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We recently received an electricity bill for €750.00 for an 8 week period.
Visitors were staying during this period.
We were shocked as our rental rate is including, solid fuel, oil, gas and electricity.
An allowence is built in to the overnight rate for the above but nothing coming close to what was used for electricity alone.
We queried it with our housekeeper and she said they were charging their EV’s out through the bedroom windows. Three extensions from normal domestic power points.
I asked some advice on this matter from Airbnb as to how we might approach this going forward and their only suggestion was to increase the Nightly rate. If we do this, Airbnb will add their commission and tax on to the outrageous price being charged by suppliers presently.
We cannot sustain such outrageous behaviour by guests. It must also be assumed they are using similar units on oil, gas and solid fuel.
Has anyone experienced similar behaviour? Our cottage rental is a self catering vernacular unit on The Wild Western Way in Clifden, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland.
Https:www.cuachcottagedirect.com
How much is your normal bill? In other words, how much do you feel you overpaid due to their EV charging?
For me, in CA, we pay on average about $400/mo, so E750 is about what we pay as a standard for 2 months (I should say “what we paid” since we now have enough solar panels to generate more than we need).
We just decided to add a Level 2 charger and increase the nightly rate a touch. Of course, for you, 3 EVs recharging every night might run the price up quite a bit… Possibly offer a programmable charger that only charges midnight to noon, and add “Absolutely no EV charging outside of charger due to fire danger” to the house rules?
You can always program the charger to remain on all day if people make a specific request and are willing to pay more.
As for me, I figure it is the cost of doing business at this stage. I am glad our hosts take an EV to drive over But I understand that you may not feel the same way!
We were paying 16 Cent per KWH and we are now paying nearly 50 Cent. Oil prices also have increased by 250 % and no end in sight of a return to the past normal.
I absolutely agree with you on the EV’s as the sustainable and most desirable way to travel, however, I also feel that any guests who decide to charge up their large EV’s at a hosts expense is really taking the mick!!
Why on earth should a host pay for guests travelling whilst staying in their property? Three weeks of charging up three vehicles. Tesla. Range Rover of some sort and 1 other
There are public fast charging points at some petrol filling stations over here but sometimes it’s like looking for “Hens teeth” in the dark
Met a very nice EV driver recently at a petrol station whilst we were having a snack, Al fresco dining He plugged in his Hyundai for about 10 minutes to top up the battery and the cost? Yes a whopping €18.00 Euros, ie. 18 US!!
Anyway, I am ranting on a little as we feel we have been taken advantage of by some recent visitors.
Next year will be a challenge!!
Metered usage is probably our best option in the short term. No desire to introduce this but needs must I am afraid.
I have it in my house rules that we do not allow EV charging but provide locations within a mile or less from my STR of where they can charge up. I provide the types of charging stations and locations.
I don’t have any outside outlets so the guests would have to do what they did in your case and have them run out the 2nd floor window and I don’t feel that’s safe.
This isn’t right. If I stayed at your place and had a gasoline/diesel-powered vehicle and went into your garage and took a can of fuel and put it into my vehicle, that would be wrong, right? Unless, of course, you advertise you include fuel for our vehicles in your rental price.
Places (grocery stores, restaurants, even rental properties) may decide to offer free charging as a way to get customers in their door or get bookings. But if you don’t advertise it as being included, it was wrong of them to charge their vehicles without offering to pay. People who can afford to buy Teslas and Range Rovers can afford to pay for their electricity to move around.
Plugging into a wall outlet in Ireland (or most anywhere but North America) would use “Mode 2” which is 2.4KW, so, at your your current rate of €0.50/kWh, that would be €1.20 per hour or €10 to €15 per vehicle per day when charged “overnight” 8 to 12 hours.
This doesn’t seem like a lot, but if you read the implications in the OP, the worst case would be that there were guests that stayed 8 weeks and charged 3 electric vehicles every day, which could amount to about €2500 in additional energy costs for charging the vehicles. This is something that hosts will deal with more an more as gasoline/diesel vehicles are replaced with EVs.
It’s important to note that the chargers at a commercial charging station charge much faster (and use much more electricity) than charging at home, plus you are paying double or triple the normal rate because you are paying multiple entities for the convenience.
After all is said and done energy costs in Ireland are at unprecented levels.
Such circumstances mean we have to put in metered systems and charge visitors considerably more for their stays.
This is not something we want to do, however, needs must.
Increases of 250 / 300 % are now being applied from all providers. Our last electricity bill €750.00 equals our oil bill, so approx €1,500.00 for 8 summer weeks + for solid fuel. Solid fuel add €28.00 for the period. No kidding!!
Bring on winter
When I asked for advice from Airbnb as to how hosts could handle such charges going forward they just said add any estimated charges to your Nightly rate
Now Airbnb would of course make a very bad situation worse as they would add their commission and Vat. on to these gouging charges from our energy providers.
Lot of head scratching going on here vis a vis 2023.
Anyway, thanks to everyone for their thoughts on travellers charging their EV’s out through bedroom windows on a small self catering cottage.
Regarding this, and my rant, why should myself and Marian pay for motoring costs incurred by these visitors whilst on hols in Ireland ??
yes, this is also an issue I have with them. We have a few ‘add-ons’ that we charge for and generally i try to have guests pay cash, to avoid those extra fees.
you’ll need to put it into your house rules that EV charging will be charged at a rate of X per car per day. or they are welcome to charge at [insert local ev station].
I foresee huge problems coming this winter with hosts and energy bills. We just survived winter and the price of firewood went up in the middle of the season!
You got it Gillian, we will of course try, but really we are not optimistic about our shoebox business going forward. Past two years have flattened us what with charge backs from Home Away etc. etc.
I’m not big on the idea of raising my monthly rate to compensate for guests who might charge their vehicles as i feel this unfairly charges those who won’t or even cannot. That’s a transportation expense, not a hospitality expense.
I would simply request however much extra power you think they used in the resolution center.
Hopefully they pay. If not, you could have left them an honest review.
Second, change your house rules to state that EV charging is not included so this won’t happen again and so you have a leg to stand on if it does and you want to request money from them.
Third. If you take a security deposit (I can’t imagine letting people rent a place for longer than a couple weeks without a deposit.) Then you could just put a stipulation that electricity use over $5/day will be taken out of the deposit at the end.
Fourth, tell housekeeper to keep an eye out and document any further extension cords/charging.
I could also see this being an issue with bitcoin mining. There was a guy who rigged his tesla to mine bitcoin when charging or plugged in. But this would be very unique. Someone could plug in a specialized computer to mine bitcoin. It probably wouldn’t use as much as EV charging unless it was fairly large.
And yes… airbnb is silly for not allowing an EV charging fee. Just like a pet fee. It’s optional and significant.
Traditional STR contracts ARE super long because they have terms and conditions for EVERYTHING. And deposits and reasons for keeping deposits are clearly spelled out.
Of course, fine print just adds friction to the airbnb business model. Since they get paid either way. These issues get shifted to the host. Your listing text can be as long as you want. So load it up with all the rules and conditions of the rental. Airbnb will back you up if you have all this well defined before they rent.
API connected hosts can take deposits in the resolution center or outside the resolution center. Do it, it can protect the host from many bad guest behavior issues.
Exactly my point, not a hospitality issue Why should hosts pay very big electricity bills for guests charging their EV’s from domestic power points? I am in this instant referring to luxury EV’s. It really doesn’t matter, large or small, it’s very bad behaviour to do this. No respect whatsoever for the hosting family.
If you read my earlier explanation you will very quickly understand the expotential costs involved. Not cents extra but hundreds of Euros for at least two vehicles over a three week stay !!!
Doesn’t bear thinking about. Going forward we need to change out T&C’s that is if there is one in this shoebox business,
Thank you James. I do consider Airbnb could address this issue easily for hosts.
Our housekeeper was shocked as we’re we when we calculated the KWH usage.
Here to fore all energy usage was included in the rental, fair usage applied. Different now for future visitors.
Really wouldnt like to take anything from a guest’s security deposit. Airbnb hold guests deposits I think, so would only be applicable through our own website anyway.
Its a problem going forward. All metered usage seems to be a solution but can this be operated through Airbnb??
Airbnb does not hold security deposits, they never did. It was all smoke and mirrors, just a “you could be charged up to this amount for damages”. And they have now eliminated any mention of a security deposit.
What I would do if I had guests charging electric vehicles is charge through the resolution center when booking for charging, whatever you estimate it costs per car per day. Then you could refund guests whatever you see they didn’t use above your average electric bills (for guests who don’t have EC vehicles). Also let guests know where the nearest charging stations are in your area.
Trying to collect money from guests after their stay is generally not likely to be successful.
But I understand that you may not feel the same way!
He plugged in his Hyundai for about 10 minutes to top up the battery and the cost? Yes a whopping €18.00 Euros, ie. 18 US!!
Why should hosts pay very big electricity bills for guests charging their EV’s from domestic power points? I am in this instant referring to luxury EV’s. It really doesn’t matter, large or small, it’s very bad behaviour to do this. No respect whatsoever for the hosting family.