upcoming Massachusetts off-peak electric rates for EV charging??

[macheboston]

The 2022 Massachusetts Climate Bill (signed by Charlie Baker) had the requirement that the utilities start to offer off-peak electric rates for EV charging. It’s been a year and a half since that passed.

Anyone know if there are any updates on progress implementing this?

The law also requires electric utilities to establish off-peak rates for EV charging — meaning you’d pay less for electricity you used to charge your car when demand is low.

What to know about the new Mass. climate law

 

[speedy]

National Grid has a Charge Smart program that rebates you 3 cents (winter) or 5 cents (summer) per kWh of off-peak charging. Does that count? You don't even have to charge at home, just anywhere in MA.

 

[canbonbon]

Eversource is showing "Managed charging coming soon" for past 2 years.

EV Charger Managed Charging | Eversource

The ConnectedSolutions managed charging program rewards you for using less energy during periods of peak demand, when others are using more.

www.eversource.com

I have sent numerous emails but the standard response is that they are working with the DPU and ask us to wait. For 2 years !! That climate bill you talk of did not put any timelines to implement this or somehow Eversource has found a way around it to delay this in perpetuity. Long story short, its not implemented yet and there is no timeline on when (if) it will be implemented if you are an Eversource customer.

 

[canbonbon]

National Grid has a Charge Smart program that rebates you 3 cents (winter) or 5 cents (summer) per kWh of off-peak charging. Does that count? You don't even have to charge at home, just anywhere in MA.

Do you know if this (peanut) discount is offered both on generation and delivery? Or only on generation? Also, what if you have another supplier which is already cheaper than the standard variable rate of National grid? Do you get any discount from the supplier too? Just curious how this is implemented.

 

[speedy]

Do you know if this (peanut) discount is offered both on generation and delivery? Or only on generation? Also, what if you have another supplier which is already cheaper than the standard variable rate of National grid? Do you get any discount from the supplier too? Just curious how this is implemented.

Not sure I understand, this is an off-peak charging rebate, nothing to do with solar generation. You have to be a National Grid residential customer and when you sign up using your car or charger account, they can track your charging. For each kWh that you charge in off-peak times (anywhere in MA), they rebate you 3 or 5 cents to your residential account. If you charge 50 kWh per week, that results in $1.50 or $2.50 per week in savings.

It looks like the Eversource Managed Charging program is similiar, but they just haven't implemented it yet, while National Grid has...

 

[canbonbon]

Not sure I understand, this is an off-peak charging rebate, nothing to do with solar generation. You have to be a National Grid residential customer and when you sign up using your car or charger account, they can track your charging. For each kWh that you charge in off-peak times (anywhere in MA), they rebate you 3 or 5 cents to your residential account. If you charge 50 kWh per week, that results in $1.50 or $2.50 per week in savings.

It looks like the Eversource Managed Charging program is similiar, but they just haven't implemented it yet, while National Grid has...

1) Your National grid bill has two major components. Supplier/Generation and transmission charge. When you say they give you a few cents off, I am assuming they would be giving that off of the supplier charge. Usually Transmission charges are *NOT* discounted. But I could be wrong.

2) Also, since in MA, you can pick your own supplier (who are usually cheaper than what National Grid gives) then if you have an external supplier, do you still get few cents off of that?

Here is an example of what supplier rates you can get for your town. Just put in your zip code.

Compare Massachusetts Rates and Plans

Compare Massachusetts Rates and Plans

www.massenergyrates.com

The top right corner shows what current rate National grid is charging. I am assuming that you are getting a few cents off of that when you use the electricity for EV charging. So if you are *NOT* using any other supplier, then it will be worth comparing how much cheaper they could be for you.

 

[speedy]

1) Your National grid bill has two major components. Supplier/Generation and transmission charge. When you say they give you a few cents off, I am assuming they would be giving that off of the supplier charge. Usually Transmission charges are *NOT* discounted. But I could be wrong.

2) Also, since in MA, you can pick your own supplier (who are usually cheaper than what National Grid gives) then if you have an external supplier, do you still get few cents off of that?

Here is an example of what supplier rates you can get for your town. Just put in your zip code.

Compare Massachusetts Rates and Plans

Compare Massachusetts Rates and Plans

www.massenergyrates.com

The top right corner shows what current rate National grid is charging. I am assuming that you are getting a few cents off of that when you use the electricity for EV charging. So if you are *NOT* using any other supplier, then it will be worth comparing how much cheaper they could be for you.

I believe you can only get this program if National Grid is your supplier, since it's a National Grid program. If you have a 3rd party supplier, I don't think you would be eligible, even though you still pay National Grid the transmission charges. The login to the program uses your National Grid credentials. However, once you are on it, you can charge anywhere in MA during off peak and earn the rebate, even at Superchargers or other free L2 chargers.

I'm aware of the other suppliers, since they spend way too much money trying to get my business. But everytime I've looked, they don't offer much of a discount, or just offer limited duration discounts, with non-competitive rates after. It's sort of a gamble on where rates are headed. Really, your best bet to reduce your electric bill is just to get some solar panels on net-metering...

 

[jlv1]

I have National Grid and am in Charge Smart and I have a third party supplier. The rebate applies just fine, since it is based upon kWh used while charging and has nothing to do with supply or distribution.

... and that's a very weird thing. When Charge Smart first came out a few years ago, the rebate was only for kWh used while charging at home. It changed 1-2 years ago. It's just weird to see me get a rebate for the 70kWh Tesla Dedham put into my car via the SuperCharger last month when it was in for service.

 

[canbonbon]

This is good to know. Thanks. Hopefully when Eversource implements something like this, it might probably work the same way. I am still curious though, how the rebate is implemented. If the supplier is providing electricity (lets say at $0.15 per KWh) then obviously they won't supply at discounted rate. So maybe National grid provides the discount out of their own share. Can you possibly share that section of your electric bill? I am just curious to know how this works but you don't have to if you are not comfortable. Thanks again.

 

[tga]

This is good to know. Thanks. Hopefully when Eversource implements something like this, it might probably work the same way. I am still curious though, how the rebate is implemented. If the supplier is providing electricity (lets say at $0.15 per KWh) then obviously they won't supply at discounted rate. So maybe National grid provides the discount out of their own share. Can you possibly share that section of your electric bill? I am just curious to know how this works but you don't have to if you are not comfortable. Thanks again.

There are many electric charges at the wholesale and large commercial/industrial retail levels that are based on monthly or annual peak demand. Under extreme conditions, the wholesale cost for a marginal kWh can reach several dollars. National Grid is funding the rebate out of cost savings in peak periods.

It's cheaper for National Grid to pay you $0.03 or $0.05/kWh to not charge on-peak then to pay $0.50-$1.00 for that kWh on the spot market if you do charge on-peak.

 

[speedy]

I have National Grid and am in Charge Smart and I have a third party supplier. The rebate applies just fine, since it is based upon kWh used while charging and has nothing to do with supply or distribution.

Interesting, maybe I have to pay attention more to the 3rd party suppliers now...Can I ask who you selected and what your rate and contract period is?

For @canbonbon, here is how the rebate shows up on the bill. It was a small amount this month as the car got disconnected when Tesla changed their API and I forgot to reconnect it...

 

[jlv1]

Can I ask who you selected and what your rate and contract period is?

I've been using 3rd party suppliers for over 10 years. Our supplier has varied almost every year. I start researching for new suppliers in the early fall, to lock in a rate before the December NGrid price increase.

I use the MA government website Energy Switch Massachusetts | The Massachusetts Department Of Public Utilities' Shopping for Electric Supply website to look up suppliers, as well as the list at NGrid's website (Energy Supplier List | National Grid) to find the supplier with the best rate. You definitely need to pay attention the rate, the term, and any fees (especially a monthly fee, which can be really bad, especially if you have solar). I've also found that sometimes suppliers have better rates on their own website than those listed on energyswitchma.gov.

For the last 18 months I've been on a plan for residents of my town, aka a town electricity aggregation program. It is beating NGrid's supply price by quite a bit. This rate has been locked for the last 2 years, although it will change in 2025. This is from our February bill:

Below is some of the suppliers and rates I had in recent years. What I've found is some suppliers are transient or leave the MA market. Some of the ones I've used no longer even exist! I've mostly not been under a contract. Many of these rates continued unchanged after the initial term ended, although some did not.



You can see I've come out ahead compared to NGrid's historic rates (e.g., the fixed price column) as listed here: https://www.nationalgridus.com/media/pdfs/billing-payments/electric-rates/ma/resitable.pdf

 

[speedy]

I don't doubt that you can save money doing this, for me, the issue is that they tend to be teaser rates which change when your initial term expires, and then you have to shop around again. And many of the best rates are for new customers only, which means you can't jump back and forth for the best rate.

Have you found it easy enough to change? Just sign on with the new supplier or do you also have to terminate the old one? And you still get one bill from National Grid?

 

[TFCooper3]

I've been using 3rd party suppliers for over 10 years. Our supplier has varied almost every year. I start researching for new suppliers in the early fall, to lock in a rate before the December NGrid price increase.

Thank you!
I just switched my Eversource (East) supplier to TownSquare at 10½¢/kWh. My Constellation promo had expired months ago, and I was paying nearly 23¢ for supply. Overall still crazy high compared to what my brothers pay in Texas and Oregon.

 

[jlv1]

Have you found it easy enough to change? Just sign on with the new supplier or do you also have to terminate the old one? And you still get one bill from National Grid?

Trivial to change. Just sign up with a new supplier. Trivial to terminate the old plan (making sure you understand if there was a terminate fee - it will tell you when you sign up). You can see in my notes the one supplier that had a termination fee.

And you get just the single bill from NGrid. It just lists your supplier.

None of the ones I've signed up for have been "teaser rates". Sometimes I've signed up for 6 months, sometimes a year. Sometimes when the term expires, the rate jumps to their current one, sometimes it's stayed at the original rate (it depends upon the supplier).

** You just need to be aware of it and take action! **
They'll tell you the new rate and if it is higher, then you should switch to another supplier (or back to NGrid).

But if you can save $60 off your $142 supply charge in one month, that (to me) is worth the hassle once or twice a year.

 

[canbonbon]

From what I have observed, the rates go high from October/Nov to April/May timeframe. What you are seeing now are the so called summer rates where the suppliers are able to commingle Solar power and reduce their rates. So if you are able to lock in a rate for say 6 months or 9 months with no cancellation fee or monthly charge, then you'd be on a lookout for new contract in Oct/Nov timeframe when the rates are much higher. So ideally you should pick something that provides you immediate relief but has no cancellation fee or monthly charge. And then the best time to lock the rate would be July/August timeframe. Been playing this game for a while but its almost impossible to predict rates as all kinds of issues wars/storms, etc play role in the rates you pay. I have Eversource so even the supplier rates for Eversource tend to be a little higher than NationalGrid. Not sure why.

 

[speedy]

Yeah, the fact that the ChargeSmart rebate still works no matter which supplier you have put me over the edge. I signed up and will play the musical chairs game with the rates....

 

[jlv1]

the rates go high from October/Nov to April/May timeframe

The rate changes happen Nov 1 and May 1 -- see the PDF I linked above.