LADWP Reopens Nation’s First Municipal V2G Program
- EVs News Regulatory
Marin Holt
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- 5 minutes read
- Program capacity: 20 MW
- Discharge payment: $0.17/kWh above peak rate
- Guaranteed events: Minimum 50 critical peak period events per year
- Interconnection reimbursement: Up to 75%, capped at $150,000 or $400,000
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is taking 2026 applications for its Commercial Energy Storage to Grid (CES2G) pilot, with a processing deadline of May 6, 2026. CES2G is the nation's first municipal-utility vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and storage-to-grid program, making 20 megawatts (MW) of capacity available and paying participants $0.17 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) above the prevailing peak rate for energy discharged to the grid.
How the program pays
The economics run through LADWP's Distribution Voltage Energy Storage Supply Service (DESS) rate agreement. It guarantees 17 cents per kWh above the peak rate for all discharged energy, plus a minimum of 50 critical peak period (CPP) discharge events each year. That floor of 50 guaranteed events is the key design choice: it converts an unpredictable grid-services revenue stream into a number a fleet operator can underwrite in a financing model, which is precisely what has been missing from most bidirectional-charging business cases.
Who qualifies
Eligibility centers on commercial, industrial, and institutional customers running high-voltage DC fast chargers for large fleets of electric buses, trucks, or other EVs, as well as stationary battery systems. Participation requires separately metered systems that connect batteries or EV charging stations to the grid. The program targets exactly the fleet depots where megawatt charging is being deployed, positioning idle commercial EVs as dispatchable capacity rather than pure load on LADWP's distribution network.
Lowering the cost to connect
CES2G also offsets interconnection costs, the expense that most often kills behind-the-meter export projects. The program can reimburse qualifying customers up to 75% of interconnection costs as a one-time lump sum, capped at $150,000 on the 4.8-kilovolt (kV) system and $400,000 on the 34.5-kV high-voltage system. By subsidizing the connection and guaranteeing the discharge revenue, LADWP attacks the two largest barriers to commercial V2G adoption at once: upfront capital and revenue certainty.
Critical Perspective
At 20 MW, CES2G is a pilot, not a market. The capacity ceiling and the limited eligibility window mean it tests whether fleets will commit hardware to grid export, not whether V2G can scale across a city. The guaranteed payments and interconnection subsidies are generous because adoption has been slow elsewhere, raising the question of whether the model survives once the subsidies taper. As a municipal utility, LADWP can offer terms an investor-owned utility cannot easily replicate, so the program is more a proof of demand than a template other utilities can copy outright.
Why It Matters
CES2G is the most concrete answer in the U.S. to the question of how a utility pays commercial fleets for V2G. Fleet operators electrifying depots in Los Angeles should model the $0.17/kWh adder and 50 guaranteed events against their charging schedules before the May 6 deadline. For utilities elsewhere, the program is a live experiment in whether revenue guarantees and interconnection subsidies are enough to turn parked EVs into grid capacity.
