Recent Changes
2025 is the fourth year of this 9-year program and several changes have been made. We think they are improvements.
Hardware/Installation
The graphic at the top of the chart outlines the incentive for the charger, installation, or telematics enrollment.
Previously, the incentive awarded $500 toward the purchase of an approved charger and another $500 for the installation. This has now been changed to a single $1000 incentive to be used at the discretion of the consumer for hardware, installation or both.
This added flexibility is a good thing because it enables people who do not have, or do not want to buy, an approved charger to use up to $1000 for installation. These costs often run higher than $500.
Telematics Enrollment
For those enrolling with telematics (where it doesn’t matter what charger you have because the communication is directly with the car), there is still a $100 enrollment incentive if you do not take the installation incentive.
Managed Charging
This is really the point of the program. As EV adoption increases, and there are now 60,489 registered in the state, they will use grid resources. However, off-peak EV charging can use that power without stressing the grid. Peak charging is defined as between 3 PM and 9 PM on non-holiday weekdays. The hardware and installation incentives are contingent on participating in managed charging.
There are two levels of managed charging.
- Off-Peak Charging – $10 per month (up to $120 annually). The vehicle has to have been charged at least once per month and a minimum of 80% of charging has to occur during off-peak hours. There are no discrete demand/response events.
- Active Managed Charging – $25 per month (up to $300 annually). The participant, working with the utility, sets a daily charging schedule and must closely adhere to it. Customer must also participate in occasional Emergency Demand Response Events. A minimum of 2 charges per month must occur.
This program is offered to customers of Eversource and United Illuminating, the two utilities regulated by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA). If you would like more detail about these programs, this is a link to the updated participation guide (21 pages).
PURA does not regulate the small municipal utilities. Some of them do offer incentives to buy an EV charger. One difference between what they tend to do relative to PURA/Eversource/UI is that they reauthorize their programs on an annual basis. It pays to check.