http://www.komonews.com/news/consumer/Detail-confusion-costs-electric-car-owner-a-500-rebate-from-PSE-325827211.html Detail confusion costs electric car owner a $500 rebate from PSE By Connie Thompson Sep 8, 2015
[video flash] Puget Sound Energy is offering $500 rebates to electric vehicle owners who install new EV chargers at home. But Joe Gehr of Kent just learned the hard way about verifying rebate details before you spend money. His rebate claim was rejected because of one line in the rebate rules. Gehr loves his Nissan Leaf, but the 120 volt factory charger that comes with the car takes forever to charge the battery. "They provide a level 1 charger with the car," said Gehr. "And it will take 14, 16, 18 hours to charge it." Like many electric vehicle owners, Gehr bought what's called a "level 2" charger, for a quicker charge at up to 220 volts. "So I'm bringing 220 volts AC into this, " Gehr explained. "Then this converts it to DC. So I'm charging like you would a boat battery with DC." The charger cost him $600 bucks. He figured he'd get most of that back through the $500 EV charger rebate promotion he found on Puget Sound Energy's website. Gehr was certain his charger -- a brand called JuiceBox -- met the qualifications. But his rebate was rejected. PSE points to a critical sentence in the rules, which state: "Chargers that are not UL rated, or do not meet codes and standards will not be eligible for the rebate. It's an Underwriters Laboratories safety requirement for electrical devices." "We're very concerned about customer safety," said PSE spokesman Ray Lane by email. "The language on our website is clear about this, and the customer's inability to meet the necessary codes and standards for the install leave us with rejection as the only option." Gehr acknowledges his EV charger is not UL rated, but points out it has other certifications which are listed on PSE's website. Gehr feels the way the rules are written, it sounds like the charger has to be UL rated 'or' meet certain standards, not both. PSE says Gehr misunderstood the qualifications and the lack of a UL rating is a deal breaker. The only way he can get a rebate is to replace the charger he bought- with a charger that's UL approved. Gehr is not the first PSE customer with JuiceBox brand chargers to have their rebate rejected . PSE tells me it's had about 10 other people buy JuiceBox chargers that don't qualify for their rebate because they're not UL rated- another reminder to confirm the qualifications before you spend a lot of money on anything as part of a rebate promotion. The PSE EV rebates started in May of 2014 as part of a program to study electric vehicles and the power grid. The utility says it has sent rebates of $500 to about 800 eligible customers so far. The program allows for rebates to 50-thousand EV owners in PSE's service area. [© komonews.com] For EVLN posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-UL-unqualified-EVSE-lost-EVr-a-500-utility-PSE-rebate-tp4677606.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
