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Re:California Has a Plan to End the Auto Industry as We Know It by rhino369 on Monday August 03, 2015 @12:23PM (#9997323)
I'm not 100% sure how California public utilities commission works, but in most states, the company would in fact need government permission to do upgrades. Otherwise they can't charge more money to do it.

Power companies are heavily regulated and so are power rates. Their business model is dictated to them.

Re:California Has a Plan to End the Auto Industry as We Know It by Retric on Monday August 03, 2015 @12:28PM (#9997376)
There is no need to change rates if demand increases, if anything things get cheaper per KWH as electric cars increase night time demand. As to permission, that’s not a cost which would need to be paid for.
Re:California Has a Plan to End the Auto Industry as We Know It by greggyb on Monday August 03, 2015 @06:13PM (#10000270)
The man hours (and there would be many) required to document the need, apply for permission, potentially attend hearings of some sort, argue for, and comply with the conditions of permission most certainly have non-zero cost to the utility company.