Minnesota requiring electric utilities to set up EV charging tariffs

Electric Vehicle drivers in Minnesota will soon enjoy appropriate electrical rates for EV recharging, thanks to a new law that’s due to go into effect in 2015.  The law requires the electric utility companies in Minnesota to set up rates for EV recharging, to support off-peak rates, and offer customers access to renewably generated electricity.

This is excellent news, because it’s building EV recharging into government/utility policy.

Minnesota is the first state to have taken a step quite like this.

In a press release, Fresh Energy claims this could give Minnesotan’s a fueling cost equivalent to $0.99 per gallon equivalent.  Two Minnesota utilities, Connexus and Dakota Electric, already offer an off-peak rate that is equivalent to $0.57 per gallon of gas.

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The law is fairly straightforward.

The rate (tariff) will cover electricity sold at retail solely for the purpose of recharging an electric vehicle.  The law envisions this being done through a submeter – that is, an electrical meter that’s slaved to the main meter of a house.  It allows electricity consumed through the submeter to be reported and billed as a separate line item on the electricity bill.

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About David Herron

David Herron is a writer and software engineer living in Silicon Valley. He primarily writes about electric vehicles, clean energy systems, climate change, peak oil and related issues. When not writing he indulges in software projects and is sometimes employed as a software engineer. David has written for sites like PlugInCars and TorqueNews, and worked for companies like Sun Microsystems and Yahoo.

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