July 9
Ameren’s EV Charging Tariff Approved by ICC
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
This week, Ameren Illinois announced that the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) has approved the company’s EV charging tariff, which will help jump-start electric vehicle adoption and charging station installation in central and southern Illinois and accelerate progress on the state’s green energy goals. The tariff, filed in August of 2020, allows the company to support the development of a network of charging infrastructure and implement time-based delivery service rates and other incentives.
Santee Cooper, the state-owned public power utility in South Carolina based in Moncks Corner, has signed contracts to take about 27.5 percent of the output of five planned solar power projects in South Carolina totaling 425 MW. Central Electric Power Cooperative, Santee Cooper’s largest customer, has signed contracts to take the remaining share of the output of the solar projects.
Imagine being unable to reach your energy utility customers with important service updates and program promotions. That’s the reality for disengaged customers – they are essentially unreachable. Customer disengagement isn’t just unfortunate, it’s costly. These customers are passive at best, meaning higher costs to serve and potentially missed payments. But new customers don’t start disengaged. They become that way over time when your energy utility fails to meet their expectations.
Duke Energy Florida is taking steps to provide additional assistance to customers through its low-income programs. Specifically, the company filed a proposal with the Florida Public Service Commission to make several changes to help customers experiencing hardships due to COVID-19. Among the changes, the company will increase the Neighborhood Energy Savers targeted customers by five percent.
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Industry News
The second year of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) Charge Up New Jersey EV incentive program launched this week, providing up to $5,000 rebates for new EVs purchased or leased in-state. These rebates are available solely at the point of sale, during the purchase or leasing process at dealerships. It requires purchasers to have a valid New Jersey driver’s license and will only be offered for EVs registered and purchased in New Jersey.
Earlier this year, JD Power released its second Utility Digital Customer Experience Study, and there were some great takeaways on how user experience trends are shaping within the utilities domain. Jared Stevenson, digital solutions consultant and co-author of the Utility Digital Customer Experience, joins the Spark podcast for a conversation about his findings.
At $411 a month, Connecticut has the highest total energy costs for consumers of any state in the country, according to a new survey by WalletHub, which factors in the cost of electricity, natural gas, motor fuel and home heating oil. Massachusetts, Georgia and Alabama also made it into the top five. Alabama has the highest residential electric bills, averaging $181 a month, followed by South Carolina at $176, and Connecticut at $166.
Efficiency upgrades can be a financial boost for low-income homeowners, but asbestos, mold and other issues sometimes found in older homes can keep those improvements financially out of reach, even with incentives. A new Minnesota law aims to bridge that gap. The state’s existing Conservation Improvement Program failed to incentivize utilities who operate programs for low-income property owners for the cost of “pre-weatherization” services, such as removing asbestos or lead paint.
