Electric cars make utility bills cheaper for everyone, new research finds

Do you have any idea what distribution costs on average? For us its always the largest part of the hydro bill.
Assuming that there's no big increase in grid maintenance with more constant loading, having more people buy more electricity should reduce distribution costs, if distribution is charged per kwh? I just had a look at our latest hydro bill and distribution is not shown as cost per kwh and I believe it used to be.
It should be on there, it's on my Hydro One bills (this is the most recent):
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I'm of course urban, so my delivery charge is lower than the rural tiers. And you are quite right, we are currently paying for a lot of the transmission added during the GEA years for the wind and solar installs, once that's paid off and we are back to R&M, this should reduce.
 
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I know that sounds funny, but OPG can't just charge what they want, this isn't a (functional) market. They are a regulated participant (owned by the people of Ontario) and currently they are permitted to charge a rate rider to recoup the refurbishment costs "as they go". Once that's complete, and once all units are back online, they will no longer be able to be permitted to have that rider in place, so supply cost will naturally go down.

That's not the case for Bruce, their $0.077/kWh rate is what they are paid regardless, even when their refurb is done, as they are on a fixed payment scheme.
 
Well, if you are ok with strip mining and in some instances child and/or slave labor I'm glad that is working out for you. There is a macro view of EV's that is necessary to keep em selling. This story represents just that.


Before we get to that; please address the fallacy the article begins with by claiming EV' owners are cutting their carbon footprint. That argument holds no water when traced to the source of the minerals/natural resources that are required for the manufacture. And that does not even address the social issues of slave labor/child labor often, but not always used to acquire same. Guessing Lebron James' kinda argument will come to attack this but same situation. The virtue that was sold to EV's is not quite coming to fruition. While yes, from dealer lot to end of life, just might be. But that begets the entire manufacturing process. Sooo not quite as altruistic as it may initially appear.

The article states utility rates are down for "everyone." Where in 2022 have electric rates gone down? Maybe they have in your community. I'm in NY and mine have gone up by more than 28%. Have your electric rates gone down? If so please give us the #'s. How many miles on your EV? When did you buy? WHat was the cost of home charge when you bought compared to now? Savings $$?

They can have their place and I see especially valuable for a work commute in urban area. But more and more they are not what was promised by many and that article is written with an agenda behind it. And if that article is correct, can you explain to me why CA is looking to ditch the mandated 30% IIRC grid payback? Related or no? I ask in sincerity as I am not up on CA electric issues. Maybe WI is a different animl and maybe you are legit with the lowered electric rates you've been provided. I'm interested to hear about it.
The math has been done and there are plenty of studies done on this that do not have a political axe to grind, because most of the "carbon footprint" happens at manufacturing INCLUDING the battery the break even point to an ICE vehicle is roughly 20,000 miles. Where are you getting this slave and child labor thing thinking it's exclusive to batteries and EVs? You might want to do some research in general on the practice. None of it is ok and far from the vast majority of it is happening in EVs.

As far as the carbon footprint goes I really don't think that weighed at all on my decision to buy an EV. The smoothness and quietness of the driving experience combined with the fact that the car it replaced energy wise costs me about a tenth of what fuel did on the vehicle that was also having a vast amount of mechanical issues for a car that was only 7 years old. I used mine in a small town and rural areas. It's our family vehicle. My longer trips are done in my GTI not because it isn't electric, but because it isn't the family vehicle so I leave my wife with the bigger, more comfortable car. All I took from the story is because the government puts restrictions on profit margins for power that a higher demand of electricity "could" lower costs. I could be wrong but I took it as it hasn't happened yet, but could result in that.

Again, literally none of this but the cost to operate and driving experience went into why I bought the car. I find myself annoyed by the people who swear the holier than thou save the planet types about driving electric cars. I'm absolutely driven nuts too by those that claim all this wild BS about dirty they are for the planet too. Like almost all things the real answer is usually somewhere in the middle and is in this case closer to the tree hugger crowd. It really is the most relaxing driving experience I've ever had, for the exact opposite reason reason of why love my GTI. It's the engaging drivers car. The Tesla is amusing and fun for other reasons. What drives me nuts about the Tesla is everyone seems to have this preconceived notion of who I am for driving it. I would have never expected it buying it and I get hassled every few days when driving it from people I don't know. It's really nuts.

I haven't had it long, but I haven't seen a real change in my rate even with charging it at home. It really only costs $10-$15 a month in charging. Well less than fuel in the Ford Edge it replaced.
 
Cheaper for everyone because they mandate you on a time of use plan if you have an EV here.

So if you have no EV you can get a tier plan, that's cheaper if you use less then more expensive if you use more, regardless of time. If you charge at peak (duck curve ramp, for example) using the tier plan then everyone is screwed.

Since they mandate people with EV charging on time of use plan and it is priced based on time instead of how much you use, you will be charging between 12am-7am and during sunlight hours from 10am to 3pm, so that would flatten the "curve" for everyone, and make most people happier.

The only unhappy people? The specialized off peak user like arc furnace, ice based refrigeration user (make ice for peak AC time), etc. If the curve is flattened they lose the "discount" they get, or even the subsidies to use "free" electricity.
 
'Business Insider' seems to have an agenda that is similar to the majority of media outlets....in Russia it's called PRAVDA.
 
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