MG4 in Australia

[Corindikev]

Our scenario was exactly the same, excepting the main meter was an old style digital unit with three registers but it may as well have been analogue as it was manual meter reads and flat rate tariff, plus a controlled load analogue disk meter.


Sad to say you will lose that.

Talk with them, I went onto Switch Saver plan and they gave me $150 credit. It's a worse plan all round but all the new plans are.

I also asked them to arrange for a meter upgrade so I could get back to an EV plan. I figured I'd get ahead of the game in prep for our solar installation as that can't operate without a smart meter anyway.

Our solar PV (14.725 kW) goes in next week and the 24 kWh battery will follow, timing just depends on today's election result.


Mine includes the daily charge for the controlled load. If your new place doesn't have a CL then the daily fee will be lower. Table below shows how much the CL adds to the daily charge for us.

This is my comparison of the three Powershop plans based on our average daily consumption so far in our new place (first "CURRENT" plan is the Powershop Switch Saver). We've had no heating or cooling energy consumption in that mix (we've not needed it but this place has none anyway - we are installing that soon as well).

For the comparison I've assumed my EV charging energy will all move to Super Off-Peak and that's the only energy consumption in that window. That's not quite going to be true of course but it's a reasonable starting assumption.

View attachment 36549

The rates have all gone up, especially the daily charges. The last EV Day plan was too good to last and I'm pretty sure they were going to migrate us eventually to newer tariffs.

At the moment the EV Night plan is looking like the choice for us. Solar will take care of the day, while the night plan is 5 c/kWh from 12-4 AM.

Once we have the battery I'll review again.

Just a note:

It takes a while for a smart meter installation to happen.

I requested the meter upgrade 17 March 2025.
It was installed on 8 April 2025.

Even so that's not the end of it.

I spoke with Powershop earlier this week requesting to be changed to an EV plan, but they were unable to do so even though we've had the smart meter for several weeks now and the interval data is showing in their portal as normal.

Turns out that even though my meter had been upgraded, that did not automatically trigger a change of Essential Energy's underlying tariff, I am still being billed as if I had the old meters.

Powershop have now initiated the request for tariff change with EE, that can take 1-3 weeks, so I can't get onto the EV plan until that's done.

The new default EE tariff is Solar Soaker.
Peak is 7-10 AM and 3-10 PM every day. Off-peak all other times.


If the government is returned today, then the new battery rebate program is, frankly, very generous and makes home batteries a no brainer, especially in NSW.

That's because can be combined with the NSW govt peak demand reduction scheme rebate. If it comes to pass then my Sigenergy 24 kWh battery stack is going to cost under $6k fully installed. The more expensive bit is the solar PV, inverter and Gateway, which I'd have anyway whether or not I was going to install a battery.

Thanks for the comprehensive response.

When I added the extra 6.5kW solar to my current house (February 2024) I had to upgrade to a smart meter. The old 2kW system had been in for over 10 years. I was with Red Energy at the time on their EV plan & it took only about a week to get the meter installed & then only a couple of days to get everything switched over. Why the change is now much longer is a bit baffling.

Yes I am hoping the Labor government gets re-elected as well partly because of their support for renewable projects and battery subsidies. The new property has a heat pump hot water system but I am unsure of whether it is connected via controlled load. It doesn't really matter as I plan to change everything anyway.

Since I have been with Powershop (9 July 2024) I have only paid about $150.00 in total for electricity and most of the 25,000km on the MG4 has come from charging at home from solar and the 2 hours free power daily.

 

[David Wennerbom]

Ok, you've got me. What is the difference?
I've got a Tesla Wall charger in my driveway configured to support 7kW and 11kW (32A on all 3 phases).
It's CCS as are Tesla cars and MGs ( and every other car except for Leafs).
It charges our two MG4s just fine.

Before the government standardized the nation's charging plugs to CCS2 (Combined Charging Systems) 1 was AC and 2 is both AC and DC. CCS1 is pretty well extinct now, except for home chargers. Tesla used a system similar to the European system CHAdeMO. At one stage only Tesla EVs could only use Tesla chargers. Other different EVs had a variety of plugs. Now all EVs sold in Australia have CCS2 plugs. This is so much easier, fortunately MG used CCS plugs.

 

[Phil]

I drove home yesterday(44km) with 43km available(~12% charge left) and arrived in my garage with 4% charge and 15km range remaining. Having begun the week’s driving at 100% I estimate that the range of my vehicle sits at about 410km +/-10km in an average drive.

 

[Coulomb]

1 was AC and 2 is both AC and DC.

? Are you talking about type 1 (J1772) versus type 2 (Mennekes), or CCS1 versus CCS2, or Tesla NACS connectors, or something else?

CCS1 is pretty well extinct now, except for home chargers.

Very few EVs in Australia use CCS1, true, but there are plenty in the USA and Canada.

Tesla used a system similar to the European system CHAdeMO.

CHAdeMO is a Japanese standard, as far as I know not common in Europe. The original Tesla system was I think essentially J1772 but with a very different connector, plus a proprietary system to allow DC charging over the AC pins. Possibly the DC charging was not available in the earliest models.

 

[wattmatters]

Since I have been with Powershop (9 July 2024) I have only paid about $150.00 in total for electricity and most of the 25,000km on the MG4 has come from charging at home from solar and the 2 hours free power daily.

My Essential Energy tariff reassignment was processed today and Powershop called to switch me to an EV plan. That should take effect in the days ahead. I've opted for the EV Night plan (super off-peak is 12-4 AM every day).

They also gave me a $100 credit. They gave me a $150 credit less than two months ago when we bought the place, so I'm not complaining.

Solar PV goes in this week, which should cover most charging.

 

[Corindikev]

? Are you talking about type 1 (J1772) versus type 2 (Mennekes), or CCS1 versus CCS2, or Tesla NACS connectors, or something else?

Very few EVs in Australia use CCS1, true, but there are plenty in the USA and Canada.


CHAdeMO is a Japanese standard, as far as I know not common in Europe. The original Tesla system was I think essentially J1772 but with a very different connector, plus a proprietary system to allow DC charging over the AC pins. Possibly the DC charging was not available in the earliest models.

CCS2 was legislated as the standard from 1 January 2020 for all new EVs sold in Australia so it is not new. Only some Japanese vehicles have CHAdeMO most notably the Nissan Leaf. CHAdeMO chargers are becoming increasingly rare.

CCS2 is also the standard in Europe & China. Only the USA has set the standard as the Tesla NACS system. Originally only a Tesla system it is now used by Ford & GM & presumably any imports from other countries. There won't be many with Trump's tariffs. They won't change as it would be un-American just like their original foray in to the metric system used throughout the rest of the world.

 

[siteguru]

CHAdeMO is a Japanese standard, as far as I know not common in Europe.

Indeed it is:

CHAdeMO is a fast-charging system for battery electric vehicles, developed in 2010 by the CHAdeMO Association, formed by the Tokyo Electric Power Company and five major Japanese automakers.[1] The name is an abbreviation of "CHArge de MOve" (which the organization translates as "charge for moving") and is derived from the Japanese phrase "o CHA deMO ikaga desuka" (お茶でもいかがですか), translating to English as "How about a cup of tea?", referring to the time it would take to charge a car.

CHAdeMO - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[David Wennerbom]

I drove home yesterday(44km) with 43km available(~12% charge left) and arrived in my garage with 4% charge and 15km range remaining. Having begun the week’s driving at 100% I estimate that the range of my vehicle sits at about 410km +/-10km in an average drive.

Run on Eco and you'll get better David Wennerbom

 

[David Wennerbom]

Some time back, we decided to be adventurous and travel to Ivanhoe NSW and the dirt rd to Mennindee and on to Broken Hill, after maybe 2 kms, any further would have resulted in a divorce, and we were in a Mazda 3500 converted to a motorhome, so plenty of ground clearance and could drive out of just about anything ...... Next we tried the road to Wilcannia, same deal, so we ended up heading to Balranald instead. Tar road, so many blood patches from the feral goats not doing well against the truck bullbars that they near joined together ..... who ever had the job of cleaning up the remains had a full time job for life ...... maybe they supplied the Kebab shops ...... but anyway, nice drive and some great scenery out that way .....

T1 Terry

I'm down at Port Campbell on the Great Ocean Road and having trouble replying to you David Wennerbom

 

[T1 Terry]

I'm down at Port Campbell on the Great Ocean Road and having trouble replying to you David Wennerbom

How is the weather there? Every time we've been there it was blowing icicles up from Tassie, a good area for wind turbines .....

T1 Terry

 

[wattmatters]

My Essential Energy tariff reassignment was processed today and Powershop called to switch me to an EV plan. That should take effect in the days ahead.

Tariff took effect from 5 May. I didn't know until yesterday once the portal was updated. Gave the car a charge last night.

Solar PV also installed yesterday but of course it's going to be cloud and rain for the next 10 days.

Battery will be going in closer to the 1 July time frame once the battery rebate details are all sorted.

 

[crc32]

My Essential Energy tariff reassignment was processed today and Powershop called to switch me to an EV plan. That should take effect in the days ahead. I've opted for the EV Night plan (super off-peak is 12-4 AM every day).

View attachment 36569

They also gave me a $100 credit. They gave me a $150 credit less than two months ago when we bought the place, so I'm not complaining.

Solar PV goes in this week, which should cover most charging.

Have you had a look at the AGL EV Plan? It comes with 6 hours of super off-peak per night, lower rates at other times and a higher solar feed-in rate.

 

[wattmatters]

Have you had a look at the AGL EV Plan? It comes with 6 hours of super off-peak per night, lower rates at other times and a higher solar feed-in rate.

AGL don't have a tariff which matches my tariff assignment, but the plan they do have is considerably less favourable overall.

 

[crc32]

AGL don't have a tariff which matches my tariff assignment, but the plan they do have is considerably less favourable overall.

That's interesting. No ToU demand tariff with controlled load?

 

[wattmatters]

That's interesting. No ToU demand tariff with controlled load?

My underlying tariff is Essential Energy's "Sun Soaker", not TOU Demand.

Sun Soaker is the default tariff assignment for all meter changes, upgrades, new connections and supply changes such as adding solar PV. Unlike in Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy regions, Demand is opt-in and very few will do so.

CL is a separate tariff unrelated to the main supply tariff assignment.

AGL don't have sun soaker equivalent tariffs. They have not updated the plan offers with the new default tariff assignments in the Essential Energy region.

Instead they offer a TOU tariff using the old TOU periods with peak, shoulder and off-peak periods (plus super off-peak) but the rates are suboptimal. Both their peak and shoulder rates are higher than what I'm paying for peak. Off-peak is a bit lower but that's really only for a 2-3 hours/day when consumption is low. CL is also a 5c/kWh higher, not that I use a lot of CL (electric boost for solar thermal water heater).

With solar PV covering daytime consumption, it's the evening peak rates which matter most and AGL's are more than 10c/kWh higher than what I am paying.

Apart from being much more expensive in the evening they are also more expensive in the super-off peak. 4 hours from midnight at 5c/kWh is better than 6 hours at 8c/kWh. I don't need 6 hours to charge while consumption from 4-6 AM is SFA.

It'll all be rather moot once the battery goes in.

 

[Phil]

I’m with ACTEW AGL and on a starter Solar plan that ends in June…having retired though and maybe only doing 300-400km per week I am not looking at any special nightly rate for charging as I do most in daylight hours. I’m finding that the current $500+ credit since last July effectively cancels any grid charges that come from my EV charging.
What would be interesting is if I added a second battery as this would in theory cover those latter grid charges and I’d be effectively off-grid in suburbia.

 

[crc32]

My underlying tariff is Essential Energy's "Sun Soaker", not TOU Demand.

Sun Soaker is the default tariff assignment for all meter changes, upgrades, new connections and supply changes such as adding solar PV. Unlike in Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy regions, Demand is opt-in and very few will do so.

CL is a separate tariff unrelated to the main supply tariff assignment.

AGL don't have sun soaker equivalent tariffs. They have not updated the plan offers with the new default tariff assignments in the Essential Energy region.

Instead they offer a TOU tariff using the old TOU periods with peak, shoulder and off-peak periods (plus super off-peak) but the rates are suboptimal. Both their peak and shoulder rates are higher than what I'm paying for peak. Off-peak is a bit lower but that's really only for a 2-3 hours/day when consumption is low. CL is also a 5c/kWh higher, not that I use a lot of CL (electric boost for solar thermal water heater).

With solar PV covering daytime consumption, it's the evening peak rates which matter most and AGL's are more than 10c/kWh higher than what I am paying.

Apart from being much more expensive in the evening they are also more expensive in the super-off peak. 4 hours from midnight at 5c/kWh is better than 6 hours at 8c/kWh. I don't need 6 hours to charge while consumption from 4-6 AM is SFA.

It'll all be rather moot once the battery goes in.

When I changed meters in July last year the default tariff for Essential Energy was TOU demand which I'm still on. I was not given the option to opt-in. This may have been misinformation from my energy supplier at the time. This suits me as the my peak demand is almost zero as I have a battery that easily covers evening usage. Demand tariffs are terrible for anyone who doesn't have a battery.

On the AGL plan I'm on peak rates are 27c/kWh and off-peak 24c/kWh and solar feedin in is far higher. Even with a car and house battery to charge I'm still exporting enough that the 5c vs 1.4c feed-in makes a large difference to the overall cost. The slightly lower price during the shorter overnight window doesn't offset the low feed-in for me.

 

[wattmatters]

When I changed meters in July last year the default tariff for Essential Energy was TOU demand which I'm still on. I was not given the option to opt-in. This may have been misinformation from my energy supplier at the time.

Yeah that's definitely retailer misinformation. Essential Energy's default tariff has never been Demand. TOU Demand has always been opt in.

On the AGL plan I'm on peak rates are 27c//kWh and off-peak 24c/kWh and solar feedin in is far higher.

That will be a legacy plan, no longer available to new customers. Enjoy it while it lasts, as they will eventually give you the boot.

Last year new plan prices were much lower than they are this year.

 

[wattmatters]

I know it's not MG4 but we just bought another EV, a 2022 MG ZS EV Excite for my wife to use in local driving. Only registered last year so has another 6 years warranty and has just 5 km on the odo. That will replace the 18 year old Golf TDI.

 

[Phil]

Life’s good!