In August, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) voted to require Wisconsin’s major electric utilities to submit an electric vehicle pilot program plan for PSCW review and approval by May 15, 2021.  Last week, PSCW opened a public comment period on the draft Commission order.

Per the order, PSCW directed utilities to include in their plans:

• at least one residential EV pilot program, and residential programs must address one or more of the following aspects of charging service for residential customers:
  • rates related to EV charging,
  • load management efforts to control the timing of charging, and/or
  • initiatives to address the upfront purchase costs of EVs and residential charging technology to potential owners;
• must, among other requirements:
  • identify the target customers to be served, barriers to the deployment of EVs and EV charging infrastructure the program is designed to address,
  • eligibility criteria for program participation,
  • proposed tariffs for any new or modified rates proposed as part of the program, and
  • for programs addressing public charging infrastructure, the arrangements that will be made to support interoperability among all potential users;
• may also include additional pilot programs to address any aspect of electric vehicle operation and infrastructure for any customer class.

The recent order is the result of an investigation docket of EV policy and regulation, which began in February 2019.