Low-Income Families Shouldn't Pay Higher Electric Bills so Utilities can Build EV Charging Stations
By Brendan Flanagan
December 27, 2019
Electric vehicles (EV) may be the future of transportation in this country, in part because many Democratic Presidential candidates have made EVs a key part of their climate change platforms. But a huge hurdle to this bright future is the infrastructure needed to charge electric vehicles in an affordable and accessible way. To make this future a reality, many state governments have taken the wrong approach and allowed utility companies to charge all of their users an increased rate to pay for the utility to construct EV charging stations.
While this utility rate increase may be used to reach an admirable goal, should single mothers or the elderly on fixed incomes be forced to pay increased costs on their heating bills so EV owners have a more convenient way to charge their cars? This is a question Democratic candidates will have to answer to working-class voters across the country.
For good reasons, many Democratic candidates have made transitioning away from gas-powered vehicles a key priority to addressing climate change. Senators Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren have pledged to require all new passenger vehicles to be zero-emission by 2030, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg set a similar goal with a deadline of 2035. Both Senator Sanders and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang have proposed buyback programs to allow people to trade in fossil fuel based vehicles.
But if we want to beat Trump - who has rolled back vehicle emission standards and mocked EV use - in 2020, we must be thoughtful about how these policies will affect working-class voters, especially those who are seeing their heating bills rise to pay for EV infrastructure.
Democrats would be wrong to ignore this issue, as it may be part of the reason that the EV mandate of the Green New Deal polled as the least popular environmental policy, with voters opposing it by a 15-point margin.
Despite voters’ trepidation with transitioning to EVs, we are seeing the auto industry taking a progressive approach. Many car manufacturers have sped up their production of EVs and are increasing the power of the batteries to appeal to a wider variety of consumers.
All trends point to the fact that we can expect to see an increase in EV production and usage in the United States, which means we must come up with equitable solutions to create the necessary network of charging stations.
Some want to make the centerpiece of EV charging at-home charging. While this might work for some in suburban neighborhoods with big garages and easily accessible electric ports, those in inner-city and working-class communities don’t have those same advantages. If we want to transition the most number of people to EVs, the distribution of charging stations will need to be similar to the network of gas stations that successfully fuel our current transportation system.
Low-income families are also at a disadvantage when state governments give utility companies a free pass to raise their heating bills to build EV charging stations, which is happening in states like California. One thing Democrats must agree on is that we should not build an EV charging network at the expense of low-income families who would otherwise use that money to put food on the table.
Ironically, California’s goal of ramping up EV charging station production by allowing utilities to raise rates is also hampering progress by disincentivizing private investment that would otherwise rush to corner this market. It is impossible to fairly compete in a market with the government’s thumb on the scale.
A much more effective approach would be to create incentives for private investment, a solution that is already being promoted by leading Democrats like Senator Carper. Earlier this year, Carper introduced the Clean Corridors Act of 2019, which would secure $300 million in grant funding each year for 10 years to support the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure and hydrogen fueling stations along the National Highway System. This bill is also part of the infrastructure package that passed the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee over the summer.
Encouraging people to trade in their gas guzzlers for EVs will have a positive environmental impact but depends on a reliable EV charging station network. We must not harm already under-served communities in the process of developing this network. Allowing utilities to raise rates on all consumers to create EV infrastructure acts as a regressive tax on low-income families, while also stunting the deployment of charging stations through private investment. Democratic candidates for President should support ongoing private sector efforts to create a network of EV charging stations if they are serious about transitioning to a cleaner, more environmentally friendly transportation system.
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