Arlington County considers 72% rate increase for public electric vehicle charging

Charging an electric vehicle at Arlington County's public stations could soon cost more. County leader is now considering a 72% rate increase. Let's get out to Maureen Umeh, who's live in Arlington, with the latest details. Maureen? That's right. So you can see the cars here behind me charging at Central Library. This is one of the public charging ports here at Arlington, one of 51. I've spoken to two of the drivers this morning of these EVs. One says he was shocked to hear about this proposed price increase. The other one says it's only to be expected with the price of things just rising across the board. Still, both say these county stations are a good deal. Now, the proposal on the table would affect, again, 51 charging ports across Arlington. Right now, drivers pay a little more than 17.5 cents per kilowatt hour. Under this new proposal, that would increase to 30 cents, so that's like a 72% jump. County staff says that the higher fee would help cover the cost of the chargers and rising electricity costs. They also say 30 cents would put Arlington in line with government-owned charging stations like those in Fairfax and also Prince William County. While staying below most commercial rates in the region, the county says use of its charging stations has increased every single year since the program began. The proposal also includes a break for overnight users. Right now, drivers pay an extra $3 an hour starting 15 minutes after their charging session ends. The county would stop charging that extra fee between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. One EV driver we spoke to this morning here at Central Library says using the county-owned charging ports says that despite the price increase, she thinks the county-owned stations are still a comparable bargain. I think it's pretty affordable compared to gas. So I guess I'll see when they do raise it how much more I'll feel about it. But it's pretty affordable right now. And compared to gas, you know, it's not a lot of money to be spending when gas prices are so high. Now, the increase has not been approved, but that might happen on Saturday when the county board does vote. Should they table the votes and want more discussion, it'll then move to October 20th when they'll finally vote on this measure. But all in all, again, the mood being from these EV drivers that we've spoken to this morning is that they expected an increase to come at some point. They're not too rattled, despite the 72 percent jump that it would be. they say all in all compared to gasoline as you just heard from that one woman this is still quite the bargain that's the latest for now back to you in the studio