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Clearview Free Wknd Charge EV plan

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Has anyone tried signing up for the Clearview Energy's Free Charge EV (on Weekends) plan with Eversource? The charge cannot exceed 250 kWh per billing period.

Clearview Energy Plan with EverSource price

For a Model 3, its about 4 miles per kWh. So it would be capped at 1000 miles per month which is a lot for most of us.

Looks like a chargepoint charger is required for this for now. But they are planning to allow other wifi chargers soon. I have sent them an email about the new Tesla wifi charger as well. I guess they need a wifi charger so that they can track how much charge was used on the EV so that they can give you the refund for it. The process is a little cumbersome however. You will still pay Eversource your monthly bill and then every quarter Clearview will reimburse you with a check for the electricity used for charging. And only generation portion will be refunded not the transmission or distribution charge.

Here are more details from their website:

ChargePoint® is a leading provider of electrical vehicle “EV” charging.
ChargePoint sends data to Clearview Energy which is used to reimburse you for the kWh EV charging that occurs between 7PM Friday and 7AM Monday with a monthly cap of 250 kWh.

Clearview Energy offers a $75 towards rebate towards a new ChargePoint® Residential EV Charger with the completion of an enrollment with the ClearCharge Energy Plan.

*Free weekend charging, is defined as reimbursement of the Energy Only (does not include any applicable transmission, distribution, or fixed charges on the Distribution Utility’s portion of the bill, or any Clearview Base Fee) charges for kilowatt hours “kWh” used between 7PM Friday to 7AM Monday in the time zone for which customers billing zip code is located. Total number of reimbursed Energy Only kilowatt hours cannot exceed 250 kWh per billing period.

Reimbursement will be in the form of a check issued 4 to 6 weeks after calendar quarter end. You must be an active Clearview customer at the end of the calendar period to receive reimbursement for the weekend charging. If your electric service is disconnected for any reason, or should you elect to switch to another Clearview Energy plan, your accrued free weekend charging will not be reimbursed. Free weekend through Clearview Energy is subject to all ChargePoint Terms of Use, and you must have activated the ChargePoint Service authorizing CharegPoint to share charging data with Clearview Energy. Your ChargePoint device must maintain internet connection in order to transmit charging data.

**$75 cash back will be in the form of a check issued 6 to 8 weeks after successful sign-up with a CLEAR Charge Clearview Energy plan, activation of the Chargepoint Service for a unit purchased in the last 90 days, and authorizing CharegPoint to share charging data with Clearview Energy. If your electric service is disconnected for any reason, or should you elect to switch to another Clearview Energy plan, you will not qualify for reimbursement.
 
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You'd have to pay $625 for the charger.

And you're also paying about $.024/kWh than the non-EV plan.

Doesn't make much sense to me.

Agreed that a charger would need to be purchased. But people have to buy a charger anyway. So once they include the new Tesla wireless charger, it could be an option for those who are buying a new charger. Eversource also gives you rebate for a charger ($300) if you sign up for the connected solution program but not for Tesla yet. Only Charge point chargers are included in that rebate. So that can bring your cost down to actually $325 per charger.
EV Charger Demand Response

I agree its nothing great and I wont' be signing up for it personally but it could be an option for some. Maybe other companies will offer such things in future. Ideally, the electric companies should offer more and more rebates for the EVs (just like they do for the LED bulbs) because in the end they are *one* of the beneficiaries of the switch to electric. This free charging (with some upper caps) would be great thing for EV owners if more and more utilities start offering it (without gimmicks).
 
Eversource has another option. I understand his one allows you to pick any of the many energy suppliers or to use the Eversource default supply. It uses any of several ChargePoint WiFi charging devices, for which you get a rebate.
EV Charger Demand Response

My son has this for his plug-in hybrid, but I do not know how often they have ramped down his usage.

I have Eversource (in Dedham MA) but already had a Tesla HPWC so I did not pursue this option. (Originally I had a TOU plan but it was discontinued about a year after I signed up. It saved me an average of about 10% while it was in place.)

EDIT -- Sorry, I posted this without realizing that the previous post had the same link to the Eversource Demand response plan.
 
Zombie thread! :eek:

FYI, Clearview has amended their EV charging plan as of today, 1 April 2021. Now instead of free charging* from 7PM Fri to 7AM Mon, it is now free charging every day of the week from 11PM-6AM.
*free charging still limited to 250 kWh/month

Also, the rebate for a Chargepoint wifi EVSE is now $100 (up from $75)
 
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  • Informative
Reactions: David29
Where does it say that? The FAQ page still lists the old plan.
Wonder if it's state-specific. But here's the TOS for MD'ers: https://cvdocuments.blob.core.windows.net/disclosures/2019.09.17 MD WEB E_TOS - ClearCharge12EV.pdf

*FREE charging is defined as reimbursement of the energy only (does not include any applicable transmission, distribution, or fixed charges on the Distribution Utility’s portion of the bill, or any Clearview Base Fee) charges for kilowatt hours “kWh” used between 11:00PM and 6:00AM (total 7 hours) in the time zone for which customers billing zip code is located. Total number of reimbursed kilowatt hours cannot exceed 250 kWh per billing period, or the total kWhs billed during a given billing period. Reimbursement will be in the form of a check issued 4 to 6 weeks after each calendar quarter end. You must be an active Clearview customer on the ClearCharge electric plan and enrolled through the end of the calendar period to receive reimbursement for the nightly charging. If your electric service is disconnected for any reason, or should you elect to switch to another Clearview Energy plan, your accrued free charging hours will not be reimbursed. Free charging through Clearview Energy is subject to all ChargePoint Terms of Use and does not begin until your electricity fully active with Clearview Energy by the utility and you have activated the ChargePoint Service authorizing ChargePoint to share charging data with Clearview Energy. Your ChargePoint device must maintain internet connection to transmit charging data.

**$100 cash back will be in the form of a check issued 4 to 6 weeks after the first calendar quarter end once your Clearview Energy ClearCharge plan is fully active; you have activated your ChargePoint Service for a unit purchased in the last 90 days; and you have authorized ChargePoint to share charging data with Clearview Energy. If your electric service is disconnected for any reason, or should you elect to switch to another Clearview Energy plan, you will not qualify for reimbursement. Clearview Energy offer not available in all areas. Service address must be located in a distribution utility area currently being served by Clearview Energy. Active Clearview Energy Customer is defined as requiring continued electric service from Clearview Electric, Inc. d/b/a Clearview Energy (“Clearview Energy”).
 
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Ah, Chargepoint's page on incentives for MA includes the new plan you mentioned from Clearview, even though Clearview's page is not updated.

Home EV Charging Incentives in Massachusetts
  • Starting April 1, 2021, Clearview Energy is offering free EV charging daily from 11 PM to 6 AM (Sunday – Saturday) and a $100 rebate for ChargePoint Home charger when you sign up for a CLEARCHARGE12EV Clearview Energy Plan.

This is a great deal if you already have the ChargePoint EVSE. Otherwise, I'd have to buy one ($699+tax). There's the 30% Federal tax credit ($210) and the $100 rebate (Clearview's FAQ still only says $75). That's means it still costs $390 (since I already have the NEMA 14-50 outlet). And I have a perfectly fine 1st gen Wall Connector and a 1st gen UMC that I'm already using.

I'll have to do more math; I just retired and am no longer able to charge both cars at my office for free. I better go look on teslafi to see how much I charged las year.
 
I wonder how it would work for me. I have Eversource in Bedford MA. I am currently on the Chargepoint/Eversource connected solutions that @David29 linked to above. I got approved for that last July, and they've throttled my charger 10 times since then. From 6-8 in the evening they lower the rate to 1.8kW from the usual rate. For me the usual rate is either 4kW for the Prius Primes or 10kW for my model S. I was only ever plugged in and charging during that time once of those 10 times. I ended up stopping the charge at that point and starting it again after 8. I moved to this house last May and got the chargepoint charger at that point since I needed to run a new circuit to the garage anyway and with the $300 back from Eversource it was the best deal. I put in a 14-50 socket and got a refurb chargepoint from amazon for $599. Eversource sent me a check for $300 for installing it and I took the tax write off too. So not very expensive since I wanted a L2 charger that would work with the Prius Primes as well.

I wonder how this program Clearview Energy thing would work with my setup. I now have a 12.24kW solar system and it has 1:1 net metering. Starting this March, it looks like I'll be running a credit for Electric going forward (fingers crossed). Since their reimbursement comes separately from the electric bill, and just based on what the chargepoint reports, would I get this rebate effectively on power I didn't pay for?

I won't be trying it as the $23/month max credit ([email protected]) would be hard to achieve unless I only charge my model S on weekends, and drive a lot more than I have been during the pandemic. If it were every night it would be less difficult to get to the max. I also have trouble trusting the rates of these alternative suppliers, good for the first year, but what about later? Their current supply rate for my zip code is better than Eversource's.
 
While looking at this, I went back to my notes for energy suppliers. I'm been using alternate suppliers for years, switching nearly every year. My notes included something on Clearview: they have a $10/mo "customer charge". It used to be on all of their plans, but now it's only on some of their plans. I can't tell if its on the CLEARCHARGE12EV plan. They are already closed, but I asked them about this on their "contact us" page.
 
And I just realized I had a mistake in my math. I was computing the free 250kWh (per month) based on my full electric cost; but it actually only reimburses for the supply portion. I pay National Grid $.14/kWh for distribution costs, and (on my current supplier) $.0957/kWh for supply. This would cuts the savings to $23.00/mo. That means it would take nearly a year and a half just to pay for the Chargepoint charger ($735 - $210 FedTaxCredit - $100 Rebate = $425). This now assumes the plan continues in this fashion past the first year.
 
FWIW i called Clearview recently, they are still offering free chargepoint usage 7 days a week 11pm - 6AM. The catch is the 12 month supply rate for non EV usage (AKA the rest of your house) is currently 26c/kWh. That's in addition to the 10-11c/kWh delivery charge and $7/month customer fee that eversource charges. Still $100 rebate toward the clearview->chargepoint activation/linking of accounts though. But you'd need to have pretty minimal house usage and high EV usage to make the switch worthwhile.

The ClearView Rep recommended checking back in March/April for theoretically lower rates to lock in in the spring/summer (like around 14-16c/kWh on the EV plan). Or just switching to a non-EV 12-month 8c/kWh generation rate in April when he thought that becomes available.

I'm curious if there are other time of use plans / incentives available in New England. I already have the chargepoint account linked to eversource connected solutions, but it seems eversource stopped their tesla specific program.
 
FWIW i called Clearview recently, they are still offering free chargepoint usage 7 days a week 11pm - 6AM. The catch is the 12 month supply rate for non EV usage (AKA the rest of your house) is currently 26c/kWh. That's in addition to the 10-11c/kWh delivery charge and $7/month customer fee that eversource charges. Still $100 rebate toward the clearview->chargepoint activation/linking of accounts though. But you'd need to have pretty minimal house usage and high EV usage to make the switch worthwhile.

The ClearView Rep recommended checking back in March/April for theoretically lower rates to lock in in the spring/summer (like around 14-16c/kWh on the EV plan). Or just switching to a non-EV 12-month 8c/kWh generation rate in April when he thought that becomes available.

I'm curious if there are other time of use plans / incentives available in New England. I already have the chargepoint account linked to eversource connected solutions, but it seems eversource stopped their tesla specific program.
Wow I signed a contract in April 2021 and the rate is $0.0929/kWh with free evening charging. I really hope they adjust the rates when up for renewal in the spring this year.
 
update for those following: I called clearview today, and their clearcharge EV plan (which gives you free chargepoint EVSE home charging 11pm-6am) was updated down to 17.99 cents for all non-EV usage. CLEARVIEW ENERGY’S FREE* Charging Plan - Clearview Energy

Their normal non-EV related 6 or 12 month lock-in plans are 12.29 cents to 16ish cents at least where I am in MA, so run the numbers on your chargepoint vs home usage and see if you can make up for the higher 17c rate with no ev usage. for me personally, doesn't make the switch worth it, though.

He said their rates change monthly so I may try again in May etc, but just passing that along in case it helps others
 
I have rooftop solar so my electric consumption is mostly during night and in winters. Let me check if I can opt for Clearview Energy as the supplier with Eversource. EV charging at night is a big expense for me which could be eliminated via this plan. Not sure if they will allow but I will try and post back.
 
I have rooftop solar so my electric consumption is mostly during night and in winters. Let me check if I can opt for Clearview Energy as the supplier with Eversource. EV charging at night is a big expense for me which could be eliminated via this plan. Not sure if they will allow but I will try and post back.
please do report back. I'm curious if with this plan you'd still owe your utility for the delivery charges for your nighttime EV charging, but ClearView just credits you back for EV supply, not delivery?