Juneau’s electric company is planning a pair of programs to encourage electric-car use.
In a filing this week with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, Alaska Electric Light and Power said it wants to lease car-charging equipment to customers and will offer cheaper power to electric-car users who charge their cars at night.
“I want people to be able to adopt this new technology in a manner that has the lowest negative impacts on the electric system,” explained Alec Mesdag, AEL&P’s energy services specialist.
The latest figures from the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities indicate about 100 of Juneau’s 20,000 vehicles are fully electric and their numbers are rising.
This month, Chevrolet will roll out a $30,000 vehicle with a 230-mile range, and other companies are expected to quickly follow suit. At that price point and vehicle range, analysts expect electric cars to move from a niche product into the mainstream.
“We know this is a technology that is in favor in Juneau … and we will see growth,” Mesdag said.
For AEL&P and electric companies across the country, electric cars are a double-edged sword. They consume electricity, which boosts sales, but they also threaten to increase peak demand.
That’s a problem for AEL&P, which isn’t connected to a larger electrical grid and can’t buy electricity when it needs it. It has to produce every kilowatt, and if it doesn’t produce enough, residents across the city could see their lights dim.
Mesdag says he’s worried about what would happen if 1,000 electric-car users started charging their vehicles right when they got home from work — the peak of Juneau’s daily demand.
AEL&P would have to build new power plants to meet that higher peak, and the cost of those plants would be passed on to everyone who pays a power bill.
That’s why AEL&P is planning its double-barreled approach. If Juneauites charge their cars between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. — when usage is less — the city might not need new power plants and AEL&P won’t have to pass the cost along.
According to the documents filed with state regulators, AEL&P will offer electric-car owners the little-known “demand metered energy charge” if they charge at night.
That rate is 6.02 cents per kilowatt/hour during the winter (November through May) and 5.26 cents per kilowatt/hour during the summer. That compares to 12.4 cents and 10.2 cents for ordinary residential electrical service.
The lower rate won’t be applied to the car owner’s entire bill, only the electricity used on the car will receive the lower rate.
Customers must agree to install a separate electrical circuit for their car charger and have a second electrical meter installed on that circuit.
AEL&P will check that meter and subtract its reading from the main house meter.
Homeowners can set up much of that system, or they could have AEL&P do it for them. AEL&P is offering to rent a charger and second meter for $11.28 per month.
Electric-car charging equipment — unless included in the price of a new car — can cost several hundred dollars.
Whether AEL&P provides the charger or not, the homeowner likely will need an electrician to install an electrical circuit specifically for the car charger, something that could cost a few hundred to a thousand dollars, Mesdag said.
AEL&P’s plan must be approved by the Regulatory Commission before becoming effective, but the company has asked regulators to speed the process along. They’d like to have the new program up and running by the second week of January, the endpoint of a prototype program the company already offers to 10 select electric-car owners.
