How should multi-let sites handle EV charging service charges?

Separate driver energy, charging operation and shared estate costs before allocating bills to tenants. RICS's 2nd edition commercial service charge standard explicitly addresses EV charging profit centres [S1]. Check the leases and show charging income alongside costs, so tenants can understand who pays and the host can calculate a return. Checked October 2026.

Last checked 17 October 2026

Who should pay for charging electricity on a multi-let site?

Separate the electricity delivered to vehicles from lighting, gates and other shared estate services. Give your managing agent a diagram of the incoming meter, charging circuit and proposed billing system. Ask for a report that reconciles energy purchased with charging receipts, refunds and any difference between meter readings.

RICS addresses charging as a possible landlord profit centre. Where income is kept outside the service charge, its running costs should not be allocated to that account. The charging operation should also contribute appropriately where it benefits from shared estate services [S1]. This is a professional standard; your solicitor must check the lease rather than assuming the standard creates a recovery right.

If billing has not been set up, establish who has authority to change access or tariffs. Do not quietly spread unrecorded driver consumption across every occupier. Obtain the missing records, agree the correction process and tell affected tenants how future usage will be measured.

Which costs belong in the service charge?

Ask your managing agent and solicitor to review the following proposed accounting separation. The table is a working structure for your documents, not a statement that every lease permits the listed recovery.

Avoid charging energy through the general estate bill and retaining payment for the same energy in the charging account. Ask for an accounting trail showing how the entries offset. Use the sub-metering guide to prepare questions about measurement.

What could the site earn under each funding model?

The following is an illustration, not a quote. Every price, usage figure and cost below is an assumption, not a market benchmark. It shows charging economics before estate-specific adjustments. No tenant service charge recovery is counted as extra income.

Assume 365 operating days, constant prices and no interruptions. Annual energy is sessions × 20 × 365: 7,300 / 14,600 / 29,200 kWh. Driver sales are energy × £0.50: £3,650 / £7,300 / £14,600. Subtract energy × £0.25 and £600 for modelled operating surplus of £1,225 / £3,050 / £6,700.

Fully funded income is sales × 10%, with no host capital in this assumption. Part funded income is surplus × 60%. Self funded income is the whole surplus. Simple return on investment, or ROI, is annual net income ÷ host capital × 100. Payback is host capital ÷ annual net income. Ranges use the capital limits above.

These net figures exclude finance, tax, insurance, business rates, rent, additional estate contributions, payment fees, replacements and eventual removal. Add actual quotations for those items before relying on a return. If they exceed the modelled surplus, there is no positive simple payback. Check tax treatment with your accountant. The business-case template helps organise the inputs.

How can you avoid non-users subsidising drivers?

Publish a proposed allocation method before opening. Distinguish the tenant’s estate share from the driver’s charging bill. Ask whether private fleet use, employee use and public customer use need separate accounts. Identify who authorises complimentary charging and which budget pays for it.

Check who contracts with drivers. Public access can bring the Public Charge Point Regulations into scope even on privately owned land [S2]. A staff-only office arrangement and a retail customer car park need separate classification. Get the installer and solicitor to confirm the operating model rather than inferring it from the property’s ownership. Read public versus private charging.

How do grants and tax relief change the calculation?

Before fixing the budget, ask the installer to check available electrical capacity and propose a safe bay layout. Include pedestrian access, accessible charging and delivery movements in that brief. Ask your council which planning permissions the actual works require. Record who pays for any grid upgrade or displaced parking; neither cost is covered by the assumed capital range unless the final quotation includes it.

Keep relief outside the base case until eligibility is confirmed. The Workplace Charging Scheme supports eligible purchase and installation costs, capped at £500 per socket, with the scheme ending on 31 March 2027 [S3]. Do not treat an operator-funded public installation as automatically eligible for a workplace grant.

HMRC’s published measure extends the qualifying first-year allowance to 31 March 2027 for Corporation Tax and 5 April 2027 for Income Tax [S4]. A tax deduction is not the same as revenue. Ask your accountant to confirm the current rule and your eligibility; do not subtract a headline percentage from capital twice.

What should you do next?

Bring your leases, estate budget, meter layout and proposed user groups. Read how we work, then get matched with an installer that covers your area. Ask for separate installation, operating and exit costs so your managing agent can test recovery before tenants are billed.

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