Avista Utilities is seeking approval from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission to reduce electricity rates to vehicle charging station owners in Idaho to encourage investment in  fast chargers.

Avista provides natural gas and electricity to customers in northern Idaho, eastern Washington and Oregon.

The majority of electric vehicle charging can be done at home or work, but fast chargers are important because they enable longer trips.

Called direct charge fast chargers, or DCFCs, they generally require access to high voltage, three-phase electricity supply.

Northern Idaho currently has nine DCFC sites, but demand is expected to grow. In areas of lower electric vehicle adoption and utilization – such as northern Idaho – private investment is lacking due to the long time required to recover investment, let alone earn a reasonable return on investment, according to the company.

Operating costs

Federal grants are available to offset the costs of DCFC equipment and installation. But operating costs for electricity and equipment maintenance are typically not covered by grants.

“This presents a problem as the operating costs typically are much higher than the revenue acquired from DCFC user fees, primarily due to existing utility rate structures that result in high variable demand charges on customers’ monthly bills,” Avista said in the application.

Demand charges represent nearly 80% of total operating costs, and that barrier to investment and operation can only be addressed by a new utility rate structure, the company said.

Avista proposes an optional rate schedule for DCFC charging operations. In addition to a $500 fixed demand charge, the company proposes to slightly increase the charge per kilowatt-hour and eliminate the variable demand charge.

Variable demand charge

“This rate design will remove the variable demand charge barrier that exists for DCFC customers today until such time that the company deploys new (advanced metering infrastructure) meters in Idaho, which will then allow the company to offer other rate design options such as (time of use) rates,” the company said in the application.

In an example comparing costs and revenue under the current and proposed rate structures, monthly losses declined from $887.15 to $321.58. That is based on 30 charging sessions a month, as opposed to the 120 charging sessions a month needed to break even. It was also based on the same rates per kilowatt-hour.

Revenue would change if utilization increased or the charging station increased rates.

Avista did not immediately respond to a Capital Press request for more information.

Idaho PUC is accepting written comments on the application until Feb. 21.