SB 236

This bill requires the Public Service Commission to establish a program for

awarding grants to businesses for installing electric vehicle charging facilities along

a clean energy corridor that the PSC must designate. The corridor must consist of

contiguous state trunk highways that connect Wisconsin to Minnesota, Michigan,

Iowa, and Illinois. For the designation, the PSC must attempt to connect the corridor

with similar corridors in those other states and to designate heavily-travelled

highways. The funding source for the grants is moneys received under a settlement

that the state received from a legal action against Volkswagen. The bill allows the

PSC to award not more than $10,065,000 in total grants. An individual grant may

not exceed 50 percent of the cost to purchase, install, and maintain an electric vehicle

charging facility. The PSC may award multiple grants to an individual applicant.

In addition, the bill allows a business that is awarded a grant and installs an electric

vehicle charging facility to charge a parking fee determined by the business to any

person who uses the facility. However, the parking fee must be based on the time

length of a session of use and not on the amount of electricity consumed by a person

during a session of use.

The bill provides that the awarding of grants does not confer any ownership

interest to the PSC or the state in electric vehicle charging facilities installed under

the grants. In addition, the bill provides that a business that is awarded a grant is

responsible for the operation and maintenance of a charging station installed under

the grant.

Also under the bill, if an electric utility receives revenue collected from rates

charged to users of electric vehicle charging facilities for which grants are awarded,

the electric utility must remit 20 percent of that revenue to the PSC for deposit in

the transportation fund to repay transportation-related bonds. The bill requires the

PSC to ensure in rate-making orders that electric utilities recover the amounts

remitted to the PSC from their ratepayers.