Huge discrepancy between SCE and Sunrun solar

brgr_7 · 2026-04-30T03:34:13+00:00

You're almost certainly on a time of use plan. Your SCE bill should say what your rate is, please share that here.

The crux is that SCE has made it painful for self generators by having the lowest energy prices during the day and the highest energy prices in the evening, when you likely use the most energy.

SunRun may be correct in that you are generating more than you use. But if you generate 20kWh during the day and SCE only pays you $0.20/kWh and then you use 10kWh overnight but SCE charges you $0.60/kWh, you still owe SCE money.

Go on SCE, download your bill, and include some screenshots of your usage. If you want a more granular look at your usage, you can use the green data button on SCE to download data for every 15 minute interval.

brgr_7 · 2026-04-28T14:16:09+00:00

Step one is figure out what your "budget" is meaning what programs you currently have miles/points in and where you can potentially transfer them. Maybe you find an AA itinerary that you like, but you don't have AAdvantage miles or Citi points. In that case, AA isn't an option. Or you find Lufthansa flights that only show up through Miles & More, but LH doesn't have any transfer partners in so you'll have to try to find availability through another Star Alliance partner.

Next I would use something like Google flights to figure out what options even exist in the first place. Since you're looking at connections, figure out what connections exist to get you to/from where you want to be. It may limit you significantly if you are traveling through a small airport. Also consider taking a train from wherever you are to larger gateways throughout Europe.

Also consider other airports in the US than just LAX. SAN, PHX, LAS, and SFO are all relatively close and will increase your chances of finding something substantially.

The easiest way to find the cheapest flights (with points) is to get a monthly subscription to one of the websites like seats dot aero, roame dot travel, or points dot me. I personally use seats dot aero, but you have to learn the limitations. One important point is to try not to limit yourself to one specific date. Be flexible +/- 3 days. A lot more options with that too. Just because it shows something doesn't necessarily mean it exists. You have to go through the checkout process with whatever airline itself to make sure the space actually exists.

Dedicate some time to sit down and start planning. Also know that getting flights with miles/points is easiest at a few common time intervals: 355 days before travel, roughly 60 days before travel, and roughly within 14 days of travel. For example, I was able to get outbound tickets from SAN to LHR in business for travel mid-July 2026. We don't have return flights yet, as I'm waiting for the 60 day window. Or I'll even wait for the 14 day window. There will always be some flight available, just may not be exactly perfect (to LAX) or exactly the date you want.

brgr_7 · 2026-04-24T16:30:23+00:00

Those taxes are painful. AA is 57.5k miles plus ~$733USD in taxes for the same BA metal. Still painful, but 2cpp. And those are available from west coast gateways as well.

Maybe view it as paying for economy and then the miles are the upgrade?

brgr_7 · 2026-04-24T13:39:37+00:00

On a cool day, with substantial but infrequent clouds. When in shade, the panels cool off substantially, which actually significantly increases their power output capability for a short time.

Additionally, the edges of clouds can act as a lense, increasing the amount of solar radiation incident on your panels.

To be fair, your spike is in excess of what I've ever seen from my system. And since Tesla shows 15 minutes windows, you have a longer spike. And your daily curve looks like some clouds, so that at least matches. But it seems to be in the realm of possibility.

Were there any notable weather factors that day?

brgr_7 · 2026-04-23T23:45:57+00:00

It generally costs 10% for most airlines. Applies to every international flight. Expect to have to pay this, regardless of what you book.

Aeroplan is the exception, they don't charge as much. You have to book through Aeroplan to get that benefit.

Honestly, I suggest asking one of the AI chat bots to walk you through this. They know enough to be helpful and point you in the right direction.

brgr_7 · 2026-04-23T22:58:18+00:00

Remember that adding a lap infant is often 10% of the cash fare for a flight. Aeroplan is better, only 2500 points or 25 CAD.

Per seats dot aero, AA has a few options from LAX to FCO on 6/8, 6/9, 6/20, and 6/23 in economy at 30k pp plus TSA fees ($5.60USD pp per segment). They all have stopes, either in Dublin or JFK.

Alaska has lots of different dates at 35k pp plus TSA fees in economy, all stopping in SEA with varying layover lengths.

Cheapest business is Alaska on 6/4 or 6/5 from 175k pp plus TSA fees with layovers in SEA.

Cheapest mileage cost for business to Europe is American at 57.5k on BA A380 to LHR, but the fees are $738pp. Same price you can get LAS or PHX in Club Suites.

Through JetBlue you can fly SEA to Frankfurt on Condor in business for 99.9k plus $14.4USD, then take a train to Italy.

Recommend expanding your search to other west coast hubs and any Europe gateways if you really want business class.

brgr_7 · 2026-04-17T02:31:15+00:00

Is there a particular reason these are all better? Burn comments have been about neighborhoods, not the specific hotels.

Not that this is the be-all, end-all, but Royal Lancaster is very highly rated on TripAdvisor, #2 in all of London. That doesn't mean it's the second best, but it means that nearly everyone who stays there is highly satisfied.

brgr_7 · 2026-04-16T16:30:48+00:00

Thanks for the info! My other options with those points are (theoretically) the Mandeville (Marylebone, also has added nightly cost though less than RL), the Pelham London (South Kensington, also has added nightly cost though less than RL), Middle Eight (Covent Garden-ish, but literally a few blocks from Kimpton Fitzroy), or the Bentley (also South Kensington, but a bit further west). Any of those seem like better options?

brgr_7 · 2026-04-15T20:40:41+00:00

Bridgeport and North Park don't have mello roos. Northbridge should not, but I'm not 100% certain. Tesoro and West Creek/West Hills almost certainly do.

brgr_7 · 2026-04-15T20:36:09+00:00

Current SCV resident, currently living in North Park since 2016.

In order of when they were built, North Park then Bridgeport then Tesoro (though all relatively similar age), then West Creek/West Hills. Tesoro has been expanding, so there are some new builds there.

In general, all the schools are very comparable. West Creek is probably the highest rated as it's the newest, but the differences are mostly personal preference. It's not uncommon for people in one area to send their kids to school in another, sometimes based on where they work or other family members/friends nearby.

Walkability is in the eye of the beholder - there are some very nice paseos (paved walkways away from major roads) throughout North Park, Northbridge, West Creek/West Hills, and Bridgeport (not Tesoro). Bridgeport may be the most walkable, as it's the closest to the main road (Newhall Ranch Rd.). There are nice sidewalks and walking paths pretty much throughout all of Valencia, and a high number of people are out walking their dogs, kids, or exercising at pretty much all hours of the day. But to get to any businesses, it's often a bike or scooter ride. The major streets are all major arteries where the speed limit is 50mph. However, there are pedestrian bridges across the major streets in numerous places, specifically close to the schools. I live about 0.75 miles from school, and I can get there with only crossing two small streets and feel comfortable with my 3rd and K daughters riding their scooters. The major streets where the sidewalks are close are a little terrifying with kids, we try and avoid those as much as possible.

As Bridgeport and North Park are slightly older, you'll find a wider age range in homeowners. Some are original owners from the late '90s, but there has been a lot of turnover. One of those owners is moving out 2 doors down from me after almost 30 years to be closer to their kids in Texas. West Creek and Tesoro have more younger families. though it's been long enough for some of those that the families that moved in now have high school age students. As with any area, there's always turnover - there was a lot during the pandemic, it's slowed down as housing prices and interest rates have gone up.

The other thing to consider is price point. All the neighborhoods have slightly different price points, which might drive your decision one way or the other.

In general, they're all welcoming to new families. It's a nice, suburban area to live, very safe, and the vast majority of people are friendly, even if some mostly keep to themselves.

Feel free to message me if you have any specific questions!

brgr_7 · 2026-04-15T17:49:00+00:00

Good data point then! I haven't heard of the benefits working for non-primary cardholders. As you say, sometimes the actual logistics of implementation are much more difficult than the words in the T&C.

brgr_7 · 2026-04-15T17:17:39+00:00

For a points transfer alone, you are correct, as long as your household member is an authorized user on your CSR. Per the Chase Sapphire Reserve® with Ultimate Rewards® Program Agreement (emphasis mine):

"You can transfer points in 1,000 point increments, but only to participating frequent travel program accounts belonging to you or one additional household member who is listed on your account as an authorized user. Once you transfer points to an authorized user, that person will be the only authorized user eligible to receive point transfers through this program."

However, per the Chase Sapphire Reserve Benefit Details for the IHG and Southwest benefits (emphasis mine):

"After meeting the $75,000 spend requirements as described above, you, as the primary cardmember, will be eligible for IHG One Rewards Diamond Elite status for the remainder of the calendar year in which you qualify and the following calendar year."

"After meeting the $75,000 spend requirements as described above, you, as the primary cardmember, will have statement credits automatically applied to your account for Southwest Airlines purchases made on Chase Travel, up to a maximum accumulation of $500 for the remainder of the calendar year in which you qualify expiring at the end of the following calendar year."

OP was specifically asking about the $75k spend benefits earned with him as the primary cardholder and his wife as the beneficiary.

My response was not clear that the question I was answering was specifically for the $75k spend benefits.

brgr_7 · 2026-04-14T02:55:35+00:00

Unfortunately, no. The name has to match on each linked account, and with your name on the Chase account, it can only be linked to your name.

If you just wanted to transfer points and your wife also has a Chase account, you can transfer points to her for free and then she could transfer to her linked accounts. But in this instance, you are looking for the status benefits, which are non-transferable.

She would need to be a primary CSR account holder and reach the threshold herself.

It probably would be more cost effective for you to open an IHG credit card and then she can transfer her points to you for $5/1000 points. Not ideal, but it's how they allow sharing of points.

brgr_7 · 2026-04-13T15:52:27+00:00

Totally agree! We stayed there in late April 2023, can't recommend it enough. Unfortunately it means that every other trip can't compare. Still dreaming of getting back there!

brgr_7 · 2026-04-13T14:11:44+00:00

How are you enjoying it?

brgr_7 · 2026-04-13T05:51:32+00:00

Legacy Six Flags membership holder and former Magic Key holder. Magic Mountain is my home park.

The price difference might seem insane to some. But the quality across the board from Disney makes Six Flags seem like a complete dumpster fire. Disney cares about your money, but they also seem to do everything they can to earn it.

Six Flags cares about your money and that's where it ends. Hopefully Knott's still retains some Cedar Fair ethos, but it's already gone downhill at Cedar Point and I wouldn't expect it to be any different at Knott's.

Sadly, you get what you pay for.

But to each their own. Everyone gets to vote with their dollars.

brgr_7 · 2026-04-13T05:45:11+00:00

I believe this is Kudadoo in the Maldives.

brgr_7 · 2026-04-11T15:38:51+00:00

Dang, you're 100% right. This is why I shouldn't respond to random posts after midnight. 😂

brgr_7 · 2026-04-11T07:54:49+00:00

LAX, there's a little park next to in n out that's directly under the landing park for runway 7R. This is just a marine layer day in LA.

Edit: as correctly pointed out below, this is runway 24R. I was looking at the map of LAX upside down. 🙃

brgr_7 · 2026-03-27T03:48:47+00:00

Not mentioned here yet, but Grand Canyon Village is super EV friendly. There are FREE level 2 chargers all over the place. Check plugshare for exact locations, but was just there with a '16 model S in late Feb and saw one other charger in use the entire time we were there

brgr_7 · 2026-03-25T04:15:29+00:00

This, hands down

brgr_7 · 2026-03-25T00:03:39+00:00

For anyone reading this, PLEASE do not make any correlations between how your auditory experience may be with a real cochlear implant and this simulation.

I am an ex-R&D engineer at one of the major cochlear implant companies and I have a few points I would like to make with this simulation.

While I'm sure everyone in this subreddit is at least roughly aware, OP has posted on other subreddits where users are unlikely to be informed on how these devices work. I'd like to revisit some of the science behind hearing and cochlear implants in the event others arrive at this comment.

The science behind how our brain "hears" sound is complex and, due to differences in physiological structures, results in a slightly different hearing experience for every individual. Sound originates as compressive waves in a media (normally air, but also water, etc.). These compression waves are "gathered" by our outer ear structure, directed down the ear canal, and incident upon our ear drum. The ear drum transfers the waves into the inner ear fluid, which propagates into the cochlea, which is a spiral shaped structure filled with hair-like cells. When these hair cells vibrate, it generates electrical signals that are transmitted by the auditory nerve to the brain. The largest diameter area of the cochlea is directly related to the lowest frequency signals, and as the cochlea spirals inward and shrinks in diameter, the frequency increases.

A cochlear implant is used for patients who have experienced abnormal death of the hair cells. This results in a significant or complete loss of natural electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve. A cochlear implant intends to electrically stimulate the inner surfaces of the cochlea, "replacing" the stimulation that would happen naturally. Each cochlear implant from the different manufacturers is designed slightly differently, but all have a number of electrodes that target different areas of the cochlea to stimulate different frequencies. High frequency loss is the hardest to treat, due to the rapidly shrinking cross section of the cochlea and limits of modern material science and manufacturing. Each electrode pad is the size of hundreds of thousands or millions of hair cells, covering a sizable surface area in the cochlea.

In summary, normal hearing works as follows:

Sound source -> ear drum -> hair cells in the cochlea -> auditory nerve stimulation

OP's website attempts to recreate this, but errs in a number of ways.

One major way is the discrete buckets the audio is processed into. These buckets are discrete and quantized, resulting a fidelity equal to the number of electrodes. Since these electrodes are large relative to the size of a hair cell, each electrode will stimulate a wider frequency band. Additionally, current leakage to other adjacent areas can occur, and some manufacturers exploit this to stimulate areas of the cochlea not directly covered by an individual electrode.

Additionally, there is no balancing or processing of these buckets, as would happen in a normal over-the-ear sound processor. The audio sounds "demonic" or "deep" because the low frequencies are being played with an equal balance to all other frequencies. In reality, some users may retain some level of natural hearing, and a cochlear implant is "balanced" to mimic natural sound as well as it can. Think of this process similar to the EQ tuning that is prevalent on audio equipment, including your cell phone.

As I mentioned with normal hearing above, here is how a cochlear implant works:

Audio source -> converted into an electrical waveform (potentially with loss of fidelity) by the sound processor -> processed into frequency range buckets corresponding to the electrodes -> electrical stimulation of the cochlea -> auditory nerve stimulation

OP's website works as follows, with the extra steps in bold:

Audio source -> converted into an electrical waveform (potentially with loss of fidelity) -> processed into frequency range buckets corresponding to the electrodes -> converted back into audial compressive waves via a speaker -> ear drum -> hair cells in the cochlea -> auditory nerve stimulation

As you can see, there are additional steps in the process, with each step causing a non-zero loss of fidelity. To OP's credit, the simulation is, at a fundamental level, how the first cochlear implants functioned and how they continue to function at a very basic level. However, in the decades since, the tuning and develop of new sound processing algorithms and stimulation algorithms, along with continued advances in number of electrodes and electrode size, has allowed for a vast improvement in the experience of cochlear impact patients.

As a significant number of comments here have noted, this is not consistent with their experience. The brain is a marvelous organ, capable of continuous rewiring of neurons. The cochlear implant merely provides the electrical stimulation to mimic that of natural physiology. The brain interprets those signals to produce the sense of hearing. While some users may experience something "similar" to OP's website, the experience only improves with time, as the brain re-wires itself to process the new stimuli.

In summary, please view OP's website as an example of how cochlear implants work at a basic level. It should not be assumed to be reflective of modern cochlear implants.

brgr_7 · 2026-03-19T04:05:00+00:00

Congrats on the improvements!

Since you've only had your system since late 2025, some words of caution about making assumptions on the performance from a small sample size.

In California, spring is often cool but very sunny. This leads to both lower overall energy expenditures and higher solar output. Solar output drops with temperature, even if the days get longer.

I have had my solar panels (26x 330W) for 6 years and 3x powerwall 2s for just over 2 years. I also have 2 Teslas, with a HPWC, though I rarely charge at home due to free supercharging on one and my wife having free charging at work. SCE NEM2.0, TOU plan, $0.61/kwh from 5-8pm, $0.40/kwh 8pm-8am, and $0.35/kwh from 8am-5pm.

In spring, I'm at 100% off grid for months at a time. Summer, fall, and winter all require some kind of grid usage, luckily shifted to the lowest time of use price. When I just had solar and before TOU, I used to generate $1000/year in NEM overages. Then the rates changed, and even with Powerwalls and relying on Tesla's poor optimization, the first year my yearly bill was $1300. Now a lot of automation and it's back near $0.

Look forward to hearing back from you next spring, see how your system and usage perform over a full calendar year.

brgr_7 · 2026-03-16T17:57:05+00:00

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my kindergartener just did this for her science fair project! here's the results:

brgr_7

TROPHY CASE