a half or so. That works out pretty well.
And the idea is this is a good platform for people starting on the DC nanogrid, because for a lot of people cooling is the biggest part of their bill in the summertime. It can be 70% of their electric bill for air conditioning. So if you're in the Inland Empire, Coachella Valley, Palm Springs, a place like that, this is a starting point.
Coming in the future, there's going to be DC charging for your electric vehicle. You've probably seen your TV or your computer has a cord with a little box on it, that's to rectify the power, those devices are actually DC power too. So we have all these DC-powered things now that we keep running on alternating power requiring rectification, and that loses efficiency. DC nanogrids are going to have different nodes for different voltages for different devices, and all that's coming in the future.
And if it's nighttime, let's say your batteries, you're going to need a battery array in the future, and if your batteries didn't get filled enough from your solar, what you can do at that point is with a hybrid inverter you can actually take power back in from the grid, and that can be rectified and stored in your batteries. That way you can keep everything going. So at that point the grid is a backup to your DC nanogrid. All of that is coming.
So in summary: rate increases, bad. DC nanogrid, good. Thanks for watching, and subscribe if you want to continue the conversation.
