As a privately owned utility, AEL&P is overseen by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA). When AEL&P wants to change the price of electricity, they submit a request to the RCA and the RCA examines that request in a process that resembles a court case. When a docket is open, anyone can submit a comment.
In 2011, AEL&P launched a pilot program for electric vehicles (EV). It gave EV owners a reduced rate for charging at night, when the demand for power is lowest. This helps AEL&P stabilize the grid and reduces the cost of driving an EV. It’s a win-win!
This year the pilot program expired, so AEL&P went back to the RCA to set a long-term EV rate.
Devon Kibby of the Juneau Electric Vehicle Association, saw the proposal and realized it had some hurdles that might undermine its usability and ultimately, its success. He wanted to make sure the program was designed well from the start. But instead of submitting a comment, Kibby became an intervener in the case and flew to Anchorage with Kyle Cuzzort to participate in the hearing.
Becoming an intervener is a massive undertaking. You have to function as a lawyer, filing testimony, doing discovery, calling witnesses, and cross-examining. Although Kibby is not a lawyer, as an Electrical Engineer and the CEO of Chattam Electric, he was well equipped to weigh in on this complex issue.
Kibby wasn’t sure how he would be received by the RCA. All the lawyers who are familiar with utility regulation work for utilities, so there has been a dearth of public participation in recent years. Thankfully, the Commissioners were supportive. A robust and cooperative discussion ensued.
In a nutshell, electric vehicles provide a service to the grid by charging at night. Residents are essentially adding battery storage to the electrical grid — capacity that the utility does not have to pay for. To put it in perspective, Kodiak gets attention for having a flywheel that stores 150 kilowatt hours. Juneau’s EV community stores 3,000 kilowatt hours. That is a huge benefit. How should that benefit be reflected in rates?
Since EVs switch customers from gasoline to electricity, one Commissioner asked AEL&P why they don’t provide electricity to charge EVs for free, as many stores do to attract more customers. While the idea was shot down from all sides as being unfair, an alternative could be offering a reduced rate for all Juneau residents between the hours of 10 pm and 5 am.
To find a solid long-term solution, Juneau needs to have a discussion about the future of its electricity. How will we keep costs affordable for everyone as we transition away from fossil fuels and toward electric transportation and heating?
The Juneau Renewable Energy Strategy will come before the Assembly in October. With wildfires on one side and hurricanes on the other, it’s clear that the time to act on climate is now.
Now that we have HydroOne, a large Canadian corporation, poised to buy out Avista (which bought AEL&P in 2014), it is more important than ever to understand how we as local residents can participate in the process that regulates our utility.
The RCA will issue a ruling on the EV rate in October. But what we know now is that the RCA is willing to consider the social dimensions of rate requests as part of their decision-making process.
Thank you Devon Kibby and Kyle Cuzzort for helping to craft sensible EV charging systems that will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
For more information about the RCA process and how you might participate, go to www.renewablejuneau.org.
• Danielle Redmond is the co-founder and coordinator for Renewable Juneau, a local non-profit dedicated to a healthy, prosperous, and low-carbon future for Juneau.
