Business customers of Tucson Electric Power with electric vehicles and EV charging station developers will soon be able to take advantage of new rates for EV charging.
The new TEP commercial rates, approved Tuesday by the Arizona Corporation Commission, will allow business customers to save money when charging during off-peak hours, when demand is lowest, with the biggest savings coming during so-called “super off-peak hours” of 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily.
“The new commercial EV rates will accommodate companies that develop fast-charging stations and other commercial customers that want to install EV chargers for the benefit of their customers or their own EV fleets,” TEP spokesman Joe Barrios said.
Like special EV-charging rates TEP already offers to residential customers, the new commercial rates are optional and based on existing “time-of-use” rates, which offer higher rates during hours of peak demand and lower rates off-peak.
Some options also include a “demand charge,” a monthly charge based on a period of peak power usage during a month that is combined with lower energy-usage rates.
TEP began offering business customers and local nonprofits incentives of up to 85% of the cost of installing electric vehicle charging stations last year.
TEP started offering special charging rates for residential EV owners in 2019, and so far about 400 home customers have signed up for one of four of those rate options, Barrios said. TEP home customers can also take advantage of a rebate of up to $500 for EV charging equipment they install.
The three new commercial EV rate options will become available within a few weeks, Barrios said, with information online at tep.com.
Here’s a look at the new rates:
The new stand-alone EV charging rate (known as DCFCX) is designed to accommodate companies that install new DC fast charging stations, which pull a lot of energy at one time. The rate is designed without a demand charge, but still allows TEP to recover demand-related costs, Barrios said.
Rider 20 is a companion to the DCFCX rate allowing DC fast-charging stations to get service under TEP’s Small General Service time-of-use rate, but with usage up to 50,000 kWh a month. Developed with input from industry stakeholders, both the DCFCX rate and Rider 20 are designed to support the development of EV infrastructure by providing rate options to charging station developers, Barrios said.
Rider 19 is designed to support existing commercial customers that want to install charging stations for their customers or fleet charging.
Under the rider to existing time-of-use rate plans, service to the chargers are “sub-metered” — meaning power used by the chargers (but not the rest of the customer’s service) is charged at a lower rate during super off-peak hours of 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily.
