As promised at the end of July 2024, Seabrook Island Council decided to reassess the rates at the beginning of the year for the EV chargers at Town Hall.
Toward the end of the summer last year, the Town set the EV charging rate at cost plus 17.65%. At that time, Seabrook Island Town Administrator Joe Cronin just wanted to recoup the cost of electricity. That meant that they would be breaking even at 85% X 1.1765, which equals 100%.
It was also back at the end of July last year that Cronin suggested that Town Council reassess the rate, possibly every six months. They decided to reassess it at the beginning of 2025.
So, here we are at the beginning of 2025. Cronin presented some stats on the EV chargers. “Once the EV chargers went live, we were pretty much out of the peak tourism season,” Cronin said.
He reported that since the end of July 2024, there were 55 individual users, and the average duration of charging was three hours and 50 minutes. The Town brought in $443 during this period of time from the EV chargers.
Since Town Council spoke about bringing in some maintenance cost for the EV chargers, Cronin presented how the Town could accrue a bit more of a profit without increasing the rate too much over the current 18 cents per kilowatt hour, which only covers the town’s electricity to run the EV chargers.
To accrue some of the cost for maintenance, Cronin said that Town staff suggests 25 cents per kilowatt hour, which covers the town’s cost for electricity, plus about $325 annually for equipment maintenance.
Cronin added, “This is the same rate as Kiawah Island. I am afraid if we go too high people will just charge their cars at Kiawah and skip us altogether.”
Cronin presented other suggestions for rates. At 34 cents per kilowatt hour, the Town’s electricity would be covered, plus an extra estimated $750 annually for equipment maintenance. This option is the AAA national average.
Lastly, option four would be 40 cents per kilowatt hour. That would cover the Town’s cost of electricity plus an estimated $1,000 extra annually for equipment maintenance.
It’s important to note that the four Level-2 Universal EV Chargers are warranted for maintenance with the company that installed them for the first two years. That means that during the first two years, any maintenance will be free for the Town.
Cronin announced that he and the Seabrook Island staff settled on option two and recommended that Town Council approve it.
“If significantly higher than 25 cents, people will go to Kiawah for EV charging,” Cronin said. “This way, we can put some money toward maintenance – the rest of the money for maintenance would have to come from the general fund.”
Town Council Member Dan Kortvelesy, the only member of Town Council with an electric vehicle, said that the going rate was about 40 cents per kilowatt hour. He said that cars that are not moved within five minutes of finishing the full charge are usually charged a dollar for a period of time.
Town Council Member Darryl May expressed concern for the fact that they wouldn’t really know how much maintenance would cost for the EV chargers until the two-year warranty was complete and some maintenance was needed. He added that the warranty covers the chargers themselves but not the electricity, should there be a problem with the line.
Mayor Bruce Kleinman suggested that Town Council accept Town Staff’s recommendation of 25 cents so that they can stay competitive with Kiawah Island’s EV chargers. May wanted one provision added to the EV charging amendment: Review the rates every January, if not sooner.
The rate of 25 cents was approved unanimously.
Seabrook’s EV chargers were mostly funded by a Berkeley Electric Cooperative grant for $25,000 in early 2024. The Town provided close to $10,000 to provide a fourth charging station.