Energy Funding Questions Loom Large Regarding EVs

Last week the PUCO held its first PowerForward collaborative meeting. PowerForward is the brand state regulators have given to their investigation into the power grid of tomorrow.

The main topic of this first meeting was how the power grid will be affected by a growing population of electricvehicles (EVs). Much of the discussion centered on rate-basing EV charging stations. In other words, require customers to pay for charging stations via a new rider on your power bill.

A presenter from Ohio EPA reported that the state has allocated nearly $12 million from the VW vehicle emissions settlement to support EV fueling construction. Click to view meeting agenda and presentations.

A lot of really cool testimony and information was incorporated into the PUCO’s PowerForward final report. The goal of PowerForward – informing regulators of industry best practices for the power grid – is commendable. Unfortunately, PowerForward is increasingly being used by utilities to justify customer-paid grid modernization projects that don’t actually provide meaningful customer benefits.

Stay active in the OMA Energy Committee to help formulate the best policy solutions for manufacturers. 12/13/2018