Choice Utility Withdraws Proposals For Smart City, EV, Related Services

Duke Energy Ohio, Inc. (Duke Energy Ohio, Duke, or the Company), The Ohio Energy Group (OEG), the Ohio Energy Leadership Council (OELC), and the Staff of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (Staff) have entered into a settlement concerning Duke's Infrastructure Modernization Plan.

As part of the settlement, Duke withdraws, as part of the instant Infrastructure Modernization Plan proceeding, its Smart Cities Infrastructure Acceleration Program (Smart Cities) and a pilot electric vehicle (EV) program.

Under the original proposal, Duke had sought approval to implement smart streetlight infrastructure that could support various "smart cities" offerings such as Security/Safety Cameras; Pedestrian counters; Traffic control devices; Environmental sensors (air quality, temperature, hazardous gases, etc.); Waste management sensors; Gunshot detection sensors; Parking space monitoring; Digital banners; Wi-Fi networks; Small cell wireless.

Under the stipulation, "The Company hereby agrees to withdraw its request for inclusion of Smart Cities in its infrastructure modernization plan and thus recovery of any costs associated with Smart Cities in Rider PF."

However, "The Company reserves the right to make similar proposals through different forums in the future as deemed necessary," the stipulation provides

Notably, the settlement states, "Although the Company is withdrawing its application for purposes of settlement, the Company will continue to work with customers, throughout its service territory, to identify solutions for their growing interest in Smart City technologies."

Duke's original application had also sought approval for various EV programs. The programs were largely confined to rebates and make ready investments, and would not have included utility ownership and operation of EV charging stations. However, there were two notable points

First, Duke had originally proposed that, under a residential rebate EV pilot program, a residential customer would have received up to $500 for participating in monthly utility-managed load management events. The pilot would have included 1,000 customers

"Usage will be billed under the customer's existing residential rate. The Company will collect usage characteristics of EV charging behavior, better understand potential grid and utility impacts from EV charging, and implement utility-managed charging," a witness for Duke had said in the original proposal

Second, Duke had originally proposed to review the proliferation of DC Fast Charging (DCFC) chargers under its program providing "make ready" investments. If third parties have not fully subscribed to the "make ready" investments for DCFC installation, Duke had originally said that it could in the future request from PUCO authorization to own and operate up to 25 DCFC chargers

The stipulation provides that, "The Company hereby agrees to withdraw its request for inclusion of the EV Pilot Program in its infrastructure modernization plan and thus recovery of any costs associated with the EV Pilot Program in Rider PF."

"The Company reserves the right to make EV-related proposals similar to those included in its Application in this proceeding through different forums in the future as deemed necessary," the stipulation provides

Case 19-1750-EL-UNC et al.