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Comment by amluto | Hacker News Reader

You’re focused on entirely the wrong problem with California. The cost of electricity purchased from a private utility here is entirely out of control. That 68 cents is mostly going to a company like PG&E.

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I did a bit of homework. PG&E publishes their rate schedules, of which they have many, and even a fairly cursory read strongly suggests that both the cost breakdowns and the times associated with time-of-use rates are, to put it mildly, divorced from any realistic estimation of actual costs. (Check out how inconsistent the schedules are from each other!)

Here's the "Business Electric Vehicle" schedule, which appears to be the relevant one from EV charging stations:

https://www.pge.com/tariffs/assets/pdf/tariffbook/ELEC_SCHED...

Roughly 38c/kWh peak and 16c/kWh "super off peak" plus $1.24/kWh monthly for maximum load. (So a supercharger would pay some $248/month for the privilege of being connected, and peak shaving can reduce this.)

Here's the current residential schedule:

https://www.pge.com/tariffs/assets/pdf/tariffbook/ELEC_SCHED...

Wow, 62c/kWh peak and 30c/kWh off-peak. At least the times kind of line up.

Here's the legacy ones, with totally different off-peak times!

https://www.pge.com/tariffs/assets/pdf/tariffbook/ELEC_SCHED...

Anyway, the morning-to-mid-afternoon rates in CA for public chargers are high but not outrageous.

Tesla charges 45 cents and they are not subsidizing charging.

Your comment is entirely consistent with the parent comment.

68/2=34

If electricity costs 35c/unit then T could be making 10c and R could be making 33c.

T could be choosing to take less profit.

Tesla charging rates vary per station. The cheapest we've paid at a Supercharger (when not in a promotional free charging window) was $0.11 per kWh.

100%. The CPUC is a government entity and can technically dictate power prices. Unfortunately, state engergy conglomerates are very good at regulatory capture.

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