Juneau\u2019s electric company is planning a pair of programs to encourage electric-car use.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want people to be able to adopt this new technology in a manner that has the lowest negative impacts on the electric system,\u201d explained Alec Mesdag, AEL&P\u2019s energy services specialist.<\/p>\n
The latest figures from the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities indicate about 100 of Juneau\u2019s 20,000 vehicles are fully electric and their numbers are rising. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know this is a technology that is in favor in Juneau … and we will see growth,\u201d Mesdag said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a problem for AEL&P, which isn\u2019t connected to a larger electrical grid and can\u2019t buy electricity when it needs it. It has to produce every kilowatt, and if it doesn\u2019t produce enough, residents across the city could see their lights dim.<\/p>\n
Mesdag says he\u2019s worried about what would happen if 1,000 electric-car users started charging their vehicles right when they got home from work \u2014 the peak of Juneau\u2019s daily demand.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why AEL&P is planning its double-barreled approach. If Juneauites charge their cars between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. \u2014 when usage is less \u2014 the city might not need new power plants and AEL&P won\u2019t have to pass the cost along.<\/p>\n
According to the documents filed with state regulators, AEL&P will offer electric-car owners the little-known \u201cdemand metered energy charge\u201d if they charge at night. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The lower rate won\u2019t be applied to the car owner\u2019s entire bill, only the electricity used on the car will receive the lower rate.<\/p>\n
Customers must agree to install a separate electrical circuit for their car charger and have a second electrical meter installed on that circuit.<\/p>\n
AEL&P will check that meter and subtract its reading from the main house meter.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Electric-car charging equipment \u2014 unless included in the price of a new car \u2014 can cost several hundred dollars. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
AEL&P\u2019s plan must be approved by the Regulatory Commission before becoming effective, but the company has asked regulators to speed the process along. They\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Juneau\u2019s 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. \u201cI want people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":426,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-13969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/426"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13969"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=13969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}