Utility Rate Plans
One of the benefits of a Tesla solar system is reduced energy consumption from the grid, resulting in lower utility bills. Having an accurate rate plan helps your Tesla solar system maximize savings. Rate plans, also known as utility tariffs, generally determine how much you pay for your electricity from a utility. The Tesla app allows you to add your utility rate plan for more accurate value calculation estimates and system optimization.
How It Works
The Tesla app uses your set utility rate plan to accurately calculate your energy consumption. We support a comprehensive list of predefined rate plans for utilities in the United States. To confirm your rate plan, check your utility bill from the utility’s website or call your utility provider for assistance.
Time-Based Control uses your rate plan to optimize how your Powerwall charges and discharges. This helps maximize the value of energy generation and lower the cost of energy consumption, often referred to as load shifting.
The Solar and Energy Value cards estimate the amount of energy generated by your solar system. These values are calculated based on the time of day and amount of solar generation, energy consumption and energy exported to the grid, in addition to value generated by load shifting.
Setting Up Your Rate Plan from List
To get started, open the Tesla app and follow these steps:
- From the home screen, open the ‘Settings’ menu.
- Tap ‘Utility Rate Plan.’
- Tap ‘Start,’ or if your system already has a rate plan, tap ‘Start Over.’
- Select your ‘State.’
- Select your ‘Utility.’
- Select your ‘Rate Plan,’ and then, tap ‘Save.’
Note: If we do not have your rate plan on file, we will continue to add support for more rate plans over time. For California customers, learn more about the Net Billing Tariff and if it applies to you.
Setting Up a Custom Rate Plan
If we currently do not support your rate plan, you can build a custom rate plan in Tesla app. Elements of a custom rate are outlined in the table below:
To get started, open the Tesla app and follow these steps:
- From the home screen, open the ‘Settings’ menu.
- Tap ‘Utility Rate Plan.’
- Tap ‘Start,’ or if your system already has a rate plan, tap ‘Start Over.’
- Tap ‘More Options.’
- Tap ‘Custom Rate Plan.’
- Enter your ‘Utility Provider’ name and ‘Rate Plan’ name.
- Select either ‘Time of Use’ or ‘Seasons’ depending on your rate pricing structure.
- If your rate uses ‘Time of Use,’ tap ‘rate periods’ and drag the slider to edit time periods. Tap ‘Add Time Period’ to add a new period. Multiple peak periods are supported. Repeat this step for weekends.
- If your rate uses ‘Seasons,’ set your season using the handles. Use ‘+’ or ‘–‘ to remove Seasons. Up to three seasons are currently supported. Enter the ‘rate pricing’ for this season. You can set a unique ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ price for each time period, depending on your rate plan.
- Repeat steps eight and nine to account for all time periods and seasons.
- Review the summary screen, and then, tap ‘Save.’
Feature Availability
Adding a rate plan, viewing Solar and Energy Value cards and using Time-Based Control mode for rate plans requires Tesla app version 4.2.0 or later. Additionally, some rate plans have elements that require Powerwall Firmware 21.39.
Net Billing Tariff (NBT)
Some of California’s largest utility companies will be billing customers under NBT (Net Billing Tariff, also referred to as NEM 3.0 or Solar Billing Plan). Customers can now select the NBT rate plan in the Tesla app. Check with your utility if you are on NBT. If so, follow this process to select NBT as your utility rate. When reviewing your NBT rate plan, you can press and hold the chart to see different import and export rates by time period.
Powerwall’s intelligent, customizable software is designed to maximize your Powerwall’s value by leveraging peak hours when credit rates are more favorable than the lowest export prices. This approach is designed to produce the most optimal return from your Powerwall. Learn more about Tesla’s solution to NBT.
Note: NBT rates are not able to be edited or customized.
