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Senate committee advances bill to fund make-ready EV infrastructure amid ratepayer cost concerns
Summary
The Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee advanced Bill 98-a to third reading after debate over whether utilities could recover make-ready costs through tariffs, a shift some senators said would place the burden on ratepayers.
State Senator Kevin Parker, chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Energy and Telecommunications, advanced Bill 98-a to a third reading after members debated who would pay to "make ready" electric infrastructure for publicly serving fleet vehicles.
The measure, read into the record by the clerk, would allow utilities to install infrastructure (wiring, conduit and other site preparations) to support electric vehicle chargers for public fleets. "That that would be a new expense that the utility could recover for," a staff member told the committee when asked whether the Public Service Commission could permit utilities to place those costs into customer rates.
Senator Walter pressed staff on cost allocation and feasibility, noting school districts that assessed conversions sometimes found local grid capacity insufficient or retrofit costs in the "tens of millions" for some sites. "So that cost would directly go on to the ratepayers if this bill were to become law," Walter said, and signaled his opposition to the bill on that basis.
Committee chair Kevin Parker framed the bill as a step toward meeting state climate and transportation goals under existing law, saying the state must build the "developer infrastructure" to replace millions of internal-combustion vehicles. Committee staff clarified the bill covers preparatory work, not the chargers themselves, and that any rate recovery would require PSC approval following public notice and comment.
After questions and brief debate, the committee moved the bill forward for a third reading. The clerk recorded the motion to advance the bill; the transcript records members raising no-record and recorded negative votes but does not provide a complete roll-call tally.
