As an energy company, Tesla offers variable contracts to Powerwall users in Texas

Tesla has started a pilot for Tesla Electric in the American state of Texas, a monthly energy contract in which owners of a Powerwall home battery buy and sell electricity through Tesla. It is the first time that Tesla actually supplies electricity to customers.

The new Electric subscription is currently available on an invitation basis; Customers in certain places in Texas with a free choice of supplier can buy energy directly from and sell energy to Tesla, with which the company takes on the role of energy supplier. Tesla uses all connected Powerwall home batteries and solar panels as a virtual power plant that can supply power to the Texas electricity grid at peak times.

At times when there is little demand for electricity, Tesla says it stores the electricity again in this chain of batteries and later sells the excess energy at the highest possible prices. If there is a shortage of electricity, Tesla will supply ‘renewable energy’ directly to customers.

Customers have a monthly energy contract with Tesla. The company updates in their own words energy supply prices ‘roughly once a month’. The feed-in fee that customers can earn changes every fifteen minutes. Customers build up credit with the company by supplying electricity to the grid, where they can exchange excess credit for cash once a year.

The Electric subscription seems to be a next step Virtual Power Plant System, which Tesla has already tested in California, Japan and Australia. In several regions with unreliable power grids, Tesla used connected Powerwall batteries to temporarily store excess electricity and then feed it back during emergencies and power shortages. Initially, Powerwall owners could voluntarily join this network, but later a feed-in allowance was given for supplying power during such emergencies.

Images via Tesla