Southern California Edison offers $450 credit to any EV/PHEV drivers

As part of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program, Southern California Edison today introduced a new $450 rebate for electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid owners who live in SCE’s service area.  This rebate is quite inclusive, as it applies to new, used, leased, or purchased EVs or PHEVs, and has no income limits.

To apply, you need to create an account on scecleanfuel.com.  This is different from your normal sce.com account, so you’ll have to create a new one for the purposes of the rebate.  You’ll also need your VIN number, to scan or send a photo of your permanent vehicle registration, and your SCE Service Account number (this is different from the “customer account” which starts with a 2, “service account” starts with the number 3, and is shown on your bill).

The program is expected to last through 2020, though rebate amounts may increase or decrease in that time.  You can apply now at scecleanfuel.com.  Expect up to 30 days before approval and several more weeks before the check shows up in the mail.

The program differs from some other rebates available, such as California’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, in terms of eligibility.  The CVRP rebate is only available on new vehicles which are being registered in California for the first time, either purchased or leased for at least 36 months.  This left purchasers of used vehicles out, so it’s nice to see another program which gives used EVs a little something.  CVRP also has income limits – the rebate is higher for low-income buyers, and is eliminated for some very high-income buyers.  Not so with SCE’s program, which applies regardless of the owner’s income.

Further, SCE’s program can actually apply to the same VIN number up to three times – that is, if a car is bought new, then sold to another owner in SCE’s service area, and sold to another owner, all three can receive the same rebate.  So it’s likely that just about everyone qualifies for it.

California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program is meant to encourage people to use clean fuels like electricity to combat climate change.  SCE earns money from this program when EVs charge at home, and has now decided to return that money to EV owners in the form of this rebate announced today.  SCE also spends some of their LCFS money on their “Charge Ready” program, which installs EV charging stations in places where cars spend a lot of time parked – workplaces, campuses, recreational areas and housing complexes.  Currently, transportation is the largest source of emissions in the US, so targeting vehicles is California’s way of combating this.