News

Townhomes now eligible; plus a new power management rebate

After a nearly five-month hiatus, Government of B.C. funding for the CleanBC Go Electric EV charger rebate for homes and workplaces is back. And while the basics of the program remain intact, including full EV Ready rebates for condos and apartments, there's additional good news for residents of townhomes and for those in single-family homes.

"Townhomes are now eligible for the EV Ready and EV charger standalone programs," said BC Hydro program manager Reid Arkinstall. "We recognize the need to assist townhome complexes to strategically plan for high levels of EV adoption, so making them eligible for the EV Ready program will help this customer group a great deal."

Townhome customers will no longer apply through the single-family home stream and will now move into the multi-use residential building stream.

The other new development is a rebate of $200 for installation of qualifying EV power management devices in single-family homes. The devices help manage electrical loads that otherwise might overload a branch circuit, panel or residential service when installing an EV charger. The offer is available to the owners or residents of single-family homes, row homes and duplexes who install an eligible Level 2 charger.

New for townhomes: broader charger rebates

While charger rebates for single-family homes are limited to the installation and purchase of chargers, strata/apartment buildings (and now townhomes) also get rebates to subsidize the cost of planning and installing the necessary electrical infrastructure to support current or future EV charging needs.

Townhomes or stratas without parkade or other common area parking also have the option to apply for EV charger funding through the standalone rebate offer. Rebates of up to 50% of the costs are available – up to a maximum of $2,000 per charger – to purchase and install a Level 2 networked EV charger at residential parking spaces in a complex. There's also a maximum of $14,000 per complex.

What the EV power management offer is about

The EV power management offer makes it easier for customers to get access to EV charging at home while helping avoid electrical panel and service upgrades. The idea is to reduce EV charging costs for those in single-family households.

And to make it easier for customers, the power management rebate application won't be separate from the EV charger rebate. Customers can combine them via an integrated offer through the CleanBC home and workplace charger program, which is managed and run by BC Hydro.

And here's where Alliance members come in. Customers will first need to consult an electrician to assess the electrical capacity available for EV charging at their home. Ideally, the contractor will review the customer's past 12 months of meter data, which the customer can share after downloading 12 months of data from their MyHydro account.

Using customers' historic meter data in load calculations will usually indicate greater capacity to accommodate new loads than the conservative load calculations determined by the Canadian Electric Code.

Electricians can then provide guidance on whether an EV power management device is necessary. It's not usually required, but several customers will find energy management the less expensive option when they don't have the capacity for EV charging.

Learn more about the EV energy management device rebate.

The basics of EV Ready rebates for condos and townhomes

Plan rebate: A rebate of up to 75% of the costs up to a maximum of $3,000 for the creation of an EV Ready plan – a professional strategy for a building to make at least one parking space per residential unit EV Ready.

Infrastructure rebate: A rebate of up to 50% of the costs up to a maximum of $600 per parking space to install the electrical infrastructure required to implement an EV Ready plan, to a maximum of $120,000.

Charger rebate: A rebate of up to 50% of the costs up to a maximum of $1,400 per charger to purchase and install Level 2 networked EV chargers to implement a building's EV Ready plan, to a maximum of $14,000.

Learn more about EV Ready rebates.

The basics of single-family home rebates

Owners or residents of single-family homes, row homes and duplexes that purchase and install an eligible Level 2 EV charger could receive a rebate of up to 50% of costs, to a maximum of $350.

In addition, BC Hydro is offering funding of up to $250 for single-family home customers who install an eligible smart EV charger. That's in addition to the $350 base offer.

There are also a handful of municipalities that offer top ups for residents in their communities installing Level 2 chargers.

Learn more about EV charger rebates for single-family homes.