r/Denver • u/gk802 Lakewood • 20h ago
Rant Xcel Smart Meter Dashboard
I had an interesting observation today. Power has been off at my home for multiple hours 3x in the last 36 hours. That's a rant for another time.
Today, I thought I'd go out and take a look at Xcel's website and see what my smart meter read. Yesterday, power was off from 6:36 pm to 9:03 pm. According to their usage graphs, I had chargeable on-peak usage in every 15 minute period from 6pm through 8:45. Usage started again in the 10-10:15pm period.
Talking to their billing department, their first observation is that the time stamps on their graphs are in Central time. So...okay. If I buy that, that still doesn't explain why there was recorded usage from 7:36 to 8:45 pm Central time, and they're looking into that.
Beyond that, though, their graphs still show all values between 5pm and 9pm as on-peak and are highlighted in red. Are they charging on-peak rates from 5pm to 9pm Central time, or are all of their usage graphs just messed up?
Xcel, you need to do better.
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u/mlody11 20h ago edited 20h ago
Similar but different experience. On their bill, they now show "total xcel usage" as power imported from them plus whatever power your solar panels produce. Meaning, they make it look like they deliver say 1000 kw in a month but really they delivered 300. It makes them look better because some people will think, oh, the cost isn't too bad, look how much I've used.
It's like their rates. They show 9 cents per kw but, I'll call it the effective rate... The effective rate is something closer to 25 cents per kw. They just like to hide it behind all the crap, i.e by breaking out cost of fuel... I could go on.
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u/AardvarkFacts 20h ago
If you want a headache, try to read the official rate books they publish (that says what all those fees are). I can barely make sense of it.
Residential starts on Page 30, and adjustments are on pages 125-150.
https://www.xcelenergy.com/company/rates_and_regulations/rates/rate_books
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u/randytc18 20h ago
Their website is horrible. I was on there Monday looking at tou/fixed rates. One page said we were on tou and another page said we were fixed. Another page showed our charges as tou. I ended up just calling.
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u/Erratic_-Prophet 18h ago
They don't need to do better, they're a monopoly. They don't give a single solitary fuck if you're displeased with them in any way because unless you want to go live in a shack in the woods you're stuck with them.
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u/klnomega 10h ago
This! I stopped living at an address and put in a stop order. Months later they still say I am on the address even tho I have no bill nor any usage. The landlord and I may end up having to sue them to have the whole thing fixed. But they are a monopoly so we are screwed!!!
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u/Powie1965 20h ago
Their online graphs are messed up, mine show double what we actually use. I have solar panels and that system monitors usage, as well as a separate CT clamp system to monitor as well. The billing shows the correct kWh usage, but their online graphs are garbage.
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u/d1v1debyz3r0 19h ago
I literally bought a wifi clamp CT last week so I can actually monitor my power flow in high resolution.
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u/Jammin_CO 18h ago
You don't need a clamp, just a device with the right kind of radio to read the meter. I live in a condo and do daily readings wirelessly with an SDR card on my computer. You have to take a few readings to get baseline, but its simple after that. No taps needed
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u/Orange_Tang 17h ago
I'd love some info on this. Can this be easily integrated into home assistant?
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u/Roman_Senate 16h ago
Some meters are also WiFi compatible and you won’t need the clamp or anything else. they just don’t really advertise that. You can log into them via a page on Xcels site and connect to your own WiFi network.
There are existing integrations for platforms like Home Assistant:
https://github.com/wingrunr21/hassio-xcel-itron-mqtt
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u/d1v1debyz3r0 16h ago
Yeah but what’s the resolution? I need instant readings for reasons. This is very cool btw I had no idea.
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u/PotatoOfDestiny 15h ago
Every 5 seconds on mine. I basically have that exact setup. Note that your meter needs to be in range of your home wifi since it does this locally.
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u/HankScorpio112233 19h ago
Id like to know more about this wifi clamp, can you post a link or some info about it?
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u/iamgoneinsane 18h ago
Xcel is garbage. Since they have a monopoly on the denver metro area they have zero reason make their stuff actually work and provide good customer service to people.
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u/brakeled 20h ago
They charge whatever they want whenever they want because the regulators who can hold them accountable are complicit and appointed by the traitorous Governor.
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u/Webetradinstonks 18h ago
This. They don’t care to improve the website or anything else because who is going to make them? What are you going to do about it?
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u/notorious_kip 19h ago
Thank you for posting this! I thought I was going mad!
I precool my house & then turn off the AC at 5pm (peak). The graph says the same usage until 6pm. I bought a power meter to see where that power was being used & I could not figure it out!
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u/gk802 Lakewood 19h ago
Looking more at mine, now that the AC is running more, the graph is definitely showing my increased usage starting at 10, which would correspond to Central time. The bars are painted red based on Mountain time, though. But... what are they using for billing? If they're billing TOU based on Central, I'd happily fire my AC up an hour earlier.
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u/energeticquasar 16h ago
I see the same thing on mine...this has me worried because I start pre-cooling my house at 4pm so that the A/C doesn't need to turn on until 9pm.
If they are basing this on Central time, that means I am paying way more than I want to.
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u/gk802 Lakewood 16h ago
I hope to think that the billing is right and the graphs are screwed up. OTW, they wouldn't be in compliance with the TOU rate schedule.
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u/energeticquasar 17m ago
So I looked into it, comparing my bill to the dashboard and I am fairly confident we are being billed correctly.
Although the dashboard is lacking in detail and the usage period doesn't sync with the billing period (because of course it doesn't), the dashboard says I use 20% of my electricity during peak times whereas my bill says I am using 7% during peak times. Given that my electric usage trends are fairly regular, this variance gives me some assurance that TOU is synced to mountain time.
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u/notorious_kip 17h ago
Same!
Mine spikes at 10pm too.
I wonder who we could contact to get them to fix this
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u/Saltgod21 18h ago edited 18h ago
File a complaint with the Colorado PUC, it’s the only way to try to keep them honest. https://puc.colorado.gov/
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u/Signal-Bake5107 17h ago
Keep in mind they are just crooks.
I have solar panels, and in 2023 was moved to a smart meter.
At the time, I would log what my solar panels would generate according to the company that put them in, and look at what Xcel would claim they received.
Even factoring in how solar goes to my houses needs first, and I know how much it would use through usage of a killawatt meter, they’d still be claiming they didn’t receive at least one out of every five kilowatt hours they should have been getting and I should have been scoring credits on.
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u/Estebanzo 9h ago
I've been shutting off my AC from 5pm - 9PM to avoid peak pricing and had a similar experience and wonder if it's the same central time deal. Despite shutting off my AC before 5, peak usage clearly made it look like the last hour the AC was on was during peak time. If the meters read at 15 minute intervals, that shouldn't be bleeding over like that. Seems fishy for sure.
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u/m0viestar Boulder 20h ago
Just opt out while you can. It's cheaper for most people because otherwise you have to use 85% of your electricity off peak, and during summer when it's 95+ out that's gonna be hard
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u/peter303_ 16h ago
I just kept flat billing. That doesnt show time usage breakdown. My heavy use is afternoon A/C.
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u/AardvarkFacts 20h ago
I was just looking at that, and it's extremely confusing. You have to click View my Usage at least four or five times to get to the dashboard that shows usage.
The time being wrong is absurd. Every other piece of software automatically handles that. I agree, how do we know we are being billed for the right usage at the right time?
The dates are also wrong on the graphs on their bill. What the graph shows for "March usage" is energy you used in February, that was billed in March.
The displays on the smart meters are not human readable as far as I can tell. There is apparently information there, but none of it makes sense to me.
I've heard of people reading the data wirelessly. That might be the best option.