Why keeping your carbon payout low isn’t patriotism

Did some research on how these EV charging rebate companies make money in the long run. Put some info gathered from research together and edited by AI for readability.

TL;DR
Don't let corporate flag-waving guilt you into accepting lower returns on your energy data.
Expecting 10¢–15¢/kWh for the carbon offsets **your vehicle produces** isn't greedy—it's basic market efficiency. United Chargers is free to run whatever business model they want, but claiming that underpaying consumers is the "only legitimate, patriotic way to build Canadian infrastructure" isn't the whole truth. It's just a manufacturer protecting his margins.

By now, many of you have probably seen the long-form post on X from Gleb Nikiforov (CEO of United Chargers) where he attempts to explain why Grizzl-E isn't raising their baseline Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR) cashback payout to match competitors offering $0.10–$0.15/kWh right out of the gate.
In his post, Gleb paints United Chargers as the noble, self-funded Canadian manufacturer fighting to single-handedly build national EV infrastructure, while writing off competitors offering higher payouts as reckless "importers," short-sighted "aggregators," or compliance risks.
While Gleb deserves credit for building a solid Canadian manufacturing business, **his argument about CFR payouts relies on a massive framing trick.**
Here is the breakdown of what he’s actually saying—and how to dismantle the exact excuses he’s going to make when called out.

1. The Core Misdirection: The Carbon Credits Belong to YOUR Electricity Usage
2. Gleb argues that as a Canadian manufacturer, he should hold onto a bigger chunk of CFR revenues to fund his "4-Step Infrastructure Plan" (deploying commercial L2s and L3s).
3. **The missing truth:** The Federal Clean Fuel Regulations were designed to monetize the **clean electricity consumed by the EV owner** to displace fossil fuels. You bought the EV, you pay the electric bill, and your driving generates the carbon offset.
4. Giving drivers 3¢–5¢/kWh while competitors give 10¢–15¢ isn’t "saving Canadian infrastructure." It means United Chargers is taking **your carbon equity** to use as cheap capital to fund their own corporate expansion, hardware R&D, and commercial balance sheet. If a company wants to build commercial DC fast chargers, they should raise capital or use product margins—not expect residential EV drivers to subsidize their corporate R&D by accepting below-market payouts.
5. Pre-Empting Gleb's Rebuttals (Before He Even Comments)
6. When anyone calls out this payout structure, Gleb usually fires back with three predictable talking points. Here is why those arguments fall apart:
7. Rebuttal #1: "We give you a 'FREE' charger, so lower per-kWh payouts make up for hardware costs!"
8. **The Reality:** That "free" charger isn't a gift—it comes with a deposit (like $100) or an annual subscription fee (up to $120/year after Year 1).
9. **The Math:** If you pay for your charger outright (like a $500 Grizzl-E Classic) or bring your own unit, why are you *still* put on a slow-tier payout system that starts at 3¢–5¢/kWh and takes **35,000+ kWh of charging** just to reach the 10¢ tier? A driver who pays full price up-front shouldn't have to subsidize the "free" chargers given to other people.
10. Rebuttal #2: "CFR credit prices are volatile ($50–$400/tonne)! Higher-paying aggregators will collapse when the market crashes!"
11. **The Reality:** The CFR is a regulated compliance market. Yes, carbon credit spot prices fluctuate, but aggregators don't just "guess and gamble"—they hedge and lock in forward contracts with polluters.
12. **The Reality Check:** Saying "we are keeping your payout low at 3¢–5¢ to protect you from market volatility" is a classic corporate line. Translation: *"We will take 100% of the upside when credit prices are high, while using 'volatility risk' as the excuse to keep your baseline payout low."*
13. Rebuttal #3: "CFR rules FORCE us to reinvest in infrastructure or give money back to the government!"
14. **The Reality:** Giving higher cashback directly to the consumer **IS** an explicit, 100% compliant form of reinvestment under Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) rules.
15. Returning credit value to the person who paid for the power is the purest form of the program—it directly lowers the total cost of EV ownership for everyday Canadians. Calling competitors "irresponsible" for passing 80%+ of that credit value back to the driver—instead of hoarding it internally for corporate hardware expansion—is simply defending his own profit margins.
16. The $600 Software Lock-In
17. Gleb urges drivers to choose "Manufacturers" over "Aggregators" because aggregators don't make hardware. But EV chargers use **OCPP (Open Charge Point Protocol)**—an open industry standard specifically created to prevent hardware vendors from trapping consumers.
18. Recently, United Chargers made headlines by introducing hefty fees (up to $600) to unlock or migrate OCPP functionality on certain units. If his service were superior and his payout fair, he wouldn't need financial penalties or software barriers to stop users from taking their own hardware to a higher-paying aggregator like ChargeLab or Pion Power.
19. Why He Needs Drivers More Than Drivers Need Him
20. Gleb frames the "Grizzl-E Club" as a generous favor to the Canadian public. But look at the long-term play:
21. To build a **Virtual Power Plant (VPP)** or become an energy broker for power utilities, United Chargers *desperately needs tens of thousands of active, connected home chargers*. Without your daily charging data plugged into his network, his commercial valuation and grid-service ambitions collapse.
22. **The EV Driver holds the asset:** You own the car, pay the power bill, and generate the data.
23. **The Charger is just a pipe:** The hardware is a commodity.

He acts as if drivers are greedy for wanting market-rate payouts, but the reality is simple: **We are the suppliers of the carbon data he sells.**

Bottom line: choose the program that works for YOU. If you charge daily there’s no reason to give up your carbon credits.

If it’s hard for you to reach 1500kwh to get your deposit back from programs like SWTCH (you drive PHEV, mostly on gas and don’t charge a lot), use grizzle since you’re not missing out much and you get your deposit back quicker.