Consideration of PURPA Standards in 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (NOI-2022-0001)
On November 15, 2021, the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law. The IIJA amended several provisions of the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA). These amendments require the Iowa Utilities Board (Board) to consider new PURPA standards for EV charging stations and demand response.
More specifically, ILJA requires the Board to consider measures to promote greater electrification of the transportation sector, including rates that:
- Promote affordable and equitable EV charging options for residential, commercial, and public electric vehicle charging infrastructure;
- Improve the customer experience associated with EV charging, including charging times for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles;
- Accelerate third-party investment in EV charging for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles; and
- Appropriately recover the marginal costs of delivering electricity to EVs and EV charging infrastructure.
CEDI filed comments in this docket on November 7, 2022, and may submit a second round of comments in the near future. CEDI's comments addressed both EV charging and demand response.
CEDI argued, in part, that demand response programs need to be adapted to manage the more frequent and significant oscillations in power supply due to variations in wind speed and amounts of sunshine. In the future, the power grid will need rate structures, demand response, and flexibility programs to help manage constantly changing levels of supply and demand.
On EV charging, CEDI encouraged the Board to utilize the following principles as it considers measures to promote greater electrification of the transportation sector:
- Market Competition;
- Fairness Among Ratepayers;
- Customer Primacy; and
- Privacy.