LADWP Board president Cynthia McClain-Hill spoke about the importance of providing access to electric vehicles for people in underserved communities. (photo courtesy of the LADWP)

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has announced a comprehensive plan to build, operate and maintain a city-owned network of electric vehicle “fast-charger” stations in the city’s underserved communities, ensuring that working-class residents share in the benefits of L.A.’s transition to clean energy.

The EV charging plaza network is the cornerstone of LADWP’s Powered by Equity initiative, which will ensure that all customers can realize the full benefits of L.A.’s clean energy future.

LADWP’s initiative comes on the heels of the public release of LA100 Equity Strategies, an expansive and detailed two-year research study undertaken with community input by researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the University of California, Los Angeles. LA100 Equity Strategies provides a detailed analysis of L.A.’s clean energy investment inequities and recommends policies and programs to address them.

“L.A. is home to some of our nation’s wealthiest enclaves, many of our state’s poorest neighborhoods and an array of middle-class and working-class communities. Our clean energy future must be meaningful and beneficial for our customers citywide,” Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners president Cynthia McClain-Hill said. “Moving forward, our clean energy future will be powered by equity. Our path forward is to continue leading with equity in how we fashion the framework for our city’s clean energy future. We have an opportunity to be innovative and bold. We have an opportunity to shape our clean energy future in a manner that delivers benefits to community residents and our LADWP customers in the neighborhoods where they live. LADWP’s mission must be to enable our customers to benefit from our transition to clean energy, not be left to bear onerous economic burdens because of it.”

The centerpiece of the Powered by Equity initiative is providing city-owned battery electric vehicle charging infrastructure in underserved communities where EV charging capacity currently lags far behind more affluent communities. To support the transition to EVs, LADWP is also increasing its Used EV Rebate from $2,500 to $4,000 for customers participating in the Lifeline or EZ-SAVE discount rate programs.

The LADWP also plans to expand and add equity components to a variety of clean energy programs, including solar utilization, energy efficiency, job creation and training, electric vehicle rebates, utility upgrades to support home EV charger installations, point-of-sale rebates for home cooling and extending LADWP’s plans for resiliency hubs.

For information, visit ladwp.com.