BC stratas must not unreasonably refuse an eligible owner’s EV charger request and must decide within three months (SPA s.90.2, current to October 27, 2026; Regulation s.5.6, current to November 3, 2026). Requests open when the strata gets its first electrical planning report or its report deadline arrives, whichever comes first (s.5.4).
Without the report, a refusal is harder to defend. With it, the council can plan charging around the capacity the building actually has.
What the 2023 amendments actually changed
The amendments require electrical planning, lower some voting thresholds and regulate owner charging requests:
- The electrical planning report became mandatory. Strata corporations with five or more strata lots must get a report from a qualified person on the building’s electrical capacity and on current and future demand, including EV charging and heat pumps (section 94.1 of the Act). The Province’s electrical planning report guidance lists the deadlines set by section 5.8 of the Strata Property Regulation: December 31, 2026 in the specified Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley and Capital regions, excluding islands accessible only by air or boat; December 31, 2028 elsewhere. New post-2023 plans generally have five years from deposit (ss.5.8–5.9).
- Some decisions now pass by majority vote. A majority vote at a general meeting, not 3/4, now approves CRF spending on EV charging infrastructure, the electrical planning report or other EV reports (section 96), and a significant change to common property for EV charging (section 71). Owner requests to install a charger follow sections 90.1 to 90.3: the strata must not unreasonably refuse, and must decide within 3 months (Regulation section 5.6). Owners can make a request once the strata has its first planning report or once the report deadline passes, whichever comes first (Regulation section 5.4).
- Refusal needs an evidence base. When it decides, the strata can weigh its electrical capacity and how the charger fits with other charging in the building (section 90.2). A refusal backed by the planning report and a documented technical reason is much easier to defend at the Civil Resolution Tribunal than one without.
What does the electrical report cover?
A qualified person reviews the building’s electrical system and writes a report on current capacity, existing and peak demand, spare capacity, the capacity needed for expected future demand such as EV charging and heat pumps, and practical ways to cut demand or add capacity (Regulation section 5.11). The Province calls it an overview, not a detailed analysis. BC Hydro requires an EV Ready Plan for its EV Ready rebates; quote that scope separately.
Who counts as qualified depends on the building (Regulation section 5.10). A professional engineer, or a technologist or technician registered with ASTTBC, can do any building. A qualified construction or industrial electrician can prepare the report only if every building is Part 9, generally at most three storeys and 600 m² in building area.
Our electrical planning report guide covers the December 31, 2026 deadline and how to hire a preparer. We have not found a published price list for these reports. Price depends on the building’s size and how complex its electrical system is, so get three quotes. The report can be paid from the operating fund if it is in the budget, or from the CRF by majority vote (sections 92 and 96). The bigger number is the cost of any upgrades and charging infrastructure the building needs, which an EV Ready Plan or a contractor’s design will price. That figure feeds the depreciation report and the next CRF discussion.
How a council runs the process
Survey owners, commission the report, approve funding and publish a charger application process.
- Owner survey first. Before commissioning the report, ask owners a single question: do you currently own, or plan to acquire within 24 months, a battery-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle? The answer shapes the report’s sizing assumptions. Give the preparer the responses to inform demand estimates.
- Issue a scoped RFP for the report. Get three quotes from qualified people: engineers or ASTTBC registrants for any building, journeyperson electricians only for Part 9 buildings. Keep the scope to the planning report itself. Separate that procurement from any installation procurement so the firm writing the report isn’t also bidding to build what it recommends.
- Present the report at a general meeting. Owners need to see the numbers because they will be voting on whatever phase-1 spending the report triggers.
- Vote the phase-1 budget. Usually a shared load-management panel, base conduit, and metering hardware. Paying for it from the CRF needs a majority vote (section 96). Owners pay for their own stall installation, on their own application, unless the strata agrees otherwise (section 90.3).
- Publish the application process. A one-page document covering how an owner requests a charger, the form, the deposit, the contractor approval requirement, and the metering and billing mechanism. The published process is what insulates the council from “you said yes to her, why not me” complaints.
The four money lines you cannot avoid
Budget separately for the report, shared infrastructure, any service upgrade and individual chargers.
The four money lines you cannot avoid
| Line item | What drives the cost | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical planning report | Building size and how complex the electrical system is | Strata (operating fund in the budget, or CRF by majority vote) |
| Phase-1 base infrastructure (load mgmt + conduit) | Number of stalls, parkade layout, distance from the electrical room | Strata (CRF by majority vote, or special levy by 3/4 vote) |
| Service upgrade if required | Whether the utility has to add capacity to the building | Strata (CRF by majority vote, or special levy by 3/4 vote) |
| Individual stall charger (Level 2) | Charger model and the run from the panel to the stall | Owner, unless the strata agrees otherwise |
Source: Guide sources, checked November 6, 2026. See the Sources section in this guide.
The middle two lines are the ones that surprise councils. A wood-frame building with spare capacity may get through phase 1 and never need a service upgrade. An older tower with elevators on the original service may need an upgrade before any stall can be energized. The report tells you which building you have.
The report tells you how much spare capacity you have. That decides whether the bigger lines in this table apply to your building.
Which EV rebates can stratas claim?
BC Hydro offers rebates for EV Ready plans, infrastructure and chargers (checked November 6, 2026).
- BC Hydro’s EV Ready rebates for apartment and condo buildings: as checked November 6, 2026, up to 75% of an EV Ready plan to a maximum of $3,000, and up to 50% of infrastructure costs to a maximum of $600 per parking stall and $120,000 per building, while funding lasts. FortisBC customers apply through FortisBC.
- CleanBC’s Go Electric program: the provincial program that funds these rebates. It also offers charger rebates for buildings that received the infrastructure rebate, up to 50% of eligible charger costs, capped at $1,400 per charger and $14,000 per building (BC Hydro, checked November 6, 2026).
- Natural Resources Canada’s Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program (ZEVIP): federal funding for charging infrastructure. Intake windows and eligible recipients change by program cycle; check the current NRCan page.
The EV Ready plan rebate needs pre-approval, so apply before you hire anyone to write the plan. The infrastructure rebate is only open to buildings that already received the plan rebate. Applying in the wrong order can cost you both.
What goes wrong
Unsupported refusals and undisclosed procurement conflicts can undermine the process:
- The council refuses an application without the planning report. Once the report deadline passes, owners can make formal charger requests whether or not the strata has a report, and the council must decide within 3 months. Without the report, the council has little to show the CRT if it refuses. The fix is to commission the report before the deadline, not after.
- The firm writing the report bids on the installation. A soft conflict, but a real one. If the report recommends the costly option and the same firm wins the install, owners can’t tell whether the advice was sound, and the firm is left defending it. Scope the report procurement separately.
If your existing manager is the one telling you “we’ll get to it next year,” that’s a signal worth checking. A capable manager knows at least one qualified electrical consultant and can draft the scope for quotes quickly. You can also find electrical planning report companies yourself. If yours can’t, run the council through our manager performance scorecard and see where else the gap sits.
The receipt: what to bring to your next council meeting
The receipt: what to bring to your next council meeting
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Do we have a current electrical planning report on file? | The 2026 and 2028 deadlines apply to most stratas with five or more lots. |
| When did we last survey owners on EV intent? | Survey data older than 24 months is stale. |
| Has the manager produced an RFP scope for the report? | If no, escalate. If they don’t know what’s in scope, escalate twice. |
| Have we checked the BC Hydro EV Ready rebate window? | Funding is finite. Apply in the order the program requires. |
| Is the report-writer also bidding on installation? | They shouldn’t be. Re-scope the procurement. |
| Does the depreciation report reflect EV infrastructure costs? | If not, the next CRF projection is wrong. |
Source: Guide sources, checked November 6, 2026. See the Sources section in this guide.
Keep the survey, report, funding approval and application process together in the council records.
For the broader CRF context (what should already be funded versus what’s being added to the next budget cycle), see our depreciation report primer. For benchmarks on what your management firm should be charging to coordinate project work like this, see the Metro Vancouver fee benchmarks for 2026. For background reading on the underlying statute, CHOA’s legislative updates page is the best plain-English summary outside the Province’s own materials.
Sources
Checked against the sources below on November 6, 2026 (BC Laws: Acts current to October 27, 2026; regulations to November 3, 2026). This is general information, not legal advice.
