Designing electricity tariffs for EV owners

What is shaping electric power

Power utilities serve millions of households and businesses, and are judged on reliability, billing accuracy and how well they communicate during outages. Smart meters are changing the relationship.

• Smart meters are changing billing and payment behaviour
• Outage communication strongly affects satisfaction
• Digital payments are replacing counter payments

An electricity retailer, working in Australia & New Zealand. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.

Organisation

An electricity retailer

Sector

Electric power

Team engaged

Market Research

Services

Quantitative research, Consumer panel, Financial modelling

The retailer wanted to offer EV tariffs but needed to know how owners charged their cars and which tariff designs they would choose. Electricity networks were concerned about EVs charging at peak times, adding stress to the grid.

• Deliver on the brief: designing electricity tariffs for EV owners.
• Understand the views, needs and behaviour of EV owners.
• Produce results that can be compared across groups and locations.
• Give the client evidence it can act on within 6 weeks.

The work focused on 1,200 EV owners.

• EV owners1,200

Audiences we typically reach in electric power

Residential consumersCommercial and industrial consumersSmart-meter usersField and call-centre staffRegulators

Coverage: Australia & New Zealand. Markets: Australia and New Zealand.

• Australia
• New Zealand

A structured analytical design combining desk research, modelling and primary evidence.

1. 1Brief
2. 2EV owner survey with choice exercise
3. 3Tariff revenue model
4. 4Insight

We surveyed EV owners and intenders about charging times and habits, and used a choice exercise comparing time-of-use, off-peak and subscription tariffs, then modelled revenue impacts. The sample included owners in apartments and houses, since charging access differed significantly. Results were analysed separately for Australia and New Zealand, where tariff structures differ.

Quantitative researchConsumer panelFinancial modelling

EV owners

1,200

• Business respondents were screened on role, company size and involvement in the decision before being invited.
• Online respondents were drawn from verified panel members who matched the screening criteria, with quotas on key profile attributes.

• The online survey was mobile-friendly and offered in respondents' languages.
• Secondary sources and client data were compiled and cross-checked before modelling.

• Digital fingerprinting and duplicate checks
• Attention, speed and straight-lining checks
• Review of open-ended answers
• Logic and range checks on the final data
• Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures

• Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
• Significance testing on the differences that mattered
• Price and trade-off analysis
• Market model built from secondary data and primary evidence

• Owners preferred simple overnight rates with a fixed discount.
• Sign-ups exceeded the retailer’s first-year target, and most customers shifted charging to overnight hours.

Simple tariffs won over complex but cheaper options.

• Build on the core insight: simple tariffs won over complex but cheaper options.
• Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: owners preferred simple overnight rates with a fixed discount.
• Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.

• The retailer launched an overnight EV plan and promoted smart charging.

What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.

• Insight report and management presentation
• Cleaned data file and data tables

• Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
• A natural follow-on question: which payment channels do consumers prefer?