The Chesterton Town Council voted unanimously at its meeting Monday night to approve an ordinance establishing a fee for the use of the EV charging stations in Downtown Chesterton, located on the north side of Broadway near Thomas Centennial Park, the Town of Chesterton reported on their Facebook page.
The Town of Chesterton reported the following:
The authorizing ordinance sets both an “active charging” fee and an “inactive charging” fee:
*ACTIVE CHARGING: The initial rate will be 40 cents per kilowatt hour but is “subject to change at the discretion of the Town Council.”
*INACTIVE CHARGING: Any vehicle connected to a charging station but not actively charging will be assessed a fee of $5 per hour. The vehicle will be considered “not actively charging” 15 minutes after the vehicle has been fully charged.
This ordinance will apply only to EV charging stations owned by the Town of Chesterton, of which currently there are only two: Those located on Broadway in Downtown Chesterton.
“I support this fully,” said Vice-President Erin Collins, D-2nd. “I want to say that this is something that is regular practice in all communities. People that I talk to that use these chargers kind of knew it was not going to be forever free. So what we’re doing essentially is ensuring that the town isn’t spending tax dollars for other people to charge their vehicles and that what we are assessing is incredibly reasonable.”