A pilot program is being launched by Pennsylvania utility PECO to support the deployment of Level 2 commercial vehicle charging stations in its territory. The pilot comes as part of a $1.5 million EV charging infrastructure plan administered by the company.
The rebate provides commercial and industrial customers with financial incentives to ease the cost of installing EV chargers. All PECO customers are eligible for the rebate regardless of retail electric supplier. PECO-territory located projects can receive up to $2,000 per charging port or 50% of eligible installation costs, for up to 20 ports.
In Environmental Justice Areas, PECO is increasing the rebate to $3,000 per port or 75% of make-ready costs. These areas are defined by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as any census tract where 20% or more individuals live at or below the federal poverty line, and/or 30% or more of the population identifies as a non-white minority. A map of qualifying areas can be found here.
This infrastructure plan is part of PECO’s overarching clean energy roadmap, called PECO’s Path to Clean. Path to Clean includes goals for PECO and the entire Exelon utility collective to reduce operational emissions by 50% by 2030 and net-zero by 2050.
“Supporting clean electric transportation is critical to reducing our carbon footprint and bringing cleaner air to our communities, and it is an important part of our company’s Path to Clean,” said Liz Murphy, PECO Senior Vice President of Governmental, Regulatory & External Affairs. “We are proud to offer this new rebate program to support the equitable buildout of EV charging infrastructure across southeastern Pennsylvania.”
PECO also offers an online EV toolkit that informs customers of the potential cost savings of owning an electric vehicle.
This February, the utility released a request for proposals (RFP) seeking to purchase 8,000 alternative energy credits from Pennsylvania-based solar generators and aggregators this year. Eligible contracts are for 10 years of credit sales, with a minimum of 200 credits delivered each year. PECO said the average winning bid price for the program is $34.07 per AEC. Applications close on April 5th.
Through the ten-year program, 160,000 renewable energy credits will be purchased by the utility, representing the production of about 2,400 average Pennsylvania solar homes. This will effectively double PECO’s investment in credits, said the company.
At an average bid price of $34.07 per credit, this would represent nearly $5.5 million in solar credit investment over ten years by a company that reports an “annual economic impact” of $4.5 billion in Pennsylvania.
Currently, Pennsylvania sources only about 0.39% of its electricity from solar, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). SEIA reports 855MW installed statewide, enough power for roughly 112,000 homes.
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