Minnesota Public Utilities Commission Approves Proposed EV-Specific Electricity Rates

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission recently went ahead and approved proposed EV-specific electricity rates (EV charging tariffs) for the state, becoming the first state to require investor-owned utilities (IOUs) to provide specific peak & off-peak rates for electric vehicle charging. (Note that, based on briefing papers, the requirement is only for IOUs, not public or municipal utilities, and that California’s major IOUs “have had EV rates for 15+ years,” as Chelsea Sexton contextualizes.)

The approval came during a meeting on May 21, 2015 (those interested can find the briefing papers from the meeting here — they give a good detailed overview).

For those living in the state, it’s probably worth a reminder here that the utilities will only have 60 days to put the changes into effect — not particularly long, so big changes are coming fast.

It’s also worth noting that different utilities appear to have slightly different ideas of what constitutes off-peak hours, and what makes sense as far as rates.

Here’s a table showing some of the differences between the proposals offered by different utility providers with regard to rates and off-peak hours (via the briefing report):

Pretty good deals altogether. Of course, many electricity co-op customers in the state already had access to good rates/programs (through Xcel, etc), but now everybody in the state will as well (including customers of privately owned providers). Will be interesting to see how this works out.

Image Credit: Public Domain