ELECTRIC VEHICLES:Utilities seek larger part in charging station rollout
It’s unsurprising that electric utilities stand to benefit from the sale of plug-in vehicles, providing a bump — even a small one — for flat-lining sales.
Utilities throughout the country that are looking for authority to spend millions of dollars building out charging networks say their customers will benefit, too — even those who don’t own EVs.
Just in the past six months, the state of Washington passed legislation allowing utilities to put EV charging infrastructure in their rate base. In California, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison are proposing huge investments in EV charging infrastructure (ClimateWire, Feb. 10). In the Southeast, Southern Co.’s Georgia Power subsidiary is spending $12 million on a pilot program to install as many as 50 public EV charging stations by the end of 2016 (EnergyWire, March 5).
The proposals are surfacing in the Midwest, too. In Illinois, Commonwealth Edison is lobbying for a bill that would allow it to build 5,000 charging stations. And Kansas City Power & Light is asking utility regulators in Missouri and Kansas to recover costs for a 1,000-station EV charging network (EnergyWire, Jan. 28).
