| Resource Type | Report |
| Author / Source | Broga, Guccione, Jones, Lindsell, Klock-McCook, Shapiro, Turnbull (RMI, ATE) |
| Publication Date | July 2025 |
| Location | United States |
| Initiative Type | Policy, Program, Partnership |
| Project Complexity | Intermediate |
| Recommended For | Board, Staff |
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Estimated reading time: 30+ minutes
Why This Matters for Rural Electric Co-ops
As electric vehicles become more common, rural co-ops face a real planning problem: grid upgrades can take months or years, but members can buy EVs and chargers in weeks. This timeline mismatch creates pressure to invest in distribution infrastructure before demand is certain, which raises hard questions about who bears the cost if that investment goes underused.
The report documents how utilities and consumer advocates are grappling with this tension and outlines concrete approaches, including "least-regret" planning, better load forecasting, and data-sharing frameworks, that can help co-ops prepare their systems without overexposing members to rate increases. Co-op leaders can use this resource to understand the tradeoffs between reactive and proactive investment strategies and to identify planning tools being piloted elsewhere.
Key Takeaways
| › | Grid upgrades can take years while members buy EVs in months. Co-ops that wait for firm demand before investing risk becoming a bottleneck for members trying to electrify. |
| › | Building infrastructure before confirmed load means costs sit on the books before they can be passed to customers. Co-ops should understand this tension before pursuing proactive build-out strategies. |
| › | "Least-regret" planning reduces stranded asset risk by focusing investment where EV demand is most likely to concentrate and securing customer commitments before breaking ground. |
| › | Tools like RMI's open-access GridUp EV load forecasting tool can help co-ops plan more accurately without building expensive forecasting capacity from scratch. |
Implementation Considerations
- Staffing or Technology Requirements: Proactive distribution planning requires load forecasting and distribution engineering expertise that smaller co-ops are unlikely to have in-house. Regional collaboration or consultant support will likely be necessary to apply the approaches described here.
- Regulatory or Governance Considerations: The regulatory standard that assets must be "used and useful" before costs are recovered in rates creates real friction for proactive investment. Co-ops should check whether mechanisms like pilot programs or interim cost-tracking accounts are available in their state before committing to early build-out.
Notable Examples
- Pacific Gas & Electric: Calculated net transportation electrification impacts when assessing new investments, modeling a more comprehensive approach to cost-benefit analysis.
- Xcel Energy: Engaged fleet customers directly through its Commercial Advisory Group to understand charging needs before building infrastructure.
- Electric Power Research Institute: Aggregated EV load data across utilities through its EVs2Scale initiative to support more accurate, bottom-up load forecasting.
View Full Document Requires name and email to access
Estimated reading time: 30+ minutes
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