A divide is growing in the transportation electrification sector, and not just between those with EVs and those without. A financial gap is developing between homeowners who benefit from regulated residential EV charging and tens of millions of renters and multifamily housing residents who experience fragmented, volatile EV charging prices. This is a "renter’s penalty", where on-site multifamily or public charging can cost 2-6x more than charging on a standard residential meter.
For utilities, this pricing disparity presents a strategic opportunity to extend affordable rate relief to users of public or on-site multifamily housing chargers. By separating income-qualified benefits from a static home meter to then apply to public or multifamily housing on-site chargers, utilities can ensure that financial relief moves dynamically with the driver. This transition ensures that the utility’s commitment to affordability is tied to the customer’s account rather than their housing type, effectively eliminating the "renter’s penalty" and providing a consistent, predictable fueling cost for every driver.
Utilities are uniquely poised to address affordability issues at public charger. Our newly released Utility Brief and Utility Playbook below provide utilities and regulators the practical steps to evaluate and build income-qualified public charging programs.
Read our Utility Brief
Join the Community of Practice
The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) has partnered with GRID Alternatives to launch a Community of Practice that brings utilities together to share lessons learned in the equitable, EV charging space for low-income renters. Publicly-owned utilities, investor-owned utilities, rural electric cooperatives, community choice aggregators, and LSE adjacent ecosystem partners are all invited to participate. For more information about SEPA's programming reach out to Ashley Lynn Qua at aqua@sepapower.org.
