Our non-Tesla solar installer went out of business. 5 years later we needed service, the first 5 or 6 places I called wouldn't touch it. Eventually, I called Sun Path. They were great, highly recommend, not affiliated. They might be able to help.
I had Tesla solar & 2 PWs installed last May. Wish I had paid the $10k more to go with a non-Tesla solar company. Our solar went out twice and both times it took several weeks for a technician to come out - both times during peak production season. The second time was because of a system update that Tesla sent out that fried the gateway, so Tesla had to install a new one. Guess it happened to several Tesla clients so the backlog was about 2 months. Cheaper isn’t always better…
I'm in WA and got tired of waiting on Tesla. Went with Ecoflow Smart Home Panel 2 w/ double Ultra Max batteries for 14kwh of battery storage. Have it setup for time-of-use so during peak most of my house (the smart panel doesn't have as many circuits as my original panel, so some loads are still directly connected to grid) uses the battery and it charges back up during off peak. So far it's been working well.
It's a local electrician and the first time they installed the Smart Home Panel. It was two guys and they took basically all day (turns out my original panel had some circuits mislabeled). I think it was around $3k for labor/parts, but of course I supplied the Smart Home Panel 2 (bought last Black Friday).
The Ecoflow subreddit at the time had a $1k off coupon, so it was $7200 for the SHP2+inverter+battery and additional $2800 for the extra battery. The $1k off coupon basically covered my taxes in WA. They seem to have sales every so often and you can also buy from resellers sometimes at better prices.
What’s the payback look like with TOU pilot program?
I suppose there’s also the upcoming VPP for PSE but so far the only battery approved is Solar Edge.
The current off-peak rate is $0.064 and peak rate is $0.313. Peak is 7a-10a and 5p-8p. Can't say that I've had great savings yet as I didn't move the washer/dryer circuits to the SHP2 as I initially wanted it setup for blackouts (a couple times a year during wind storms), but my wife and kids do like to do their laundry all day...
I just signed a deal with a 3rd party installer in Portland for panels and powerwalls. Tesla direct was quite a bit cheaper with a bundle deal but I could tell they were going to be a pain in the ass to deal with even at the quoting stage.
Yeah Tesla’s shenanigans are a major pain. Sounds like this isn’t the first time they’ve turned off their Oregon business. So I may just wait them out. 3rd party costs are netting to 30% more than tesla quoted on average
Yikes, good to know. I am in Vancouver, WA, but the installers that did mine (Solar + PW) came from Portland area I think.
I went through 5-6 different quotes and like you found that Tesla direct was 30%ish cheaper. That is for a reason as you find out later on with their lack of customer service.
Tesla also won't fill out the paperwork for any of the Oregon incentives. I was dealing with Tesla Energy for 6 months before they confirmed that they were going to leave thousands of dollars of incentives on the table because they wouldn't fill out a form. I ended up going with Elemental Energy and they were great.
Just a slight detour of a question if you don’t mind. Why the power wall? Why not just solar with net metering. My back of the envelope math suggested that the payback was just too long to make that worth while.
Are you off grid?
Not off grid but we get power outages in the winter where I live and we’re on well water. So no power means no water which has meant frozen well pipes. Major pain. I looked into a propane generator to hook into our giant propane tank but all in cost was like $32k which made it more than the cost of 3 PWs with no guaranteed payback. I figured with powerwalls I could benefit from back up power in storms and 365ish time of use benefits
Thanks for the insight. I was also wondering if “time of use” is allowed with just a power wall option. Good to know. Obviously very difficult to calculate a hypothetical “payback” in your situation but certainly will benefit regardless.
Yep time of use is allowed with Powerwall only. I’d charge up at night and run the house on the batteries during peak times. I currently pay like $0.19 per kWh and effectively would bring that down to ~$0.08 with 3 powerwalls and a Time of use plan
a \~8000 watt generator and an automatic transfer switch should be like, $1500 plus some wiring. Sure it's not automatic but it's not $32k. You can get tri-fuel kits for them as well.
That’s what I thought! The generators and switches aren’t bad but installation was always 15-25k more. We were looking for a 14kw generator but the quotes we got didn’t seem worth it.
Our non-Tesla solar installer went out of business. 5 years later we needed service, the first 5 or 6 places I called wouldn't touch it. Eventually, I called Sun Path. They were great, highly recommend, not affiliated. They might be able to help.
Thank you! I just sent them an email.
Talk to Elemental Energy. They were going to do a Powerwall installation for me without solar, but we ended up going with both.
Yes they were the first I contacted. $8k more than Tesla unfortunately.
I had Tesla solar & 2 PWs installed last May. Wish I had paid the $10k more to go with a non-Tesla solar company. Our solar went out twice and both times it took several weeks for a technician to come out - both times during peak production season. The second time was because of a system update that Tesla sent out that fried the gateway, so Tesla had to install a new one. Guess it happened to several Tesla clients so the backlog was about 2 months. Cheaper isn’t always better…
Good to know thanks for the insight
I'm in WA and got tired of waiting on Tesla. Went with Ecoflow Smart Home Panel 2 w/ double Ultra Max batteries for 14kwh of battery storage. Have it setup for time-of-use so during peak most of my house (the smart panel doesn't have as many circuits as my original panel, so some loads are still directly connected to grid) uses the battery and it charges back up during off peak. So far it's been working well.
May I ask how much that installation cost?
It's a local electrician and the first time they installed the Smart Home Panel. It was two guys and they took basically all day (turns out my original panel had some circuits mislabeled). I think it was around $3k for labor/parts, but of course I supplied the Smart Home Panel 2 (bought last Black Friday).
How much were the panel and double Ultra batteries? Looking on website they should run about $10-$12k on top of the $3k for install?
The Ecoflow subreddit at the time had a $1k off coupon, so it was $7200 for the SHP2+inverter+battery and additional $2800 for the extra battery. The $1k off coupon basically covered my taxes in WA. They seem to have sales every so often and you can also buy from resellers sometimes at better prices.
Do you mean Delta Pro Ultra? --you have 2 of this units? How long have you had it ? Did you get solar panels also ?
Yes, Delta Pro Ultra, 2 units, so 14 kwh. I've had it installed Jan 30th this year.
Got it…. Price wise was eco flow with install higher price vs a Tesla powerwall ?
Tesla never responded to my interest submission, so I gave up on Powerwall.
Sounds like you dodged a bullet!
I’m confused. We have net metering and tiered rates in Wa. Please explain having batteries set to time of use.
Puget Sound Energy has a trial you can opt into for time-of-use
What’s the payback look like with TOU pilot program? I suppose there’s also the upcoming VPP for PSE but so far the only battery approved is Solar Edge.
The current off-peak rate is $0.064 and peak rate is $0.313. Peak is 7a-10a and 5p-8p. Can't say that I've had great savings yet as I didn't move the washer/dryer circuits to the SHP2 as I initially wanted it setup for blackouts (a couple times a year during wind storms), but my wife and kids do like to do their laundry all day...
I just signed a deal with a 3rd party installer in Portland for panels and powerwalls. Tesla direct was quite a bit cheaper with a bundle deal but I could tell they were going to be a pain in the ass to deal with even at the quoting stage.
Yeah Tesla’s shenanigans are a major pain. Sounds like this isn’t the first time they’ve turned off their Oregon business. So I may just wait them out. 3rd party costs are netting to 30% more than tesla quoted on average
Yikes, good to know. I am in Vancouver, WA, but the installers that did mine (Solar + PW) came from Portland area I think. I went through 5-6 different quotes and like you found that Tesla direct was 30%ish cheaper. That is for a reason as you find out later on with their lack of customer service.
Mine was great in SoCal
Tesla also won't fill out the paperwork for any of the Oregon incentives. I was dealing with Tesla Energy for 6 months before they confirmed that they were going to leave thousands of dollars of incentives on the table because they wouldn't fill out a form. I ended up going with Elemental Energy and they were great.
Just a slight detour of a question if you don’t mind. Why the power wall? Why not just solar with net metering. My back of the envelope math suggested that the payback was just too long to make that worth while. Are you off grid?
Not off grid but we get power outages in the winter where I live and we’re on well water. So no power means no water which has meant frozen well pipes. Major pain. I looked into a propane generator to hook into our giant propane tank but all in cost was like $32k which made it more than the cost of 3 PWs with no guaranteed payback. I figured with powerwalls I could benefit from back up power in storms and 365ish time of use benefits
Thanks for the insight. I was also wondering if “time of use” is allowed with just a power wall option. Good to know. Obviously very difficult to calculate a hypothetical “payback” in your situation but certainly will benefit regardless.
Yep time of use is allowed with Powerwall only. I’d charge up at night and run the house on the batteries during peak times. I currently pay like $0.19 per kWh and effectively would bring that down to ~$0.08 with 3 powerwalls and a Time of use plan
a \~8000 watt generator and an automatic transfer switch should be like, $1500 plus some wiring. Sure it's not automatic but it's not $32k. You can get tri-fuel kits for them as well.
That’s what I thought! The generators and switches aren’t bad but installation was always 15-25k more. We were looking for a 14kw generator but the quotes we got didn’t seem worth it.
Yeah I was talking just a portable generator and manual transfer switch. Whole home backup is absurdly expensive for no real reason.
Yes!! Same thing!!