These incentives come from primarily the Eversource and United Illuminating.
There is a federal incentive (restricted to certain census tracts). There are different incentives for customers of Norwich Public Utilities and the Norwalk Third Taxing District Utility.
PURA (Public Utilities Regulatory Authority) Has Issued a New EV Rate Design for Charging Incentives for customers of Eversource and United Illuminating
It went into effect as of January 1, 2022. There are subsidies for residential, commercial, municipal, and fleets. These include subsidized charging stations, make ready, discounts on electricity, and demand charge mitigation. These incentives are not retroactive to before 2022. The incentives for charging stations require the purchase of utility approved hardware. The list of approved chargers is subject to change as other makes go through the evaluation pipeline. From what we have been seeing, change happens slowly as there aren’t many approved options for residential. This is the Eversource and UI page for residential equipment and vehicles eligible for telematics. Here is commercial. The approved equipment lists are identical for both UI and Eversource. There are differences in approved telematics-eligible vehicles due to the two EDCs using different vendors. Approved chargers will be smart chargers and taking the subsidy requires enrollment in the managed charging program.
Tesla chargers are not approved equipment for the residential program and probably won’t be. To the best of my knowledge, Tesla has not submitted equipment for approval. Teslas can participate in either the tier 1 or 2 managed charging incentives via telematics (utility talks to the car).
This is top level page about the residential program for Eversource. This is commercial. For UI, this is the residential page and this is commercial.
Both BEVs and PHEVs are eligible.
Residential Single Family Incentives
- Up to $500 incentive for purchase of a smart charging station.
- Up to $500 incentive for bring a 240 volt line to the garage, if needed.
- Owners give the utility permission to see charging data.
- Up to $200 per year for participating in managed charging events with a two year commitment.
A $100 enrollment incentive is offered to people who participate using either telematics, plus the managed charging incentive.
- An owner buying a new, ineligible charger is not eligible for the hardware subsidy, but is eligible for the installation subsidy.
Both Eversource and UI permit two incentives per household.
If you use a third-party for your power generation, that does not matter.
Both PHEVs and BEVs are eligible.
Managed Charging
Earn up to $120 per year ($10/month) for off-peak charging, plus another $80 ($25/month from June to September) for not opting out of peak demand events.
The purpose of this year-round design is planning for the long-term, when there will hopefully be more widespread adoption of heat pumps and electric appliances, and the nature of peak and off-peak will change. Most likely, peak usage will eventually shift to the winter.
Apartments and Condos (a.k.a. MUD or multi-unit dwellings), and Commercial
Incentives are offered for multi-unit dwellings, defined as a minimum of 5 units. These are classified as commercial incentives. Multi-unit buildings of 2-4 units would fall under residential.
- Minimum of 2 ports required.
- Make ready incentives of up to 100% of the cost of bringing power to the location of the chargers. When planning the make ready, it is important to future-proof. You may eventually want more chargers than initially installed.
- Incentives of up to 50% of the cost of the charging station.
- Requires participation in a managed charging program, intended to encourage charging in low-demand periods of the day. This will not be in effect until 2023 as there is not yet an approved plan.
- A leasing option will be available for the chargers, which in this case would be owned by the utility. There will be a buyout option. The leasing plan is expected to be introduced in Q3 of 2022.
- There is a cap of $20,000 of incentives for an installation, which rises to $40,000 for buildings that are within a designated disadvantaged community. The utilities are providing maps to assist in locating whether a particular installation qualifies for the higher cap.
- Demand charge mitigation is available for level 3 chargers. The charges get waived, but it is required that the chargers be separately metered. We are not aware of a mitigation plan for level 2 chargers. It is recommended to ask the utility how this applies to your particular circumstance.
Blog post about these incentives can be found here.
(There are also incentives for public destination chargers, workplace and light-duty fleets, municipalities, and DCFC (Level 3 fast chargers.)
This program undergoes regular evaluation and there will be updates. Updates to the residential program are not likely before 2025.
Federal Tax Credit for Residential Level 2 EV Chargers
This tax credit amounts to 30% of the cost for the hardware and installation, capped at $1000. This tax credit has changed beginning in 2023. It is restricted to individuals residing in a distressed or rural community.
The Norwich Public Utilities program includes incentives for chargers
- $1000 for a level 2 residential charger.
- $3000 for a commercial level 2 charger for workplace or multi-family dwelling.
- $4000 for a commercial level 2 charger that is open to the general public and is at a commercial or public location.
- Incentives for new and used BEVs and PHEVs
The charger part of the program does not have any of the managed charging rules and equipment limitations that are part of the Eversource/UI incentives. In other words, the program is entirely about promoting EV adoption and does not address grid management issues.
Program page.
Norwalk Third Taxing District Utility
There is an incentive for the purchase and installation of a level 2 charger for both residential and commercial customers. For residential, the incentive is for a maximum of $1500, which is pretty generous. The max for commercial (including multi-family) is $4000.
Unlike with Eversource and UI, there is no demand-response component, no monitoring or throttling of charging, and no equipment restrictions. It is a straightforward incentive to buy and install an EV charger.
This incentive is has been renewed for 2024. The decision is made on an annual basis. This is the link to the application (which is the only page about the incentive and has all the detail).
Usual Disclaimers
One should always check with an accountant to understand any potential tax liability associated with the rebates.
We make every effort to keep our content updated but changes happen that may take us a little to catch up with. This content is provided for informational purposes only.