California's PG&E Offering $500 Recharging Rebate To Electric Car Owners

Electric utilities in the U.S. install and operate charging stations where electric cars have their batteries recharged. In a move to encourage more people to use electric cars, the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) is offering a $500 rebate for electric car users.

According to Green Car Reports, the discount is called "Clean Fuel Rebate" which is a program recently launched that is an off-shoot of the State of California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The State gives credits to utilities that cater to customers using home electricity to recharge the batteries of their electric cars.

In a company press release, PG&E is simply passing the credit to their customers in the form of rebates. For electric car users to qualify for the $500 rebate, they must have an active residential account with PG&E. They can either apply for the electric car they are using or they can also apply for the electric car of a member of their family, household members or tenant/relatives.

To apply, customers must submit the PG&E account number and electronically scanned copy of the car registration or car sales/lease agreement. A website has been conveniently setup where customers can submit their application. The rebates are sent by the company to customers with approved applications in the form of checks.

In the past, PG&E also offered rebates to customers of the BMW i3 electric car owners that charged their cars at certain hours of the day. The move was done in anticipation of the surge of customers' demand for electric car charging services.

A month before the approval of the current rebates program, PG&E had gotten approval from the California regulators of the company's proposal to build 7,500 electric car charging stations in areas within its jurisdiction. The latter project costs $130 million, done in consortium with stakeholders that included car manufacturers and environmental groups.

Two other similar projects are on-going. The San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) companies are installing a combined 5,000 new electric car charging stations. Hopefully, they will follow PG&E and offer a $500 rebate for electric car users.