Press release
Energy: new rules and rates for recharging electric vehicles in Italy
It is now possible to recharge electric vehicles at home or in parking areas of residential and company buildings. AEEG Regulatory Order ARG/elt 56/10 also supports the development of heat pumps and smart grids
Milan, May 21, 2010
Recharging an electric vehicle directly at home, in a garage or in a parking is now possible in Italy. The Regulatory Authority for electricity and gas issued an order that eliminates regulatory constraints for providing charging points even among households.
Italian versionAccording to former rules, the presence of two withdrawal connection points for the same household consumer was, in fact, forbidden.
As electric vehicles need recharging their batteries, the availability of recharging sites is conditioning the development of electric mobility. This is a sector which involves several major car producers and where various new vehicles are soon expected. The European Commission is also encouraging the development of this industrial sector. It recently presented the "Cars21" strategy to encourage the deployment of clean and energy-efficient vehicles.
After the modifications introduced by the Regulatory Order ARG/elt 56/10 (available at www.autorita.energia.it), it is possible to ask to the electricity supplier for additional supply points, in private houses and garages, or in common areas (subject to agreement of the condominium board). Each supply point will have a meter, specific for electric vehicles. The Regulatory Order is also applicable to the parking areas for corporate fleet vehicles.
The Authority ruled that the already existing grid tariffs for "other purposes" will be applied to recharging points, regardless of whether the consumer is household (family) or non-domestic (business). The energy price will vary depending on the offers of free market suppliers and may be different from the energy price for household electricity supply.
New savings by heat pumps
The Italian Regulatory Authority also allowed to install a separate electricity supply point of delivery dedicated to heat pumps at homes. This possibility was formerly restricted to households with available capacity power limited up to 3.3 kW. Now this is possible also for higher capacity power levels. The elimination of constraint on available power will help to promote a larger use of heat pumps to heat or cool homes, allowing economic savings and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Support for the development of smart grids
The Regulatory Order regarding the tariff for recharging electric vehicles (cars, vans, trucks, motorcycles and cycles but also electric-drive vessels) is part of a path to an improved and different use of electricity distribution networks, which was started by the Authority with the recent decision on smart grids (Regulatory Order ARG/elt 39/10).
The term "smart grid" means a new concept of sustainable distribution grids which requires integration of communication and control systems. This allows to absorb and manage the distributed generation of electricity from renewable sources and provide information to end users in order to promote a better use of electricity.
Intelligent recharging systems for electric vehicles will exploit the potential of smart grids. Also the network operator could find synergies (vehicle to grid services, V2G), for example, by using the parked electric vehicles batteries as electricity storage. This will limit network operation risks due to intermittent and unpredictable generation (especially photovoltaic and wind), thereby increasing the use of these energy sources