Toronto EV driver Urs Villiger thought he had a good deal on electricity for charging his family’s two Tesla Model 3s. He’s signed up for Toronto Hydro’s ultra-low overnight rate, aimed at EV drivers – costing him just 3.9 cents per kWh between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., or about $22 per month.
But recently, he found an even better deal: a customer program that pays him for each kilowatt hour he uses to charge his car.
Toronto-based company SWTCH pays Villiger and other EV owners three cents per kWh when they charge with the SWTCH Level 2 home charger (which they can get for free as part of the program). That covers three-quarters of the cost of each kilowatt under the ultra-low rate plan. “For us, we’re charging two cars, so it adds up,” said Villiger.
Toronto-based SWTCH Energy officially launched the program Thursday with Plug N’ Drive, an EV advocacy organization that also promotes a number of similar programs that launched earlier this year from Toronto-based Elocity and United Chargers Canada in Richmond Hill, Ont.
Villiger is among 30 EV drivers across the country who have already been using SWTCH’s program during the past couple of weeks, said Greg Overmonds, the company’s head of marketing. The launch allows another 190 people on the wait list to get their chargers. The company estimates the program will allow average drivers to earn $100 to $150 per year from EV charging.
But why would a company pay customers to charge their cars?
Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations allow credits to be generated for investments in low-carbon technologies and fuels. For example, charging network operators can create credits for residential and public electric vehicle charging, and charging site hosts can create credits for private or commercial charging.
SWTCH, Elocity and United Chargers can then sell the credits to producers and importers of gasoline and diesel to help them meet emissions targets that require them to reduce the carbon intensity of fuels they produce and sell for use in Canada. (That is, if fuel producers can’t reduce their emissions enough themselves, they have to pay other companies, like the EV charge providers, that are reducing emissions from fuel).
SWTCH had already been doing that since the regulations came into effect in July 2023, with credits earned from its chargers in multiresidential and commercial buildings, but wanted to extend the opportunity to people who charge at home, allowing them to share some of the revenue, Overmonds said.