Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) made headlines in February when it asked California regulators for permission to build 25,000 public charging stations, which would be the largest charging network in the country.

However, not everyone is thrilled with this plan. Consumer Watchdog has petitioned the California Public Utilities Commission to reject the PG&E proposal, saying that it would raise costs for ratepayers while stifling innovation.

“Allowing PG&E to be the only decision maker with authority over the hardware, locations and pricing of this EV charging network will result in little to no incentive to keep costs low, particularly when these costs are being passed along to ratepayers,” writes Consumer Watchdog in its petition. “Nor can we trust PG&E, which is the subject of ongoing scandal, to give consumers access to the most advanced technology for the least amount of money.”

PG&E’s proposal would pass on the estimated $653.8-million cost of the program to all ratepayers in its service territory, which covers most of central and northern California. The company says that a typical residential customer would pay about 70 cents more per month over the period 2018 to 2022.

Source:Consumer Watchdog via Green Car Congress