…utilities have already begun investing in technology that will leverage the benefits of plug-in vehicles: “smart” utility meters that will allow both utilities and customers to track power use by purpose and time of day. The meters will permit utilities to move toward variable rates for electricity, charging more during peak demand in the daytime, and less at night. The plan is to steer plug-in owners toward charging their cars at night. Done right, the meters could be important enabling technology, as important to the plug-in vehicle as the elevator was to the skyscraper or the shopping cart to the supermarket.
“The plug-in hybrid has a tremendous future,” says Michael Peevey, president of the California Public Utilities Commission. “Off-peak rates are a key component.”
I believe that PHEV’s and all-electric vehicles will be a game-changer. Clearly the cost/mile will influence the speed of adoption. So it is encouraging to see that utilities are already considering adaptive pricing and the smart meters required — so that consumers can adapt their charging choices to exploit off-peak pricing. Ideally, the adaptive pricing will become market driven just like commodity or stock prices. And that the PUCs will get their act together to ensure that consumers can also sell excess power back into the grid.
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Our local utility company offered customers the option of buying electricity on a time of day basis a year or two ago. We seriously considered it, figured we could dry our clothes late at night when the rates are low. Then we added up the numbers and found out that no matter how we tried to schedule our wattage consumption we’d end up paying more than on the fixed rate. IE the utility company was trying to implement a voluntary stealth rate increase. Few customers were suckered by their plan, and the idea quickly fell by the wayside. In any case, time of day rates where businesses get cut rate deals for their electricity just doesn’t cut it! There is no way that businesses ought to be getting lower rates for consuming MORE electricity!