August 7, 2019 Mr. Patrick Wruck Commission Secretary
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Fred James Chief Regulatory Officer Phone: 604-623-4046 Fax: 604-623-4407 [email protected] August 7, 2019 Mr. Patrick Wruck Commission Secretary and Manager Regulatory Support British Columbia Utilities Commission Suite 410, 900 Howe Street Vancouver, BC V6Z 2N3 Dear Mr. Wruck: RE: British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC or Commission) British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro) Fleet Electrification Rate Application BC Hydro writes to file its Application pursuant to sections 58 to 60 of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA) for approval of Rate Schedules 164x – Overnight Rate (150 kW and over) and 165x - Demand Transition Rate (150 kW and over) for use for charging of electric fleet vehicles and vessels. These new services are in response to customer requests for fleet charging rates and support the electrification of commercial fleet vehicles and vessels. For further information, please contact Anthea Jubb at 604-623-3545 or by email at [email protected]. Yours sincerely, (for) Fred James Chief Regulatory Officer ac/tl Enclosure British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, 333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver BC V6B 5R3 www.bchydro.com BC Hydro Fleet Electrification Rate Application August 7, 2019 August 7, 2019 Table of Contents 1 Introduction and Need for Fleet Electrification Rates ......................................... 1 1.1 Purpose of Application .............................................................................. 1 1.2 Need for the Optional Rates ...................................................................... 2 1.2.1 Policy Goals ................................................................................ 6 1.2.2 Customer Requests for Fleet Charging Rates ............................ 6 1.3 Overview of Overnight Rate ...................................................................... 8 1.4 Overview of Demand Transition Rate ....................................................... 9 1.5 Legal and Regulatory Context ................................................................. 12 1.5.1 Rate-Setting under the Utilities Commission Act ...................... 12 1.5.2 Bonbright’s Rate Design Criteria............................................... 13 1.6 Proposed Regulatory Process ................................................................ 14 1.7 Orders Sought ......................................................................................... 15 1.8 Communications ..................................................................................... 16 2 Background ...................................................................................................... 16 2.1 Policy Context ......................................................................................... 16 2.2 Jurisdiction Review ................................................................................. 17 2.2.1 Common Rate Features ........................................................... 17 2.2.2 Case Studies ............................................................................ 17 2.3 Customer and Stakeholder Engagement ................................................ 23 2.3.1 Customer Engagement ............................................................. 23 2.3.2 Stakeholder Workshop ............................................................. 24 3 Characteristics of Prospective Charging Loads ................................................ 26 3.1 Prospective Depot Charging Load Characteristics and Potential Bill Savings ................................................................................................... 27 3.2 Prospective In Route Charging Load Characteristics and Potential Bill Savings ............................................................................................. 29 4 BC Hydro’s Overnight Rate Proposal ............................................................... 31 4.1 Overnight Rate Terms and Conditions .................................................... 31 4.2 Overnight Rate Cost of Service Justification ........................................... 34 4.3 Overnight Rate Economic Justification .................................................... 36 4.4 Overnight Rate Bonbright Assessment ................................................... 37 4.5 Overnight Rate Implementation Consideration ....................................... 38 5 BC Hydro’s Demand Transition Rate Proposal ................................................ 39 5.1 Demand Transition Rate Terms and Conditions ..................................... 39 5.2 Demand Transition Rate Cost of Service Justification ............................ 45 BC Hydro Fleet Electrification Rate Application Page i August 7, 2019 5.3 Demand Transition Rate Economic Justification ..................................... 46 5.4 Demand Transition Rate Bonbright Assessment .................................... 47 5.5 Demand Transition Rate Implementation Consideration ......................... 48 5.6 Demand Transition Rate Response to Stakeholder and Customer Feedback ................................................................................................ 49 6 Other Rate Design Options Considered ........................................................... 50 6.1 Overnight Rate with Time-of-Use Energy ................................................ 50 7 Proposed Monitoring and Reporting ................................................................. 52 8 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 53 List of Figures Figure 1 Illustrative Load Profile of Depot Charging Load ................................ 4 Figure 2 Illustrative Load Profile of an In Route Charging Station .................... 5 Figure 3 Proposed Overnight Rate Design Schematic ..................................... 9 Figure 4 Proposed Demand Transition Rate Design Schematic .................... 11 Figure 5 Prospective Depot Charging Demand and Load Shape ................... 27 Figure 6 Illustrative Monthly Electricity Bill for Depot Charging of Electric Buses under LGS Rate and Overnight Rate in Fiscal 2021 ............. 28 Figure 7 Prospective In Route Charging Demand and Load Shape ............... 29 Figure 8 Illustrative Monthly Electricity Bill for In Route Charging of Electric Buses under LGS Rate and Demand Transition Rate in Fiscal 2022 ....................................................................................... 30 Figure 9 Overnight Rate with Energy and Demand Time of Use .................... 51 List of Tables Table 1 Proposed Regulatory Process .......................................................... 14 Table 2 Fleet Charging Rate Jurisdictional Review ....................................... 20 Table 3 Illustrative Bill Savings by Year and Load Factor for In Route Charging under Demand Transition Rate, Relative to LGS .............. 31 Table 4 Overnight Rate Ratepayer Impact .................................................... 37 Table 5 Assessment of Overnight Rate against the Bonbright Rate Design Criteria.................................................................................. 37 Table 6 Demand Transition Rate Recovery of Embedded Cost of Service ............................................................................................. 45 Table 7 Demand Transition Rate Ratepayer Impacts ................................... 47 BC Hydro Fleet Electrification Rate Application Page ii August 7, 2019 Appendices Appendix A Draft Order Appendix B Rate Schedules Appendix C Customer Letters of Support Appendix D Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Letter of Support Appendix E Ratepayer Economic Analysis Appendix F Cost of Service Analysis Appendix G Stakeholder Engagement Appendix H Jurisdictional Review - Additional Information BC Hydro Fleet Electrification Rate Application Page iii August 7, 2019 1 1 Introduction and Need for Fleet Electrification Rates 2 BC Hydro files its Fleet Electrification Rate Application (Application) with the British 3 Columbia Utilities Commission (Commission or BCUC) to seek approval of new 4 rates for two new services pursuant to sections 58 to 60 of the Utilities Commission 5 Act (UCA). 6 1.1 Purpose of Application 7 The purpose of the Application is to request Commission approval of rates for two 8 new optional services at demand equal or greater than 150 kW with the goal of 9 encouraging fleet electrification. The first is referred to as the “Overnight Rate”, and 10 the second is referred to as the “Demand Transition Rate”. The Overnight Rate has 11 a time of use demand charge, as it does not have a demand charge during the 12 overnight period, and it has a flat energy charge. This rate is intended for depot and 13 overnight charging of fleet vehicles and vessels. The Demand Transition Rate 14 provides demand charge relief for a fixed period of years. The Demand Transition 15 Rate is intended for in route and daytime charging of fleet vehicles and vessels. 16 BC Hydro has received customer and stakeholder feedback suggesting that the 17 availability of the new services be expanded to include providers of third party fast 18 charging services to electric passenger vehicles. While BC Hydro understands the 19 interest in rate design for a range of applications, BC Hydro proposes the availability 20 as described in this Application, because any rate application for third party fast 21 charging services to passenger vehicles should be informed by the 22 B.C Government’s