The EV Charge Smart Plan is a program designed to provide Upstate NY customers with financial incentives to charge during off-peak hours (11 p.m. to 7 a.m. est.) when there is less strain on the grid and energy costs are lower.

The plan provides the opportunity to save $180 annually in monthly incentives and earn a one-time enrollment incentive.

Enrollment Incentive
A $25 one-time incentive* will be awarded for actively participating in the program for a minimum of three (3) months.

* Enrollment incentives are paid once to the participating National Grid account number.

Monthly Incentive
Customers can earn a $15 incentive** per National Grid account number each calendar month. To earn the incentive, customers need to:

• Charge a minimum of 50 kWh at-home and,
• 80% or > of at-home charging occurs during off-peak hours
  
  

** For customers who source electricity from a supplier other than National Grid, the incentive is $14.61 and will be listed in the Delivery section of their National Grid bill.

The EV Charge Smart Plan's off-peak hours are from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. daily (including weekends and holidays). The off-peak duration is when demand for electricity is at its lowest, meaning that EV owners that charge off-peak are helping reduce the cost of electricity for everyone and improving the resiliency of the electric grid.

To participate in the plan, you must:

• Be a residential electric customer in New York on the Standard Residential SC-1 rate and
• Have a compatible vehicle or home EV charging station (Compatible Equipment List).
  
  

Customers on the Voluntary Time of Use (VTOU) or SC-1C rates are ineligible for the plan. Please refer to the Delivery Section within your National Grid bill to determine your electricity rate.

1. Download the Charge Smart NY App on your mobile device.

• • iOS on Apple App Store
  • Android on Google Play Store

2. Log into the app with your existing National Grid online login credentials.
   
   
3. Select the residential electric billing account where you charge your EV.
   
   
4. Connect your Compatible EV or Charging Station by selecting your compatible vehicle make/model and/or charging station. (Compatible Equipment List).
   
   
5. Set your home charging address and confirm your location on the map. 
   
   
6. Select the 'Opt-In' button.
   
   
7. Read and accept the National Grid Participation Agreement.
   
   

Congratulations, you are ready! Plug in your vehicle and set your charging schedule to optimize your charging experience.

Charge Smart NY offers the ability to participate passively or actively, via smart charging, depending on your vehicle telematics or EVSE’s integration capabilities. If you have Active Compatible Hardware, there will be a Smart tab in the Charge Smart NY app which allows you to set a Smart schedule for the app to actively manage your charging by automatically shifting your charging to off-peak hours. The Smart tab is not applicable, and therefore, visible with Passive Compatible Hardware.

Yes! If you get your electricity supply from another provider (also known as competitive supply or Energy Service Company [ESCO]) you are still eligible to participate in the Charge Smart Plan. In this case, the monthly incentive is $14.61 and will be listed in the Delivery section of your National Grid bill.

The plan is flexible and allows you to stop participating at any time. To unenroll from the plan:

1. In the Charge Smart NY app, go to the Dashboard tab, tap the gear icon in the upper left-hand corner, and then tap "Personal Details."
2. Tap "Unenroll from this program" and then "Request account closure."
   
   

Your unenrollment will take effect on the day you enroll, and your account will enter a seven-day account closure period, during which time you can cancel closure at any time. After seven days, your data will be deleted.

Note: To qualify for the monthly participation incentive, customers must be enrolled in the plan at the end of the calendar month to receive incentive.

To qualify for the monthly participation incentive, customers must be enrolled in the plan at the end of the calendar month to receive incentive and meet or exceed the incentive eligibility of:

• Charge a minimum of 50 kWh at-home and,
• 80% or > of at-home charging occurs during off-peak hours

The incentive consists of two portions, $14.61 applied to the delivery portion of your bill and $0.39 applied to the supply portion of your bill (if you are on Basic Service). Your total savings are shown at the top as “EV Savings.”

Example Bill:

The EV Charge Smart Plan incentive shows on your bill approximately 15 to 45 days after the calendar month. For example, the incentive for EV charging performed in July will typically show up on your bill between August 15 to September 15, depending on the timing of your billing cycle. Check the Charge Smart NY app to see the history of your earnings.

If you did not earn the incentive for a given calendar month, your bill will not show any EV Savings.

No. The monthly incentive is paid per National Grid account number, if the incentive criteria is met and you are enrolled in the program at the end of the applicable calendar month.

The Customer Support team is ready to assist you. Please submit all inquiries to ChargeSmartNY@ev.energy.  Customer Support hours are Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET, excluding US Federal Holidays.

Select your vehicle and/or charging station within the app to connect to your electric vehicle (EV) or home charger using the username and password on your compatible EV or home charger account.

Earned incentives are listed within the Incentive tab.

No. Only a compatible EV or EVSE is required to be connected to be eligible to participate in the EV Charge Smart Plan. However, you can connect both your compatible EV and EVSE if you wish.

You can add additional vehicles to your account within the Dashboard tab or via Settings.

Within the Dashboard tab:

 

From Settings:

1. Tap on the Settings gear icon in the upper left corner of the Dashboard tab.
2. Tap 'Vehicle'.
3. Tap 'Add New Vehicle'.
4. Follow the steps to select your vehicle make, model, and trim and then enter your account details to create a connection between Charge Smart NY and your vehicle app.
5. Tap Okay on the success screen.
   
   

Your additional vehicle is now connected.

To remove your vehicle:

1. In the Dashboard tab, go to the Settings gear icon in the upper left corner.
2. Tap 'Vehicle' and then tap on the car you wish to remove.
3. Tap 'Unlink'. 
4. You'll then see a pop-up confirming your selection. Tap 'Unlink'.
   
   

Your vehicle will now be removed from the app.

If you have Active Compatible Hardware connected and a Smart schedule set-up, the Charge Smart NY app automatically shifts your charging to off-peak hours, while accommodating your “Ready by Time.” The app sends start and stop charging commands to your vehicle or charger to accomplish this. Smart Charging is enabled by default when you create your EV Charge Smart NY Plan account. You may turn Smart Charging off in the app’s Smart Tab.

If you need to charge your EV right away and cannot wait for Smart Charging to charge your vehicle during off-peak hours, tap the Boost button within the Dashboard tab to charge immediately.

If you have Active Compatible Hardware, the app will shift charging predominately to off-peak hours when you have the smart schedule set-up. However, some charging may occur when you first plug-in your vehicle, until the app polls (reaches out to) the EV or EVSE initiating stop and start charging commands. 

To prevent charging commencing upon plug-in and to optimize off-peak charging, open the app immediately after you plug-in your vehicle. This action will trigger the app to poll (reach out to) your EV or EVSE. 

The Charge Smart NY app optimizes your charging:

• Based on your charging preference set in your "Ready by Time", and
• By maximizing off-peak charging.
  
  

By enabling the "Maximize Off-Peak Charging" setting, the app will predominately charge during off-peak hours.

Yes. National Grid and ev.energy, technology provider, do not see or store your EV and/or home charger username and password. Once you enter your username and password, we instantly exchange them with the vehicle and/or home charger manufacturer for a secure token that allows us to be able to continue to access your account to optimize your charging throughout the program. This token is stored securely and encrypted in ev.energy’s cloud platform, hosted by Amazon Web Services.

National Grid needs information on your vehicle charging to determine if you earned the $15 incentive. However, you only need to connect one device to participate in the Charge Smart Plan (your charger or EV).

Once you disconnect your EV, ev.energy will no longer be able to read the charging on your vehicle. Any data from previous charging sessions will be anonymized and aggregated. The aggregate data will be analyzed by National Grid to assess the benefits of this program.

Some makes and models are not currently able to send charging data to ev.energy, technology provider, and therefore, are not currently supported. As new makes and models are supported, they will be added to the Compatible Vehicle and Charging Equipment List.

If your EV and Charging Station are not compatible with the Plan you can add your information to the EV Charge Smart Wish List to:

• Identify that you are interested in learning more on how to purchase and have installed a compatible charging station or
• To have your vehicle and charging station information considered for future compatibility.

• Purchase a compatible Charging Station at any location eligible charging stations are sold.
  
  
• Find a qualified residential contractor
  • Joint Utilities of New York Approved Contractors
    https://jointutilitiesofny.org/ev/make-ready/approved-contractors
  • Department of Transportation Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program (EVITP) Certified Contractors
    https://evitp.org/newyork
  • New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
    https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/Contractors/Find-a-Contractor
    
    
• Enroll in the EV Charge Smart NY Plan once your compatible charging station is installed.