Top Three EV Rate Trends: Encouraging Transportation Electrification

Deck: 

APPA

Fortnightly Magazine - May 2021
This full article is only accessible by current license holders. Please login to view the full content.
Don't have a license yet? Click here to sign up for Public Utilities Fortnightly, and gain access to the entire Fortnightly article database online.

As interest in decarbonization grows, so does momentum for transportation electrification. Now we're seeing a new player emerge in the transportation sector — electric utilities. The American Public Power Association (APPA) recently published a report, Exploring Electric Vehicle Rates for Public Power, and identified three dominant EV rate trends: incentivizing off-peak charging, offering non-traditional rate structures, and embracing commercial and industrial customer electrification (in addition to residential).

All types of electric utilities are developing EV programs in their communities, not only to support load and revenue growth, but to support the adoption of a new energy technology that boasts environmental and public health benefits. As our nation's vehicle fleet becomes more electrified, utilities are considering how to develop rates to encourage adoption, manage load, and recover costs, as well as how to educate customers about these rates.

Public power utilities are in forty-nine states and five U.S. territories, serve about fifteen percent of the population, and vary greatly in size, with the median customer count coming in at roughly two thousand meters. Public power is not-for profit with a focus on local decision making — typically by a city council or utility board, which allows them to be nimble when launching new rate offerings.

This full article is only accessible by current license holders. Please login to view the full content.
Don't have a license yet? Click here to sign up for Public Utilities Fortnightly, and gain access to the entire Fortnightly article database online.