Maryland PSC: "Current" State Policy Is to "Promote a Competitive Marketplace for Electricity"; Adopts Utility Generation Rate Pilots for EVs

The Maryland PSC adopted utility-offered generation rate pilots for electric vehicles at Baltimore Gas & Electric and Pepco.

The PSC's decision is notable in its discussion of the BGE program, which requires the customer to be on Standard Offer Service (SOS) to participate in the pilot.

"Perhaps the biggest drawback to the BGE Pilot Program is that it is designed for use only by SOS customers, which may skew participation rates since we heard testimony that many EV owners may choose to remain with their third-party suppliers because they have purchased their EVs for environmental reasons and thus would appreciate the opportunity to choose a renewable energy option other than SOS," the PSC said.

"Alternatively, it may have the unintended effect of incentivizing customers to remain with or switch to SOS, which is contrary to this State’s current policy to promote a competitive marketplace for electricity," the PSC added.

While the PSC did see fit to include the qualifier "current" in describing the state policy favoring choice, and while the PSC has never rebuked current statute setting forth choice as a general policy, it's not often the PSC goes out of its way to acknowledge the policy, as it does here.

Nevertheless, the PSC did still adopt the BGE proposal, noting that its "whole-house" Time of Use approach (versus separate metering for EV charging) lowers the cost of the pilot.

The BGE EV pilot program has a simplistic structure and entails a voluntary, residential, time-of-use (TOU) rate for select EV owners within the BGE service territory who are on SOS. There is no separate metering of EV charging, and the TOU rate applies to all usage.

Pepco's pilot includes a "whole-house" TOU rate (no separate EV charging meter), and a separate plug-in vehicle (PIV) rate, with the EV charger separately metered.

The whole-house TOU rate is available only to SOS customers, while the PIV rate is available to SOS and non-SOS customers (excluding net energy metering customers) that only want a vehicle rate.

The Pepco program will pay one-half of the cost of charger installation, with the PSC ordering that pilot participants must pay half of this cost (Pepco had proposed subsidizing the entire cost).

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