Image: EVX
Ausgrid, the operator of Australia’s biggest distributed network, is keen to have a role in the roll-out of kerbside EV charging on its home turf in New South Wales – a service DNSPs are currently prevented from providing due to ring-fencing rules.
Who should and shouldn’t be delivering on-street EV charging is currently the subject of hot debate in the first public hearing of the NSW Parliament’s electric vehicle infrastructure inquiry, which was called in March to investigate the market and its regulation.
In submissions, network companies and Energy Networks Australia have argued ring-fencing rules should be dropped to allow the installation of EV chargers on network power poles to address “market failures,” as AAP reports here on The Driven.
EV industry groups and consumer advocates disagree, arguing that allowing regulated networks to charge households for equipment they install would be “anti-competitive.”
“The outcome they’re after is they be allowed to deploy tens of thousands of public EV chargers in an inefficient way,” engineer and former Electric Vehicle Council representative Ross De Rango told the inquiry.
“They want to be able to make everyone who pays a power bill cover the cost of this exercise – not just the deployment but also the maintenance and also their profit margins.”
But Rob Amphlett Lewis, the group executive of distributed services at Ausgrid argues that the efficient and regulated installation of kerbside chargers is crucial to an equitable transition to electric vehicles.
“We’ve got those who own their own homes and have off-street parking can and charge their vehicle considerably cheaper than those who … aren’t financially in the position to have a house with off-street parking,” he told the latest edition of the Solar Insiders Podcast, this week.
“Why is that fair? And how does that help us take the transition forward in a way that’s equitable?” he tells the podcast, which will published later this week.
“How do we get system … where an individual can park on their own street and charge their car from a power pole, or from the kerbside, and charge that back to their home at the same price as their home energy. That’s what’s fair.
“We’re of the view that Ausgrid could roll out a network of charges in areas where … there’s a need and have any retailer or any charge-point operator sell through that particular unit.
“We wouldn’t be selling any of the energy, we’d just be providing, effectively, the plug socket and the technology that allowed anyone to charge their vehicle through any chargeable operator or retailer of their choice.”
Amphlett Lewis says networks would also be in a good position to ensure that kerbside chargers installed on existing grid infrastructure are well serviced and not out of order when drivers need them.
“We run streetlights around Sydney and when a streetlight fails, we’ve got very strict contractual obligations about how quickly we go and replace that or how quickly we fix it. Why wouldn’t we have the same model for EV charging?” he says.
“Why wouldn’t we make it equitable and effective and reliable so that people… when they do come to their next vehicle purchase, they’ve got the confidence to make it an electric vehicle.
“And the more electric vehicles we get onto the system, the more the network utilisation rises. The more electrons are being consumed, the lower the average cost per electron.
“Our estimation is that by 2030, maybe 2032, the extra load on our network will reduce power prices, the average cost per customer, by $18.
“Now if we roll out a network of EV chargers that cost us $1.60, that’s effectively a $1.60 bet to ensure that that load comes to reduce costs for everyone. So that’s why we’re having the debate with the regulator.”
“And, you know, if people don’t agree, that’s fine. But we’re going to … open up the debate, and we’re going to have a chat about it. Have a discussion.”
Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
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We obviously need as much freedom as possible for householders and communities to discover the best solutions. Then if something seems optimal then allowing commercial operators some level of involvement in pole charging. The price of energy to users needs to be based on cost plus fixed margin.