🚦 Demand plan status
as of Oct 9 2026✓ ENGAGEDEnergy Sentry rep, Sep 30
fact · Taji 9/30: rep got 6 months of usage and bills, load list to fill (chat.db 943649)
$ BILLSeptember SCE bill $3,544.33
fact · Taji 9/25 (chat.db 942119). The text reads "$3,54433"; $3,544.33 plus the $1,070.83 monthly agreement equals the $4,615.16 total in the same text.
! LIKELY SLIPPEDSCE cap form, Oct 17 target
inference · filing needs two clean weeks after the controller install, and no install is on file; the plan below estimates Oct 20 to Nov 17 (Phase 4)
… PENDINGMeter map: pending the register
unknown · which panel feeds which SCE meter. Fills meter 1 and meter 2 in the register, then the 18 kW shed order.
27.2 kW
Highest 15-min average, Aug 23 2025, held 2 hours. 50 windows over 20 kW in 13 months. A car charging.
0.035 kW
Total demand saving from $4,500 of soft starters on all 7 units. Rounds to zero on the bill.
0 → 19.2
After the charger was limited (Nov 2025): zero windows over 16 kW in Nov-Dec, then 19.2 kW in January. Winter only. No summer has been proven under 20.
4-5 ACs
Running at once (~4-6 kW each) is the entire 20 kW budget on their own. The controller holds 18 kW by shedding sauna first, then ACs.
0 units
Kora Power has shipped to any customer, ever. Five slipped dates. $100 refundable. Cancel it.
Sep 30: no
The form declares a permanent change SCE countersigns. On Sep 30 the controller is not in yet, so nothing permanent has changed. The filing waits until the controller has held 18 kW for two clean weeks, estimate Oct 20 to Nov 17.
🎯 Six verdicts
✕ DO NOT BUY
Soft starters / hard-start kits
- Victor's Supco + 5-2-1 kits are start capacitors, not soft starters.
- Inrush lasts ~1 s. Averaged over 900 s it is invisible.
- Victor, Farzad, and the math all agree.
✕ CANCEL
Kora Power
- Residential split-phase home battery, 9 people, $5.3M raised, nothing shipped.
- No demand-limit setpoint documented anywhere.
- Refund the $100 today. Re-reserve later if they prove a UL listing.
✓ THE GUARANTEE
Energy Sentry 9388B demand controller
- Reads real kW at the main, predicts the 15-min average, sheds loads before 18 kW.
- Only device whose whole job is "the average shall not exceed N."
- ~$6-10k installed by a C-10 electrician, 4-8 weeks.
- See the mechanism and the equipment
✓ ORDER THIS WEEK
Live meter (the "electrical tracker")
- Eyedro EB6-EW-E3 at the main: native 15-minute demand alerts, 3-phase capable.
- Alert at 16 kW emails Taji and Greg before the controller has to act.
- $349 plus a $49 MyEyedro Pro license, fitted on the same C-10 visit. This is the PCOC evidence.
! FILE LATER
PCOC (Form 14-548)
- One month over 20 kW after filing = moved back and rebilled at GS-2 from day one.
- Needs SCE's countersignature and, if SCE wants, an inspection. Not a unilateral filing.
- File after the controller shows two clean weeks. Not before.
✓ FREE, MONDAY
Cap the Tesla at 12 A
- Tesla charging was measured at 11.3 kW. Over half the ceiling in one load. Capped inside the Wall Connector to 12 A (2.8 kW), not in the car, so it holds for every driver.
- The charger stays on and in use. Its 2.8 kW is a fixed load inside the 18 kW budget, leaving 15.2 kW for the ACs and the sauna.
- Sauna heater: 6 to 12 kW, nobody has read the plate yet. The controller handles it either way.
📅 The plan: four phases to a safe PCOC
Ten steps for Taji, in order, on the work order. One box does the limiting. No staff rules, no sauna lockout.
Phase 1 · Mon Sep 8 · $0
Cap the Tesla charger at 12 A
- 🔧 Taji: in the Wall Connector's own commissioning settings, set Breaker Size to 15 A. That caps output at 12 A, which is 2.8 kW at 240 V. Tesla Gen 3 manual
- ⚡ The charger stays on and in use. Nobody pulls a breaker, nobody removes it. The cap lives in the box, not in the car, so it holds for every driver.
- 📊 That 2.8 kW is counted as a fixed load inside the 18 kW budget, leaving 15.2 kW for the seven ACs and the sauna.
- 🏷️ Label on the unit: "Capped at 12 A. Do not change."
Owner TajiCost $0Time 30 minutes
Phase 2 · This week · $349 + $5/mo
Order the controller and the meter
- 📸 Taji: photograph both meter faces, the main panel and its directory card, the sauna heater plate, and the Wall Connector label. Which panel feeds which meter is the single most valuable unknown, and the sauna plate settles the 6 to 12 kW question.
- 📞 Taji: call Brayden Automation at (970) 461-9600 and order the Energy Sentry 9388B: outdoor enclosure, alarm option, WireLynx if the roof needs it. Lead time is per Brayden's quote (a pre-quote estimate was 4 to 8 weeks), so the order goes in this week.
- 🔧 Taji: order one Eyedro EB6-EW-E3 3-phase meter ($349) plus MyEyedro Pro ($5/mo) for demand alerts. This is the PCOC evidence.
- ⚡ Greg: pull 15-minute Green Button data for the new account, Jan 29 2026 to today. The old data is already on Dropbox. This finds the Jul 28 (20.8 kW) and Feb 28 (17.6) windows. sce.com login
- ⚡ Greg: cancel the Kora reservation and ask for the UL file number in the same email. Button below
Owner Taji + GregCost $349 + $5/moBlocks everything else
Phase 3 · Dated from Brayden's ship date, estimate Oct 6 to Nov 3 · $6,000 to 10,000
Install the guarantee
- 📞 One C-10 visit, two quotes. Ask each in writing whether they will work in the Zinsco panel: RG Electric, Optimum Energy Services.
- 🔧 Scope of the visit: 9388B at the main panel, CTs on the mains, a 24 V pilot relay in each of the seven AC thermostat circuits, a contactor on the sauna, and the Eyedro on the same trip.
- ⚙️ Settings: limit 18 kW, averaging window 15 min matched to SCE, algorithm dC = 1, minimum off-time 6 min so compressors never short-cycle, alarm on.
- 🔥 Shed order: sauna first, it recovers fastest, then the seven ACs from the least-used room to the most-used. The sauna stays usable: the controller pauses it for a few minutes only when the average nears 18, then brings it back. The wall and the consoles are never on the shed list.
- 🔔 MyEyedro alert at 16 kW emails Taji and Greg. Two kW of warning before the box has to act.
- ✅ Test it: force five ACs and the sauna on, watch the Eyedro. The controller sheds, the average never crosses 18. See the mechanism
Owner Taji + C-10Cost $6,000 to 10,000Permit City of Santa Monica
Phase 4 · Two clean weeks after install, estimate Oct 20 to Nov 17 · $0
Two clean weeks, then Greg files
- 📊 Every Monday, Taji sends Greg the Eyedro peak-demand screenshot. Two weeks in a row with no 15-minute average above 18 kW, hottest afternoons included.
- 📝 Email Form 14-548 to CICORR@sce.com with the interval data and a one-page description of the controller. Ask Kari Gardner to countersign. SCE asked for exactly this: root cause resolved, evidence attached.
- 📝 Before filing, ask Kari in writing to waive clause 2.c (SCE may downsize service at your cost inside 36 months; the account opened Jan 29 2026).
- 📊 Then run the SCE rate tool on 12 months of data: below ~4,000 kWh/month pick GS-1 Option E (no demand charge at all); above it Option D is cheaper.
- 📅 Sep 30: no. The form declares a permanent change and Kari countersigns it. On Sep 30 the controller is not installed yet, so there is nothing permanent to declare.
- 📅 Filing lands two clean weeks after install, estimate Oct 20 to Nov 17.
- 📊 Every month after: check the bill's demand line against the Eyedro peak. They should agree, and both should sit under 20.
Owner GregCost $0Result TOU-GS-1 from the next billing period after SCE countersigns
Q4 2026 → 2027 · optional
Lower the floor: replace the worst units
- 🔧 Inverter heat pumps for units 4 and 7 first (~$8-14k each), which drop peak draw ~40% per unit. Reserve the SCE/Willdan rebate ($400-925 per ton) before install.
- 🔋 Battery only if outage resilience is worth it on its own. If so: Sol-Ark (documented grid peak-shaving setpoint), $22-50k, no SGIP, 30% federal ITC. Never Kora, never FranklinWH, never a Powerwall for this job.
⚡ Greg's three buttons
1 · Pull the interval data
Sign in, then Data Sharing and Download: 15-minute interval, Jan 29 2026 to today, CSV. Ari has the login if you do not.
Open SCE Green Button2 · Cancel Kora, demand the UL number
To support@korapower.com, addressed to Greg Connolly. Pre-written. You hit send.
Open the email3 · Hand Taji the work order
Ten steps in order, with the phone numbers, the order links, and a checkbox each. One page.
Open Taji's list💡 Why the start-up theory is wrong
The math SCE actually uses
- 📊 Billed demand = highest 15-minute average kW in the month.
- 📊 A compressor inrush is ~1 s at ~1.6× running real power (the 5× figure is amps, mostly reactive).
- 📊 One start adds ~7 W to the average. All seven starting in one window: ~0.05 kW.
- 📊 A 4-ton unit running adds ~4.8 kW for as long as it runs. That is the number on the bill.
Who already said so
- ✅ Victor, Aug 28: "compressor savers help with startup amps but not running amps so they won't do major changes to your electric bill."
- ✅ Farzad, twice: soft starters are probably not the answer.
- ✅ SCE, Jul 30: the electrician's "one unit using 30 kW" figure is "impossible."
- ✅ SCE, Jan 29: the Jan 19.2 kW spike was on a closed Monday. Nothing was "starting up." Loads were running.
- ✅ The meter itself: Aug 23 2025 held 27.2 kW from 4:45 to 6:45 pm. Charging sessions ran up to 11 hours at 11+ kW. Limit the charger in November, the 20+ kW windows stop. That is the story of 2025.
📊 What eats the 20 kW (white line = the threshold)
7 ACs, all running
~28 kW
3 ACs running
~12 kW
Sauna heater
6-12 kW
Tesla charging, as measured
11.3 kW
Tesla charging, capped at 12 A
2.8 kW
LED wall (typical / max)
3 / 7 kW
Fridges + gear + lights
~2-3 kW
7 AC start-ups, one window
0.05 kW
Measured, both meters combined: median 6.4 kW, summer-evening 95th percentile 22-24 kW, demonstrated worst case 36.8 kW. AC and sauna figures are estimates until the nameplates and the sauna plate are read in Phase 2. Tesla charging is capped to 2.8 kW from Sep 8. Scale 0-30 kW.
🔍 Kora Power: cancel, and here is why
5
Ship-date slips in 12 months. Their site shows three different dates at once today.
$5.3M
Raised (SEC Form D, Apr 2026), 9 employees. A UL-listed ESS launch is usually a $20-50M job.
~1%
Chance a Kora unit is permitted, interconnected, and running at TRC by Oct 1. ~7% by Dec 31.
Even if it ships, it is the wrong product
- ❌ 120/240 V split-phase only. "Compatible with nearly all U.S. homes." TRC has 3-phase on site.
- ❌ No kW demand-limit setpoint in any spec, FAQ, or manual. Only time-of-use shifting.
- ❌ Certification claims contradict their own Feb LinkedIn post and their Aug 7 "certification progress" email.
- ❌ Needs an $800 SCE Rule 21 application plus a Santa Monica ESS permit. Months, not weeks.
What a battery would need to do this job
- ✅ A documented grid-import ceiling with CTs on the service: Sol-Ark 15K (split-phase) or 30K-3P-208V (3-phase).
- ✅ Sized from the interval data: roughly 8-10 kW, 25-30 kWh usable.
- ✅ $22-50k installed, 30% federal ITC, SGIP closed. Optional, not on the critical path.
- 📄 Full due diligence: Kora Power report
📊 Cost of the plan vs cost of the problem
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Cap the Tesla Wall Connector at 12 A | $0 |
| Eyedro EB6-EW-E3 meter | $349 |
| MyEyedro Pro (demand alerts) | $5/mo |
| Energy Sentry 9388B installed, one C-10 visit, Eyedro fitted on the same trip | $6,000 to 10,000 |
| Total to a safe PCOC | $6.3k to 10.3k |
| Soft-starter package (skipped) | $4,500 |
| The problem | Amount |
|---|---|
| Worst demand-rate months (mostly usage, per the tariff model) | $3,000-3,600 |
| Arrears paid down, 23 months | $25,330 |
| Monthly installment | $1,073.83 |
| GS-2 vs GS-1 customer charge | $268 vs $16/mo |
| Tariff saving, same usage (2026 sheets, 12,000 to 3,000 kWh/mo) | $4,400-8,200/yr |
| Payback on the plan | ~1-2 years |
📝 The PCOC rules, from the 2026 tariff sheets
Normal way down: 12 clean months
- 📅 GS-2 → GS-1 automatically after 12 consecutive months at or under 20 kW.
- 📅 Last month over 20 was July 2026, so the automatic route lands Aug 2027.
The shortcut: Form 14-548
- 📝 A "permanent change in operating conditions" SCE agrees will hold demand ≤ 20 kW lets you skip the 12 months.
- 📝 Effective the billing period after the latest of: your request, SCE's verification, both signatures.
The edge
- ⚠️ Any single month over 20 kW afterward: back to GS-2 and rebilled as if you never left.
- ⚠️ Demand is rounded to the whole kW, so 20.4 reads as 20. The real line is 20.5.
Full mechanics, rates, and a worked bill comparison: SCE tariff report
⚠️ Six things nobody has answered yet
- ⚠️ What spiked on Jul 28? 20.8 kW on a Tuesday re-triggered the demand rate. Green Button data answers this in 10 minutes.
- ⚠️ Is the service 3-phase? Sauna says yes. Determines every product choice. Read the meter face.
- ⚠️ Heat pumps or strip heat? The January peak (19.5 kW by Ari's read, 19.2 on the meter's 1.6 kW grid) was on Jan 22. Resistive strip heat at 5 kW a stage would explain it alone.
- ⚠️ 15 or 20 kW? Kari Gardner's Sep 2025 email says 15. Everything else says 20. Confirm against the tariff before setting the controller.
- ⚠️ Which panel feeds which meter? The threshold is per meter. Nobody has mapped it. Two meter photos and every panel card answers it.
- ⚠️ Is the Sep 2 bill of $36.76 real? Far too small for this service. Partial bill, or already back on GS-1?
🔍 The research (read the parts you want)
📄 Soft starters vs hard-start kits: the full math
Category error, scope-trace evidence, per-start contribution to the 15-minute average, concurrency budget, the three legitimate reasons to buy a real soft starter anyway. Open the report
📄 Demand-limiting alternatives: monitors, controllers, batteries, HVAC, contractors
Eyedro vs Emporia vs eGauge, Energy Sentry vs SiteSage vs DIY relays, why consumer smart panels fail, Willdan rebates, six LA C-10 firms. Open the report
📄 Kora Power due diligence
Product architecture, SEC filing, team, five ship slips, certification contradictions, refund terms, battery sizing for TRC, Sol-Ark comparison. Open the report
📄 SCE tariff: TOU-GS-1 vs GS-2, Form 14-548 verbatim, 2026 rates, worked bills
Advice 5837-E sheets, Rule 12, the PCOC form's clause 2.e, $/kW marginal costs, Option E vs D, Green Button routes, SGIP status. Open the report
📄 Load inventory: two meters, 13 months of 15-minute data, every known unit
Monthly maximums per meter, the EV-charger step change, unit-by-unit models and kW estimates, worst-case and typical scenarios, the on-site read list. Open the report