2.3. ERMUSR 09-10-2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Residential and Commercial Program Activity Elk River Municipal Utilities started actively marketing the electric vehicle program in 2016. Prior to the aggressive marketing in 2017, there were customers participating in a private installation (in-home charging) program.The number of accounts has grown from two accounts in 2015 to nine active residential accounts in 2019. ERMU has one commercial customer that participated in the rebate program with the purchase of a Level 2 charger at the Ford dealership. Initially, the residential electric vehicle program had a load control component. However, customers expressed concerns about not being able to utilize their 240 volt charger during on-peak hours when they needed additional energy. Based on customer feedback, ERMU changed from direct load control and structured charging times to Time-of-Use (TOU) in January 2017. For the residential electric vehicle program, Elk River Municipal Utilities upgraded metering for customers to allow for TOU rates. Time-of-Use Rates Pricing and Load Control for In-Home and Public Charging Stations Elk River Municipal Utilities initiated in-home charging rates back in 2013, but they were not truly Time-of-Use (TOU). ERMU modeled the residential electric vehicle program after existing load management programs in place for water and space heat.These EV rate programs utilized direct load control and separate metering equipment.The early program parameters only allowed the customers to charge their vehicles from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. If they needed additional energy during other times, they had to charge on a 120 volt wall outlet or install a second 240 volt charging unit not connected to the off-peak metering installed for the program. As the program started to grow, customers shared that it would be beneficial to be able to charge all hours of the day. At this point, we implemented TOU rates. ERMU established two time periods for billing energy use: on-peak, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, and off-peak from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Friday weekends, and holidays.The transition to TOU rates increased flexibility to let customers charge when they wanted or needed to and received favorable feedback from program participants. Beginning in 2019, ERMU changed the on-peak hours to 10 a.m. through 10 p.m. This is a decrease of four on-peak hours per day, Monday through Friday.The change was communicated individually to each participant. ERMU also implemented a bill presentation change at this time so customers could see exactly when and how much energy they were using to charge their electric vehicle during on-peak and off-peak hours. 10 49