— which amounts to building hundreds of chargers each day until 2030, according to an analysis by Charge Ahead Partnership, a coalition dedicated to advancing common sense, market-based policies that will accelerate the development of the nation’s electric vehicle charging network.
As fiscal conservatives, we believe the best way to develop a broad charging network is through an affordable, fair and competitive approach that gives consumers the confidence to purchase electric vehicles and meets the needs of today’s drivers. Throughout economic history, the competitive market-based approach has proved to lead to lower costs for consumers along with accompanying private sector investment.
What’s worse, captive rate-basing for EV chargers allows utility monopolies to sell electricity at prices below the market rate and spread the cost of this loss to all of their customers. This gives these power companies a tremendous advantage over private companies who want to make investments in EV charging stations. This structure is anathema to the free-market principles espoused by many elected officials in Texas.