EV owners shocked by charging rate at Waterloo, Ont. condo

Electric vehicle users at a Waterloo, Ont. condo were shocked by a recent update to their building’s EV charging stations.

People living at 188 King Street South said the price to charge their EVs unexpectedly jumped from 25 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) to 75 cents per kWh.

“They’re gouging us is the bottom line,” said resident Otto Altenhoff.

“They suddenly sent us an email where they were changing the fee, out of nowhere, to 75 cents per kilowatt hour, which is an unheard of rate,” condo owner Shaher Al Marashded said.

Residents said they are using Level 2 chargers that are typically found in homes and commercial facilities. Level 2 chargers are slightly faster than Level 1 chargers and, according to the provincial government, most Level 2 chargers offer approximately a 35 km range per hour of charging.

People using a Level 3 charger typically get a 250 km range per hour of charging.

“Fast charging is more expensive,” Louise Levesque, the senior policy director at Electric Mobility Canada, explained. “We pay for the convenience of having the charging going really fast, but Level 2 charging is low charging, so we expect that price to be much, much lower.”

“I live in the building, I pay a condo fee every month and the infrastructure is in place. So over a period of time, they can get their money back and after that, they can make a small profit,” Altenhoff argued.

When it comes to setting the rates at private facilities, technology expert Carmi Levy said there is no governing body to provide oversight.

“Unfortunately, the EV rate is very much the Wild West, simply because it’s an open market. There are no rules if you’re a condo corporation, if you’re a building, if you’re a garage structure. You can pretty much charge whatever you want,” Levy said.

For some of the residents at 188 King Street South, the rate prompted them to look for other charging options in their neighbourhood.

“I’ve been going to the Tesla Superchargers, which is almost half the price,” Al Marashded said.

CTV News Kitchener reached out to property management and the condo board regarding the rates, but did not hear back by our deadline.

In an email to CTV News, the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) confirmed they do not regulate or set the prices for EV charging stations.

“Those prices are set by each charging service provider,” the organization wrote. “As a result, the OEB does not track the prices charged to users by EV charging service providers in Ontario.”

Experts, meanwhile, hope charging stations become more accessible.

“I find this really sad and I hope this doesn’t become a generalization, because we need more charging stations in condos,” Levesque said.