T.O.U. meter

[KhunLA]

Not exactly alternative energy, but usually a topic with EVs & charging overnight.

 

First, applies to PEA, Amphur Muang, Prachuap Khiri Khan (PKK) ... YMMV

... digital meters, are only that, digital display.  Useless for anything else, and not  T.O.U. meter (combo)

... for PKK ... ALL new (& replaced) meters are, will be digital.

... ฿4000+ for installation of a TOU Meter

... along with silly monthly service charge (฿300+)

... 1+ month Q for install ... maybe.

 

Wife has a fact sheet, if much different, I'll edit.  Popped in to pay our 2kW/unit PEA bill, so she asked about TOU meter.

Came out with info sheet and from memory, posted.  She did say they need to install a new meter, which I though silly, we have a digital, surely it does both.

 

She goes back in and told ... NO.  Meter doesn't do a damn thing extra, useful.   Quite the surprise actually, as you'd think it would have a chipset, memory, and different programs for different uses.  

 

Obviously we won't be getting as totally silly.  Unless using a lot of electric overnight, would be hard, impossible for us to get any return from the 4000+ along with a 300+ service fee.   Solar & granny charger is fine (free) for the EV.  Even the 'Wall Charger' if used 0-100% would only be ฿250 ish on present meter.  TOU Monthly servie charge ฿300+.   So paying 300+ to save ฿125 (1/2 overnight rate) ... hmm ... NO THANKS

 

IF considering solar on/off/hybrid ... expect to get a digital meter vs one that will backspin.

IF you don't, kudos for you, but don't bet on it getting a non digital meter.

[Crossy]

PEA "were" doing a special offer of a second 15/45 with TOU as a specific meter for charging your EV. But I have no specifics of costs etc. etc.

 

Right now, I would advise anyone going solar to get a hybrid inverter that can export and if you have a conventional disc meter that will go backwards just keep it.

 

If PEA then come along with an electronic meter simply go to no-export and add energy-storage as and when you can afford it.

 

Note that the digital meter really CAN do TOU / export / whatever, it's just that our friends either don't know or can't be bothered to re-program and simply say "need a new meter" (collect charge for same).

 

Way back when we got our "permanent" meter to replace our "construction" meter, having paid for a "new" meter they simply read the existing one! We still have the same meter as we got on day-one of construction back in 2011.

[motdaeng]

 

Quote

... along with silly monthly service charge (฿300+)

this guy (in the video) had to pay only 46.16 baht for the service charge (bill 12/2022).

when using the TOU meter, you must also add FT, which is presently 0.9343 baht (2.6369 + FT = 3.5712 baht/unit)!

 

I'm hoping to purchase an electric vehicle this year, at which point I'll contact the PEA for additional details.

 

 

[KhunLA]

Not getting my head around the benefit of TOU meter.

 

We'll hit 700kWh this month (have already), and if say 500 was peak, and charge EV on off peak rate @ say 200 kWh, then it seems to be more expensive than our 'regular' meter.

 

[Crossy]

You need to use a lot more off-peak (and correspondingly less on-peak) to get to the break-even point.

 

If you can get a separate TOU meter just for the car and only charge at night you get the best of both worlds. PEA were certainly offering this in the past. 

[Crossy]

This is the PEA calculator, it's not perfect but ...

 

 

[thaisail]

On 3/29/2023 at 4:27 PM, Crossy said:

You need to use a lot more off-peak (and correspondingly less on-peak) to get to the break-even point.

 

If you can get a separate TOU meter just for the car and only charge at night you get the best of both worlds. PEA were certainly offering this in the past. 

Our PEA boss in Chiang Khan, Loei inspected our new 25 mm² aluminum cables running on the same concrete pole for 85 meters from the main road where the old analog house meter is mounted on the utility pole with the disk spinning and supplying power to our house. He did this inspection just after New Years. We gave him the special form that we got from MG for our MG ZS EV that we bought in mid December. He told us he would order our meter along with two others for installation in Chiang Khan for two other new EV owners. He promised that he would receive the three new meters by the end of March. So tomorrow the wife will drive over to PEA and see if our new meter arrived or not.

[thaisail]

On 3/29/2023 at 4:27 PM, Crossy said:

You need to use a lot more off-peak (and correspondingly less on-peak) to get to the break-even point.

 

If you can get a separate TOU meter just for the car and only charge at night you get the best of both worlds. PEA were certainly offering this in the past. 

We are finally charging our MG ZS EV at home with our new 7 kW wall charger. PEA installed the TOU meter as shown in the attached photos. We have been told that we can get the off peak rate from 2200-0900 during weekdays and all day and all night on weekends and holidays. Please let me know if this is correct as we have not got our first bill yet. The MG iSmart computer inside the car, allows us to program the charging hours but I have installed a WiFi breaker which is connected from the TOU meter, followed by a MOV surge protector. MG (PRIME) installed the wall box free and they agreed to sell me the larger box to fit the custom items that I bought on Lazada. They insisted that they must install the ABB breaker to meet their requirements from MG. The Chinese breaker on the right, in a separate box, was supplied in the box with the wall charger which was shipped from China in the boot of the MG. The black earth wire was installed to my existing earth rod of 2.6 meters.

 

We have configured the wall box to operate with out the smart card so that when you turn on the WiFi breaker, the power will reach the MG charging plug. However the car computer can either be set to charge on a schedule that can be programed or can be charged instantly depending on the settings.

 

We measured about 32 amps on the 230 volt single phase AC wire going to the WiFi breaker before the 7 kW home charger and around 16 amps at 400 volts DC when car is charging. I have been told by a Thai electrical engineer who had the same MG ZS EV that it is still cheaper to charge the car at EV Station using the 120 kW DC super charger or the 50 kW DC superchargers from PEA at 4.81 baht per kW, off peak including VAT. The home wall box charger electicity price is higher because of the losses to covert AC to DC using the rectifier inside the MG plus the cooling system has to be running while charging which for a supercharger is only one hour whereas with a home wall box charger it will run for about 4 to 6 hours.

 

But the hours of off peak at EV Station and PEA are 2200-0600 which makes it more difficult to manage than with the 3 hours extra during the 2200-0900 off peak hours at home. Plus you have to count the distance to travel to the EV Station from your house which is another loss. My guess is that off peak including service charge, VAT and FT is about 2.6369 + 0.9343 (FT) = 3.5712 + 7% (VAT) = 3.8212. Plus you have to add the service charge to read the meter each month. The single phase 100 amp TOU meter cost about 4000 baht and the installation was around 700 baht. The main thing about the home charger is the convenience because you have plenty of time to charge while you are sleeping at home. This way you wake up to the full 100% charge without putting in 100 amps frin a superchager through your batteries all the time which cannot be too healthy for them in the long run. 

 

 

[Crossy]

5 hours ago, thaisail said:

We have been told that we can get the off peak rate from 2200-0900 during weekdays and all day and all night on weekends and holidays. Please let me know if this is correct as we have not got our first bill yet.

 

This is my understanding too.

 

Job looks OK.

 

[motdaeng]

On 5/28/2023 at 11:27 PM, thaisail said:

We have been told that we can get the off peak rate from 2200-0900 during weekdays and

all day and all night on weekends and holidays. Please let me know if this is correct as we have

not got our first bill yet.

what you were told regarding the off-peak period is correct.

i only found the offical PEA TOU information in thai:

 

https://www.pea.co.th/ข่าวสารประกาศ/ปฏิทิน-Off-Peak

 

thank you for letting us know about your TOU project. please keep us updated ...

how much you pay per kw/h, how much is your service charge, etc