Electric Vehicle
As electrical vehicles become more common, utilities need to develop electric rate designs for public charging stations and in-home charging. EES Consulting assists utilities with developing pilot rates for new charging stations. In addition, EES Consulting has designed optional residential TOU rates for charging electrical vehicles at home while ensuring that existing residential rates will collect sufficient revenues to meet the additional cost of charging vehicles at home. Electric vehicles in the home or on the street have the potential to increase power supply costs significantly under the Bonneville Power Administration’s tiered rates methodology. This is especially true if use of the charging services increases peak demand significantly compared with a small increase in energy use. At the moment electric vehicle loads are a small share of regional power supply requirements; however, as more electric vehicles hit the road, it will become ever more important to provide a pass-through mechanism or time-of-use rate for electric vehicle charging service.
Douglas Electric Cooperative
EES Consulting was asked to prepare an interim rate for the planned electric vehicle charging stations in Douglas Electric Cooperative’s service territory. The commercial grade high-speed charging stations are part of a plan to promote electric vehicle use in Oregon. The chargers can fully charge an electric vehicle battery in five to thirty minutes. EES Consulting proposed a time-of-use rate to help the utility recover power supply costs caused by the charging station use. The rate proposals were evaluated under various peak profile scenarios in order to illustrate how use of the charges can affect the utility’s wholesale power supply contracts under the Bonneville Power Administration tiered rates methodology.
Salem Electric
Salem Electric asked EES Consulting to present rate design considerations for electric vehicle charging stations as part of the Energizing Oregon Utilities Webinar series. EES Consulting worked with the Bonneville Power Administration, public utilities, and investor-owned utilities to present the current working knowledge regarding how electric vehicle charging stations will affect wholesale power costs and what utilities have learned so far about rate setting.
