Key points in this article
A Clearer Household Ledger
A pricing policy makes the home-charger ledger clearer. Shandong's August 2024 notice eases installation, so more residents get compliant independent-metering meters, and national price policy lets directly-metered users voluntarily choose peak-valley time-of-use rates to guide orderly charging.
In Weihai, after power channels open peak-valley rates, 'plug in before sleep, full by morning' becomes routine. Operators show billing details transparently so residents can calculate and trust the cost they are actually paying.
Price as a Lever
The deeper value is using price to steer disordered charging into orderly charging, a win for both grid and user. Transparent billing is the bedrock of trust and repeat use, because residents can see exactly what they bought.
Residents can apply for independent metering and shift charging to the valley period, while communities can teach neighbors the peak-valley tip to save money. Small behavior changes add up across a whole city's load curve.
Weihai's experience is that the policy works best when the saving is visible: a clear per-unit price turns an abstract benefit into a habit, and habit is what keeps the evening peak from overloading local transformers.