Beyond the home meter: How utilities can eliminate the EV ‘renter’s penalty’

If you own a home with a garage, charging an electric vehicle overnight is usually cheap. But if you rent or live in an apartment without your own charger, you likely depend on public or shared charging stations, where electricity can cost up to six times more than home rates. Two energy-equity experts argue this "renter's penalty" undercuts one of the main financial perks of owning an EV, simply based on where someone lives.

Their proposed fix: utilities should stop tying affordability discounts to a home electric meter and instead attach them to the customer, so income-qualified drivers get the same discounted rate no matter where they plug in, whether that's a public charger or shared equipment at an apartment complex. Ideas on the table include discounts applied through a customer's account, prepaid charging cards, and reduced rates at utility-owned public or multifamily charging stations, sometimes combining these approaches.

For most homeowners, this doesn't change anything directly, since home charging already comes at standard residential rates. But it matters if you have family members, tenants, or plan to move somewhere without dedicated home charging. It's also a sign of where utility policy may be headed as EV adoption grows: regulators are pushing utilities to make sure the savings of going electric aren't limited to people with driveways and garages. Whether your own utility offers anything like this depends on where you live, so it's worth checking your state's programs if this situation applies to you or someone you know.