Building just announced $100-215/month EV charging fees — is that normal?
Got an email from my building's management company yesterday announcing new pricing for the EV charging spots they installed last spring, and the range they quoted, somewhere between $100 and $215 a month depending on which speed tier you pick, caught me off guard. I've had free access to the slower spot since it went in, so this is the first time I'm actually being asked to pay for it, and I don't have anything to compare it against since none of my friends have this at their own buildings. Before I email back with questions or complaints, I want to know if this is actually a normal price range or if my building is just testing what people will tolerate.
Filed under: Troubleshooting
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11 answers
11 ANSWERS
@saltmarsh99July 04, 2026
That's on the high end of what I've seen, but not unreasonable if it includes the port lease and not just electricity. Ask specifically what's bundled before assuming it's just power costs.
@staticpollenJuly 04, 2026
Compare it against what you'd pay in public charging fees for the same monthly mileage before deciding. For some people $150 a month at home is still cheaper than public fast charging habits.
Does anyone know if these per-tier prices are actually metered to usage, or is it a flat fee no matter how much you charge?
This varies by building, but tiered pricing like this is almost always metered to actual usage within each tier, not a flat number regardless of how much you charge. The tiers usually correspond to power level — which speed you're assigned to — but within a tier you're typically billed for what you actually draw, either through a submeter on the port or a card/app that logs your sessions. Ask your management company directly whether the number on your bill moves with usage or is fixed no matter what — that's a question they should be able to answer immediately, and if they can't, that's worth pushing on.
@lampthreadJuly 04, 2026
Our building charges a flat $120 regardless of usage, and I'd rather have the tiered option you're describing — at least you can pick the cheaper tier if you don't drive much.
@ribbonashJuly 04, 2026
Ask if the fee is monetized as pass-through electricity cost plus a small margin, or a flat guess. The first is defensible, the second is where people actually do get overcharged.
Has anyone gotten their building to actually itemize how they landed on a number like that, or do they just not explain it?
Some buildings do, most don't unless a resident specifically pushes for it. If you want an itemized answer, ask for the underlying cost basis in writing: equipment cost amortized over some number of years, ongoing electricity and demand charges, and maintenance/admin overhead are the three components that typically make up a number like this. A management company that installed the ports themselves, rather than through a turnkey vendor lease, should have those figures on hand. If they're cagey about producing them, that's usually a sign the number was picked to test tolerance rather than calculated from actual costs.
@tealcorkJuly 04, 2026
Does anyone know if these fees are usually negotiable, or is it pretty much take-it-or-leave-it once they announce a number?
From the property management side, it's more negotiable than people assume, especially this early after a rollout, when the number was probably set without much resident pushback data yet. Emailing back with specific questions, like the metering question above, plus a comparison to what a couple of nearby buildings charge, is completely normal and won't read as combative. Where it gets less negotiable is once the fee's been in place a year and is already baked into their budget — the real window to move the number is right after an announcement like yours, not later.
@copperfogJuly 05, 2026
Contractor, not a resident of your building, but from install cost alone that range isn't crazy if they're recovering equipment cost over a few years rather than charging you a flat markup forever.
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