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City seeks new fee schedule for public EV chargers; fast‑charger pricing and idle fees proposed
Summary
Staff proposed a resolution to set new per‑kWh and idle fees for city EV charging stations after migrating to a new software platform; staff said five locations have been brought back online and the goal is to align pricing with regional market rates while promoting turnover.
City staff presented a resolution request to update the fee schedule for municipal electric‑vehicle charging stations, citing software migration and recent upgrades that returned previously offline chargers to service.
Senior Director (Operations) said the city had migrated chargers to a new software platform and brought five locations online: the municipal lot (fast charger), City Hall, Hannah Park, Friendship Park and the golf course. The original Shell Recharge software and provider had ceased operations in third‑party arrangements, staff said, and the city received a refund of advance payments tied to the prior platform. As part of a 5‑year software arrangement, the city obtained 16 level‑2 chargers at no initial cost through prior grant and vendor arrangements and has since upgraded the platform.
Staff proposed a market‑aligned fee structure with per‑kWh rates for level‑2 chargers, an idle fee to discourage long holds on chargers and a higher per‑kWh charge for the fast charger to reflect convenience and higher cost. Senior Director (Operations) said the previous fast‑charger charge for a 50‑kW session would have been roughly $5 under the old schedule, and “the pricing structure of where we believe it should be should be roughly around $28,” which staff characterized as a full‑charge comparison to gasoline. Staff asked council to adopt the fee schedule by resolution under Gahanna Codified Ordinances Chapter 9.49; the committee placed the resolution on the May 19 agenda and anticipated it on the consent agenda for final action.
Councilmembers asked about utilization and outages. Staff said City Hall’s charger is the most heavily used and the Muni lot fast charger draws the most attention when it is offline; under the new software staff said it can now produce analytics on use, idle time and greenhouse‑gas savings per kilowatt.
Councilmember Schnetzer and others asked that fees cover the city’s full costs including software, payment processing and electricity delivery so the program becomes fiscally sustainable; staff said the proposed rates are intended to better recapture program costs while keeping chargers functional and accessible.
