California adds new plug-in utility rebate

California adds new electric-vehicle perk

Southern California Edison is proposing a one-time rebate of $250 to $350 per new vehicle owner.
San Diego Gas & Electric intends to provide an annual bill credit but declined to say how much.

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Coller of SDG&E said an individual electric vehicle generates about two pollution credits a year — the basis for the annual bill reduction. The auction value of each credit fell to $26 in November from figures as high as $55 in previous years.
Those fluctuating market prices make it difficult for the utility to estimate the new incentive ahead of time.

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Not sure which type of credit I prefer, I can see downsides to both. Perhaps just make it work like the current state rebate and base it on battery size, though realistically people who replace dirty vehicle miles with clean vehicle miles should get the biggest incentives. Measuring this accurately would be difficult, especially with PHEVs. Avoiding the complexity with a fixed rate may be good enough.

Annual bill credit. If I want to keep my BEV for 10 years, I shouldn't get less than a guy who leases a new one every two years. Also, I don't like giving the people who used to own a big polluter more for two reasons. One, it feels like rewarding them for being a big polluter in the first place, like the people who got a big tax break for buying an Expedition, then later used the cash for clunkers program to replace it. Two, the incentive is just as important to incentivize a clean car owner to stay clean (or get cleaner) for their next purchase.