Stanislaus County has been slow to switch to electric vehicles, but it’s not for lack of incentives.
Utilities here offer one-time rebates and monthly billing discounts for charging a car or pickup truck at home. That’s on top of the federal tax credit of up to $7,500 for buying an EV.
Advocates say these vehicles help reduce the fossil fuel emissions behind climate change.
The Modesto Irrigation District, the county’s largest power provider, has an online calculator for customers intrigued by EVs. It estimates the cost of buying and powering various models, compared with gasoline vehicles. The monthly EV savings were close to $100 in a test run by The Modesto Bee (details below).
Incentives also are offered by the Turlock Irrigation District, which serves parts of Stanislaus and Merced counties. The same goes for Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which supplies other portions.
The utilities’ biggest savings are through “time-of-use” billing, rewarding customers for using electricity at night. Power generation costs are much higher when air conditioners, factories and other users are humming.