Plug-in cars to lead to increased utility rates
October 23rd, 2009Bloomberg reports unanticipated consequences of the push for plug-in electric cars:
California’s push to lead U.S. sales of electric cars may result in higher power rates for consumers in the state, as a growing number of rechargeable vehicles forces utilities to pay for grid upgrades.
Power companies including Southern California Edison, the state’s largest, have to install new transformers and meters to handle greater demand and prevent blackouts when autos are being charged at outlets. Utility rates will rise to cover the costs, said Travis Miller, a Morningstar Inc. analyst in Chicago.
“If you look at the kind of money that will be needed for a full smart grid and support for electric vehicles, then you are talking about a substantial amount,” Miller said in a phone interview. The spending may total “multiple billions” of dollars over a decade or more, he said.
Not to mention additional generating and transmission capacity.
Whocoodanode?
Says Edison CEO Ted Craver:
It’s important that the customer experience with plug-in electric vehicles be a good one.
What better experience for drivers than having their costs subsidized by the rest of us? Oh, that’s the way it has always been. Silly me.