100W continuous at 12¢/kWh (US average) is only ~$9 / month. Is your electricity 5x more expensive than the US average?

▲ RussianCow 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

The US average hasn't been that low in a few years; according to [0] it's 17.47¢/kWh, and significantly higher in some parts of the country (40+ in Hawaii). And the US has low energy costs relative to most of the rest of the world, so a 3-5x multiplier over that for other countries isn't unreasonable. Plus, energy prices are currently rising and will likely continue to do so over the next few years.

$50/month for 100W continuous usage isn't totally mad, and that could climb even higher over the rest of the decade.

▲ mercutio2 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Not OP, but my California TOU rates are between a 40 and 70 cents per kWh.

Still only $50/month, not $150, but I very much care about 100W loads doing no work.

▲ cjbgkagh 3 days ago | parent [-]

Those kWh prices are insane, that’ll make industry move out of there.

▲ selkin 3 days ago | parent [-]

Industrial pays different rates than homes.

That said, I am not sure those numbers are true. I am in California (PG&E with East Bay community generation), and my TOU rates are much lower than those.

▲ mercutio2 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

There are 3 different components of PG&E electricity bills, which makes the bill difficult to read. I am also in PG&E East Bay community generation, and when I look at all components, it’s:

Minimum Delivery Charge (what’s paid monthly, which is largely irrelevant, before annual true-up of NEM charges): $11.69/month

Actual charges, billed annually, per kWh:

  Peak NEM charge: $.62277
  Off-Peak NEM charges: $.31026

Plus 3-20% extra (depending on the month) in “non-bypassable charges” (I haven’t figured out where these numbers come from), then a 7.5% local utility tax.

Those rates do get a little lower in the winter (.30 to .48), and of course the very high rates benefit me when I generate more energy than I consume (which only happens when I’m on vacation). But the marginal all-in costs are just very high.

That’s NEM2 + TOU-EV2A, specifically.

	▲	nullc 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Are you actually able to compute that? With PG&E + MCE because of the way they back off the PG&E generation charges, the actual per-time period rates are not disclosed. I can solve for them with three equations for three unknowns... but since they change the rates quarterly by the time I know what my exact rates were they have changed.

▲ mrkstu 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

If he’s only paying $50 most of it is connection fees and low usage distorting his per kWh price way up.