Who pays to charge the car? Canberra apartment blocks grapple with the EV question
Naziya Alvi Rahman reports for Region:
A resident in a Canberra apartment complex had been plugging their electric vehicle into a common-area outlet, effectively sharing the electricity bill with everyone in the building.
Other residents noticed. Complaints followed, and eventually the body corporate pulled the plug.
But that solved only one problem and created a much bigger question: as more Canberrans buy electric vehicles, who should pay to make apartment buildings ready to charge them?
The issue recently sparked a lively discussion in a Canberra community group after a resident said their owners corporation was now considering installing a proper communal EV charger.
The resident stressed they were hardly anti-EV – they hoped to own one themselves one day – but questioned why people without electric cars should contribute towards infrastructure predominantly used by those who had them.
“If the EV owner wants the convenience, the installation and associated costs should be covered by the owner,” the resident argued, also questioning whether scarce visitor parking should be given over to charging bays.
Canberrans, it turns out, have plenty of opinions on the matter.
Some community members firmly backed a user-pays approach. One said owners in their complex could install chargers in their allocated parking spaces at their own expense. Another argued it was unfair to expect the body corporate to pay for installation and maintenance.
Others saw a communal charger more like a gym or another shared facility – something not everybody uses, but which can add value to the building.
And several Canberra complexes appear to have already found a middle ground: share the cost of getting the infrastructure in place, but make EV drivers pay for the electricity they use.
One resident said their building had operated that way successfully for three years. Another said chargers had been installed in common-area bays with individual users paying for their power.
At another complex, technology has even taken care of the potentially awkward question of whose turn it is. Residents book a charging bay through an app and pay individually.
“This system works very well,” the resident said.
So, if Canberra apartment dwellers are already trying everything from private chargers to communal bays, which model is winning?
There isn’t one.
Alex Boundy, general manager – facilities at Civium, said the answer often depended on the building and how many residents actually owned EVs.
