u/panpan1800

Back in January, I posted about a custom script to help solar owners beat SCE's NEM 3.0 rates. First off, a huge thank you to everyone from this community who volunteered to join the alpha test.

People were understandably skeptical back then without hard numbers. With the help of local alpha testers, I spent the last 3 winter months testing my script on real systems and wanted to report back with the actual data.

Here is what I found over the last 3 months:

• The Problem is standard default settings (like Tesla's Powerwall) consistently fail under NEM 3.0. They drain batteries too early, forcing you to buy expensive grid power from peak hours.
• By syncing the battery discharge to your actual home load and local weather forecasts, the script completely stopped that afternoon drain.
• Alpha testers saw utility bill reductions of over $100/month this winter. This should scale up significantly during the upcoming summer AC season.

I packaged this into a free web tool for anyone interested. You can run your own analysis here: www.microvpp.com.

In December last year, I posted here about a custom script to optimize solar and battery systems under SCE's NEM 3.0. Thank you to the users from OC who volunteered to join our alpha testing cohort.

Here are the core findings from the past three winter months:

• We successfully added support for Tesla Powerwalls and utilized them throughout the alpha testing phase.
• The field data showed that standard OEM default settings consistently fail at effective peak shaving, draining batteries too early in the afternoon and forcing expensive evening grid imports.
• By overwriting the OEM control with our AI algorithm—specifically, coordinating the batteries to discharge at a rate that matches the home's actual load and charge smartly based on weather forecasts—user bills were reduced by more than $100 per month this winter.
• Because SCE pays high export rates during specific evening hours in late summer, we project these savings will increase substantially in the upcoming peak months.

I am sharing these results to increase situational awareness for people in this community about their home solar plus storage system and how much more you can save by actively managing your home batteries. I am available to answer questions regarding our performance data and optimization outcomes. Has anyone else had success manually configuring their Powerwalls to avoid the afternoon drain?

P.S. I received feedback on my last post that holding back the link to my project felt evasive. To respect the sub's rules, I want to be clear that I am offering this strictly as a free resource. My friend and I turned my custom script into a free web tool so people don't have to use the command line to test their own systems. You can run your numbers for free here: www.microvpp.com.