Incentive structure for EVSE and vehicles

Qualified customers – including community-based organizations, Tribal entities, government agencies and BIPOC-owned small businesses – who directly serve and/or benefit highly impacted communities and vulnerable populations may be eligible to receive additional technical advisory services and enhanced Empower Mobility incentives on both electric vehicle service equipment and electric vehicles.

Empower Mobility incentives

Empower Mobility eligibility

PSE is committed to promoting equitable access to electric mobility. To be eligible for Empower Mobility incentives, fleet customers or the EVSE installation site must directly serve and/or benefit named communities. “Named communities” include both highly impacted communities and vulnerable populations.

Highly impacted communities are census tracts designated by the Washington State Department of Health as a 9 or 10 on the Environmental Health Disparities Map or a community located in census tracts that are fully or partially on “Indian country” as defined in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1151.

Vulnerable populations are communities that experience a disproportionate cumulative risk from environmental burdens due to adverse socioeconomic factors, including disability, cardiovascular disease, low birth weight rates, higher rates of hospitalization, heat islands, arrearage/disconnections, access to digital/internet resources, access to food, access to health care, educational attainment level, estimated energy burden, historical red line influence, home care, housing burden, linguistic isolation, mental health/illness, poverty, race, renter vs owner, seniors with fixed income, transportation expenses and unemployment.

The list of vulnerability factors and resultant mapping may change as PSE’s Clean Energy Implementation Plan evolves.

Contact us

If you have questions about Empower Mobility incentives and eligibility, email evfleet@38dvd.net and a PSE Fleet Specialist will contact you to discuss options.

PSE-owned turnkey service

1. Request: Fill out this form to request a free consultation.
2. Consult: A PSE Fleet Specialist will contact you to discuss your project and potential incentives.
3. Apply: Submit an application describing your fleet electrification project, preferred ownership model and, if applicable, your potential eligibility for Empower Mobility incentives.
4. Evaluate: We’ll assess your project and its electrical load requirements. Applications do not guarantee funding and will be prioritized based on community impact, technical feasibility, geographic location and fleet use case to ensure project diversity and equitable access to incentives.
5. Estimate: If approved, you’ll receive an estimate with a rough order of magnitude of the costs for upgrades and installation.
6. Design & install: If you choose to proceed, we’ll work with you to create the project site design and final cost proposal. You’ll then sign the service agreement, kicking off the installation phase. We’ll coordinate an onsite evaluation to develop the final cost estimate, design, upgrades and installation of EVSE.
7. Fund: You’ll only receive an invoice if the project exceeds the per-port or per-charging location limit on PSE incentives. Empower Mobility customers receive upfront incentives after submitting appropriate documentation.
8. Train: Customers under the PSE-owned turnkey option will receive training on the charging network management platform, plus best practices and guidance for operating and managing their EVSE.
9. Report: In order to remain compliant with the program, customers agree to share their charging data and respond to PSE surveys about charging preferences annually or when otherwise requested.

Customer-owned option

1. Request: Fill out this form to request a free consultation.
2. Consult: A PSE Fleet Specialist will contact you to discuss your project and potential incentives.
3. Apply: Submit an application describing your fleet electrification project, preferred ownership model and, if applicable, your potential eligibility for Empower Mobility incentives.
4. Evaluate: We’ll assess your project and its electrical load requirements. Applications do not guarantee funding and will be prioritized based on community impact, technical feasibility, geographic location and fleet use case to ensure project diversity and equitable access to incentives.
5. Estimate: If approved, you’ll receive an estimate with a rough order of magnitude of the costs for upgrades and installation.
6. Design & install: If you choose to proceed, we’ll work with you to create the utility-side project site design and final cost proposal. You’ll then sign the service agreement, kicking off the installation phase. You’ll proceed with purchasing and installing your PSE-approved EVSE.
7. Fund: You’ll receive incentives upon submitting invoices for equipment and installation. Empower Mobility customers receive upfront incentives after submitting appropriate documentation.
8. Report: In order to remain compliant with the program, customers agree to share their charging data and respond to PSE surveys about charging preferences annually or when otherwise requested.

All customers must:

• Be a current non-residential PSE account holder and electric customer. Transmission-only (Schedules 448/449) customers are not eligible for this program.
• Procure at least two owned or leased EVs (or one for qualified Empower Mobility customers) for their fleet by the time EVSE at the site is installed and activated.
• Agree to operate charging equipment for 10 years.
• Participate in surveys annually or as otherwise requested about charging preferences and patterns.
• When requested, sign a service agreement with PSE (agreement for PSE-owned turnkey option here; agreement for customer-owned option here)
• Sign an easement agreement, if required.
• Agree to install networked charging equipment. Depending on the network, a separate meter dedicated to the charging equipment may be required.
• Approved Empower Mobility recipients may install non-networked charging equipment with a separate meter dedicated to the charging equipment.
• Provide parking stalls dedicated to EV charging for the 10-year duration of the service agreement.
• Obtain written permission from the property owner if the customer is not the property owner.

PSE evaluated applications in four areas:

Community impact: How and to what magnitude will the project benefit and serve low-income tenants, Tribal communities and/or other named communities?

Geographic diversity: Does the project increase access to electric vehicle charging in areas underserved by EV charging infrastructure? Has PSE already provided funding for EV charging infrastructure in this area?

Use case: Will the project increase EV charging availability at a wider range of fleet types in PSE’s service area?

Utilization: What is the likelihood of EV charging being used at the proposed property based on the number of EVs within the fleet and existing EV charging options at the property?

Up & Go Electric for Fleet customers can be rewarded for charging when it’s better for the environment and electrical grid. Eligible participants with PSE-supported EVSE will be automatically enrolled in our EV Load Management Incentive. This is a monthly on-bill credit between $10 and $165 per charger. To receive this credit, all you have to do is program your charger to delay charging until off-peak hours. Off-peak hours are any time outside of 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Incentive structure for off-peak charging

If the nature of your business prohibits only charging during off-peak hours, that’s OK. PSE awards the credit on a prorated basis. You’ll receive credit in proportion to the percentage of your charging events that occurred during off-peak hours. For example, if you charge off-peak 80% of the time, you’ll receive 80% of the credit.

You can opt out of the EV Load Management Incentive program at any time.

• Washington state funding opportunities
• Federal laws and incentives
• Puget Sound REV
• Western Washington Clean Cities Coalition
• Up & Go Electric for Fleet handout
• PSE Electric Fleet Planner