Costs of utility electric vehicle proposals would burden utility customers, OPC tells regulators
BALTIMORE – Electric utility proposals totaling more than $230 million to support electric vehicle growth would unfairly burden utility customers, the Office of People’s Counsel told the Public Service Commission in comments filed late last week. The Commission should therefore reject or limit many of the costs that the utilities propose, OPC recommended.
“Utility monopolies play an important role in building infrastructure to support electric vehicles and managing electricity demand from EVs,” Maryland People’s Counsel David S. Lapp said. “But their role should be limited to providing services that only utilities can provide—and doing so at the lowest feasible cost. Without this limitation, utility EV programs can adversely impact competitive markets and burden ratepayers with unnecessary costs.”
Electric utilities have run EV programs in Maryland since 2019, when the Commission approved an EV pilot program to incentivize the development of EV charging infrastructure and support the State’s EV goals. In 2024, the Commission conducted a review of the utilities’ “Phase I” EV programs. Noting concern about the utilities’ lackluster performance in key areas—including low charger reliability levels and drivers’ low use of utility-owned public charging stations—the Commission authorized a second program phase with new requirements.
The utilities’ Phase II plans generally comply with the Commission’s directives, OPC’s comments say, but the plans also include unjustified programs that would unnecessarily increase costs for customers. OPC asks the Commission to direct the companies to significantly reduce their proposed administrative costs and deny most proposed incentives for customer-owned equipment (such as electric panels). OPC’s comments support utility-side planning and investment to accommodate EV growth, enhanced reporting metrics for evaluating utility EV program performance, and reducing the utilities’ rate of return (profit) for categories of EV program spending.
OPC asks the Commission to reject a BGE request for $38.84 million to provide monthly incentives to multifamily residents without a dedicated home charger for charging during “off-peak” periods. While the purpose of the program—to reduce stress on the grid—is generally beneficial, over half of BGE’s program costs are administrative in nature, rather than incentives to encourage off-peak charging by customers, OPC’s filing explains. Instead, OPC asks the Commission to direct BGE to focus on lower-cost programs to manage EV electricity demand that provide more certain benefits, such as greater adoption of time-of-use rates by customers with home chargers.
OPC also recommends rejecting Delmarva Power & Light’s and Pepco’s proposals for EV site assessment services. The programs would cost ratepayers millions of dollars for the utilities to either act as consultants or contract with third-party consultants to provide advice for public and private fleets and multifamily buildings that want to install EV charging stations. Such services are already offered by a range of consultants, engineering firms, and other private companies, some of which already work with other Maryland utilities, OPC pointed out. Ratepayer funds are not appropriate to cover those costs, OPC stated.
In another example, OPC asks the Commission to reject BGE’s nearly $10 million and Potomac Edison’s $1 million “charging-as-a-service” programs that would pay BGE and PE to connect commercial and other parking locations looking to install EV chargers with third-party companies that install, own, and maintain EV chargers. The utilities also would cover a certain amount of the third-party’s subscription fees that include a portion of EV charger installation costs and monthly maintenance fees. OPC’s filing states that ratepayers should not be required to cover in their rates such installation or maintenance costs for EV chargers that would otherwise be the responsibility of the businesses that own the parking lot.
The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel is an independent state agency that represents Maryland’s residential consumers of electric, natural gas, telecommunications, private water and certain transportation matters before the Public Service Commission, federal regulatory agencies and the courts.
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