EV Charging Station HOA Charging Monthly Fee?

(Assuming there is not an individual electric meter) it is very reasonable to charge an extra fee to charge an electric vehicle, the only question is how much. I think it is very reasonable to price it high enough to guarantee that the association doesn't lose money. If this becomes more popular it is likely they will eventually work out a better way to charge.

Why not just pass along the cost to the tenants? Is there an obligation in CA to provide a charging station??

Hi Kendall

The flip side of your question is: Why should every other homeowner pay a portion of the cost if you are the only one who asked for it and the only one using it?

Nothing unethical about it.

There are charging stations that individuals pay to use. Suggest that this style be obtained.
Until then, pass on the costs to your tenants (if the language of your lease allows for such things).

Thank you all for responding. It's very helpful!

There are some other items to note...
1) The charging station itself was free. The only charge was for the electrician. I have no problem paying for the electrician, however, if someone else were to start utilizing the station, I don't feel that the entire cost should be my responsibility. That cost should be shared among everyone utilizing the station whether they start using it next week or next year. The way the contract for the EV station reads, it's a $50 monthly charge. So say that there are 10 people that end up using the station, that's $500 in the HOA's pocket in which case the HOA would be MAKING money off of something that I essentially installed.
2) The charging station itself has individualized payments. The person utilizing it has to set up their own account and they are charged for the electricity they use. There is no other charge/responsibility for the HOA to pay/month except for that monthly maintenance fee that I'm aware of. I have yet to see a contract or the details between the HOA and the company so I can't be sure what that is if anything.
3)I took out a $1,000,000 Umbrella policy naming my HOA as the additional insured because they wanted to charge me an additional $100/month to do so on their own and pass along the charges to me. My policy only charges $21.27/month, so I agreed to do that instead of paying nearly $80 more per month.
4) The parking spot where the charging station is located is still open to anyone to park. Therefore, there is no guarantee of a spot for my tenant.
5) The tenant is going to pay the monthly fee. It's not a matter of the money, it's a matter of it being fair for all involved.

I don't want to have the HOA lose money. It's not in my best interest as a Home Owner because that would only lead to HOA dues increasing for everyone. I just wanted to get a feel for what is fair. I have just felt that it's a bit weird that I haven't been able to get any documentation as to the total cost of installing the station and what the agreement between the HOA and the company that installed the station is. I feel that if I am the one "footing the bill" if you will, that I should at least know what I'm up against. Am I wrong?

Have you asked your HOA if they will dedicate the parking space to your tenant (at least until another resident starts using it)?

Have you asked your HOA what the fee will be when there are two people using the charging station?

I have an older EV. It cost me about $1 per day to charge and it took longer to charge than the newer EVs. That's right. It was only $40 per month for me to drive around town with my little EV. You might ask for estimates for daily charging from the company that manufactured the car as well as perhaps a consumer guide for daily to monthly charging cost.

The way my landlady figured it out was to look at the average cost of electricity before I began plugging in and after by month. For this reason, I feel you were being grossly overcharged.

You shouldn't have to fund the entire cost of the station. As someone else wrote, "The flip side of your question is: Why should every other homeowner pay a portion of the cost if you are the only one who asked for it and the only one using it?"

If you use that type of reasoning, then why should people without children fund a playground? When I was in a HOA, there was a decision made to install (illegally, but that's another issue) a playground. This used HOA money and thus, even the childless couples or couples with children who were too old to use it were required to pay for it. The same goes for pools. Just because the HOA has a pool doesn't mean that the people who don't use it shouldn't have to pay for it. The pool is there. It is available for use.

This is much the same thing that happens in cities. People without cars still help pay for roads and people without children still help pay for public schools with their taxes.

I would consider it unfair since, you and your tenants are NOT the only ones who can use it. There is nothing that would prevent a guest (like me) from using it. If the benefit is open to all people, the fault isn't with the people use it.

My EV, being old-school, did not require a special charging station. I could plug straight into my wall (110 VAC).

If you/your tenant are the only one's bearing the cost, then you should be the only one's reaping the benefits. Since it seems like it is common area and there is nothing to prevent other people from using it and the HOA has made no provisions for such a possibility (electric bicycles are inexpensive and popular), I believe that you and your tenant are being taken advantage of and I would consider consulting with local EV groups.

The difference between pools and EV stations is that pools are usually part of the original plan for the community, but here, the EV station was added later at the request of one owner. Maybe 20 years from now, EV stations will be everywhere and everyone will want access, but today, it's just one car in the community.

As I understand the OP, any user needs to set up an individual account with the EV vendor. So as long as that information is being tracked, it is reasonable to assume that the EV vendor will provide a report of users to the HOA. Based on that report, the HOA can allocate the monthly cost among those users.

I agree with the costs involved to charge the car. In my research of their particular EV, it should cost about $30 - $35/month to charge. I presented this fact to the HOA Board and they "respectfully disagreed" with me and decided on the $100 to make them feel better. This was AFTER I suggested that they look at past bills and asked that they do some additional research on their own. They declined to do so. In all fairness, we did agree that after the EV station was installed and we could better gauge the usage of my tenants, they would reimburse me the amount of overage that I paid for the past 5 months. This particular car (Ford Fusion)could also be plugged into the wall and didn't need any new charging station involved. However, the HOA would continue to charge me the $100/month which I felt was too excessive especially from all the research I did and that I passed along to them.

Apparently the HOA has set up the station so that only people with a "Chargepoint" (the company that installed the station) account and that have signed into the HOAs network are allowed to use it. It's not supposed to be open to the public (I will be monitoring that as well if I can).

Thank you for your feedback.

Thank you. So are you saying the cost of the electrician costs to install the station? I'd be okay with that since I was the one who requested the station to be installed in the first place. But they insist that there is a "monthly maintenance fee" that they feel I should have to pay as well... I have yet to see the contract or any kind of agreement made between the HOA and the company that installed the station. I just want to make sure I'm not being overcharged, which at this point, I feel I am.

Just attach a kill-a-watt meter for $10 to the charging cord. It will tell you exactly how much electricity your using. Then bring those facts to the board.