EV charging in Condo and strata electricity rate
 

Do buildings pay more for electricity?

I recently got an EV charger installed at my parking stall for my condo. It cost me $4000 for the unit and installation but i thought of it as an investment because the strata said the building can only handle so much chargers so theres a limited # of installation.

Anyways, they install a unit that I pay $20/month fee for and it basically logs usage and I can control it off and on, etc.

The strata said they set the rate at $0.20/kWH

I know for my home hydro, I pay a 2 tiered rate, capping out at $0.1410/kWH.

Is it different for buildings? Is first residential trying to make a profit off me? Do I have any recourse?

This is a very interesting topic. My friends strata won't even allow them to put in a charging unit in their stall.

I suspect the $0.20/kWh is definitely a premium.

I doubt there is any recourse for you though, unless you put forward a motion at a strata meeting. It sounds like you just have to pay the premium.

You sound overentitled / cheap

I just saved 60$ (vs gasoline) to charge my brand new electric car in my underground parkade, but i want to save an extra 6c /kwh

Ask strata why they are charging you an extra 6c and go from there

You're lucky you got a private charger, most people have to share a public one like poor people

Poor people don't have EV's.

????
Its not like I paid $4000 and $20/month base rate for a machine that logs the exact usage so I can be charged exactly what I use.

Based on rough numbers, the extra cents come out to about $400/year premium for my usage. 10 year means $4000.

You're right, now that I actually did the math for argument sake, its not a huge amount of money but its really the principle for me.

I just wanted to get my info before asking the strata. Do they pay the same hydro rate as just regular home customers?

Your story makes no sense and is all over the place.

Are you installing (ie. paying) for the charger or is Strata? What is the $20/month for? Are they billing you at 20 cents/kWh or is it $20/month no matter what?

If it's an actual charger and not an extension cable from an outlet, they will likely be metered separately, so yes they can absolutely tell how much you're using.

To answer your question, no, strata buildings are considered residential, and they pay the same rates as residents.

We had a similar issue in our building with EV chargers. Our building already has a bunch of level 2 chargers installed, however they were all hooked up to the same meter. Because of this we ended up getting charged an massive amount by BC Hydro because we were getting hit with Demand charges. This was basically a very expensive rate because everyone was charging at the same time and our EV bill skyrocketed. Your strata might have a similar issue if each EV plug isn't own its own meter.

I pay for installing. I paid $4000 for the charging unit + installation.
The charging unit acts as a third party meter for the strata.
So I pay $20 a month for the "meter" + the $0.20 rate based on usage.

I think the charging unit is designed so the chargers aren't metered separately and can run on one circuit but obviously the unit itself meters usage.

Here is an excerpt from one of the initial emails before installation.

Not sure why there's so much hate on OP. Seems like reasonable questions.

But, I guess you should probably ask strata

Sure seems like the building is skimming off the top from what I can see, whether intentionally or not.
It could be that they're just using the "default" strata rate or whatever it may for general strata electricity usage and passing that along and not nefarious.

From the strata that I've seen, I believe they charge like 2 dollars an hour, this is to prevent people from leaving their car plugged in when they are done charging.

Is this contract for a set period of time? It’s possible they are accounting for future electricity costs. May as well make a buck off it, they do out number you :p

You should join one of those FB strata questions groups. More leads there...

Also, most strata are not allowing charging in buildings. Current infrastructure wasn't meant for charging stations and hopefully, that will change soon but be prepared for a special levy.

i am also facing almost same situation.
Dealing with Strata now. they are PITA!!!

I would question what's $0.20/KWhr based on?
Somehow the number has to be reasonable?

Easiest way to deal with strata is by joining it.

Then you'll see just what kind of dumb shit they have to deal with or deal themselves.

now that i know strata is paying 0.14, i sent an email asking where the 6cent premium cost is going to.
will update soon.

For those interested, heres the notice bulletin that advertised the installation.
https://imgur.com/a/BWxlX7d

Our building is fairly new and when it was first built, some stalls had an OUTLET for EV chargers but when I asked about them, how to get one and how its paid, the strata said they are sold out.
I think for the outlet ones, its linked the unit so they just pay bchydro??? maybe??? I also dont know how people got these stalls when it was first developed, maybe lottery? any new condo buyers know more? (asking for future reference)

Anyways, this notice came so I jumped the gun.

Yeah, the strata's common electricity account could fall under general service business rates rather than residential.

It's all described here:

https://electricvehicles.bchydro.com...artment-strata

"Electricity use from the EV charger will be billed under the existing rate for common use area account. This is typically either the Residential Conservation Rate or one of the General Service Rates"

My understanding is if the chargers are in residential, then it's residential. If it's installed on a business then it's general service.

My friend is on his building's strata and the EV chargers fall under the general service business rates and are more expensive than normal residential rates. Additionally, they've been subject to demand pricing.

Their building charges owners approx. $40/mo. for each EV charger (they are unable to bill by usage) and apparently it's costing the strata about $80-90/mo.

Hi!
It looks like we live in the same building, I saw the same notice from strata. I'm not going to be much help but I actually have 1 of the stalls that have an outlet but I never inquired on how to use it because I don't have an EV car. I also don't know how I was assigned that spot & I purchased the unit during the presale - that stall just came with it..

long story short, I think your strata is rounding up the $/kwh charge so that they know they won't be short changed or have to deal with the accounting to recover the money owing from each owner.

In the next AGM, you can review the annual report to see where the extra 0.6/kwh is allocated. If the Strata Council is proactive, they should be setting aside the extra cash in their contingency fund to deal with any repairs caused by faulty EV chargers.

This would piss me off if I was Somone who wasn’t using the chargers.

step 2 pricing rate?