SB 823: Discounted electric vehicle charging payment card competitive grant program.

Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to undertake various actions in furtherance of meeting the states clean energy and pollution reduction objectives, including actions related to electric vehicles. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, working with the State Air Resources Board (state board) and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), to prepare a statewide assessment of the electric vehicle charging infrastructure needed to support the levels of electric vehicle adoption required for the state to meet its goals of putting at least 5,000,000 zero-emission vehicles on California roads by 2030, and of reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the Energy Commission, state board, electrical corporations, and the motor vehicle industry, to evaluate policies to develop infrastructure sufficient to overcome any barriers to the widespread deployment and use of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles.

This bill would would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, require the Energy Commission, in consultation with the PUC, state board, and California Integrated Travel Project, to require each operator of a publicly available electric vehicle charging station that elects to participate or receives moneys from a state program, state agency, county, municipality, electrical corporation, or community choice aggregator to deploy a publicly available electric vehicle charging station to establish a Discounted Electric Vehicle Charging Payment Card Program that would enable an eligible resident, as defined, to use any of the operators competitive grant program to award moneys for projects that provide an eligible resident, as described, with a payment card that may be used at any publicly available electric vehicle charging stations located anywhere in the state using a payment card distributed by the operator, station, as specified. The bill would require that the rate charged for the use of a publicly available electric vehicle charging station pursuant to a program be equivalent to the residential electric vehicle tariff rate, or the lowest electricity rate offered to ratepayers who own electric vehicles, by the utility with jurisdiction over the service area in which the charging station is located, the Energy Commission to prioritize projects with the greatest potential to provide payment cards to individuals enrolled in a low-income residential customer electrical rate assistance program and to establish criteria for awarding a grant pursuant to the program, as specified. The bill would authorize the Energy Commission to select an administrator to oversee the program and to adopt, and revise, guidelines or other standards for the program. The bill would require the Energy Commission, on or before March 1, 2025, 15 months after the program is established, and annually thereafter, to prepare and submit to the Governor and Legislature a report that includes specified information relating to the programs, and would authorize the Energy Commission to require those operators to submit relevant information for purposes of the report to provide oversight of the programs. program.