Gilbert to consider fees for EV charging stations

Gilbert is considering implementing new fees for charging electric vehicles at town facilities and parking garages.

A public hearing and vote on the new proposed fees is scheduled to occur at the Gilbert Town Council meeting June 18.

Town staff presented the results of a rate study conducted by Walker Consultants at the Town Council Study Session on March 5 .

Following the discussion, Gilbert Town Council instructed staff to issue a Notice of Intent regarding the introduction of new fees for the use of all town-owned electric vehicle charging stations.

The study recommended the following fee structure relating to electric vehicle charging:

• $0.25 per kWh cost to charge for the first four hours
• $0.70 per kWh cost to charge after four hours
• $5 per hour idle fee if not actively charging vehicle
• $175 fine for non-electric vehicles or electric vehicles not plugged into the charging station parked in an electric vehicle space

If approved, the new fees would go into effect for all Town-owned electric vehicle charging stations Aug. 1.

Gilbert has electric vehicle charging stations at the Hearne Way Parking Garage in downtown Gilbert and at the town's Public Safety Training Facility. These stations are currently free to use but are slated to be upgraded to smart chargers in October, at which point they may start to incur a usage fee if the proposed fees are approved by the Town Council in June.

Recently, new smart chargers were also installed in the employee parking lot at Gilbert Town Hall which will be turned on and begin charging a fee in August if approved.