Everybody’s electric bill may soon become cheaper, and they will have electric vehicle (EV) owners to thank for it. That is because EV owners do more than reducing carbon emissions, they also use energy more efficiently, as a new study has shown.
The study was conducted by Synapse Energy Economics using three Californian utility companies. Combined, these companies serve more than 735,000 households that own electric cars.
The researchers compared the production costs of energy supplied to EV owners with the revenue generated from them.
According to their research the utilities netted an approximated $1.7 billion profit between 2012 and 2021, as reported by Business Insider.
The gains, according to the study, came even though EV users consume more electricity. However, they do so more efficiently because they tend to charge during off-peak periods, like overnight.
This allowed the energy suppliers to generate, transmit, and distribute more efficiently and cheaply.
The reduction in energy bills in the US occurs because the utilities are not allowed to keep the excess profit. It has to be returned to the customers through lowered rates. In California, where this research was carried out, this is achieved through a process called “revenue decoupling.”
This is the opposite of many people’s fear that charging EVs would consume lots of energy and increase energy costs.
The researchers suggest the excess profit can be plowed into strengthening EV charging infrastructure. This is timely, with countries like Canada needing 200,000 chargers by 2030. Tesla often relies on public funds to build public chargers.
