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Don’t force businesses to install EV charging stations their customers don’t want/need.
by Rob Roper
Vermont’s unaffordability crisis is most visibly driven by high taxes that come directly out of our pockets: sky-high property taxes, above average sales taxes, fees on our electric bills, the new payroll tax, etc. A “clean heat” surcharge on our fuel bills would be easy to spot. But the mandates our legislators saddle local businesses with – an activity they take on with all the abandon of drunken, dancing elves tossing tinsel onto Christmas tree (‘tis the season!) — are also contributing greatly to why things cost so freakin’ much.
Here’s an example recently shared with me by a local business owner who is hoping/planning to expand, creating local jobs and growing our overall economy, but… (reprinted here with permission):
… [W]e’re running into new regulatory requirements as part of the VT Commercial Building Energy Standards of 2024. CBES 2024 came into effect in July of this year, so every developer, architect and engineer is presently scrambling to interpret the new code for their construction projects.
One particularly onerous piece, for some developers at least, is the new parking lot requirements. Specifically, CBES 2024 mandates that 8% of all parking spaces come with an electric vehicle charging station. That sounds reasonable enough. But then it also mandates that another 7% of parking spots be “EV ready”, meaning that a pedestal with a junction box is pre-installed, complete with wiring to the transformer.
In addition, yet another 50% (!) of spots need to be “EV capable”, which means that conduits to these spots need to be in place for future connections (52 in my case).
And here’s the kicker: CBES also mandates that transformers be sized to have the capacity for all this future expansion, including the 50% we’ll never install. Not only does this make the entire setup exponentially more expensive, but it also has the folks at Vermont’s electric utilities scratching their heads, because they now need to guarantee supply they may not even be able to deliver for demand which may never materialize.
I get that property owners need to adapt to the new reality of EVs being part of the automobile mix on our roads. But this is just madness. We’re going to be out $50,000-100,000 to provide power and conduits to charging stations we’ll probably never put in. Moreover, this comes on top of other new requirements, like a solar ready roof and door blower test, which run up expenses too. And in the meantime, demand for EVs is collapsing before our eyes.
The folks designing these schemes may think there’s no end to our budgets, but I can assure you that there is. The only people benefiting from this are those selling the chargers and the engineers tasked with designing it all. We don’t install a gasoline pump at each parking spot; why should I have to provide chargers for each EV that pulls in? It’s preposterous.
Preposterous indeed! This business is a hotel/restaurant/bar. So next time you’re faced with a $24 hamburger on the menu, consider that you’re paying to cover $100K worth of non-working, unwanted electric vehicle infrastructure in the parking lot – not higher wages to the staff, hipper décor in the dining area, or even a tastier, lower calorie/cholesterol, healthier magical beef patty. It’s politicians wasting your money to satisfy their own ideological itches and sociopathic need to force people to do things that make no economic or practical sense. After all, if these measures did make financial or practical sense, the businesses would do them on their own. With pleasure.
These mandates are de facto taxes that ultimately get passed along to customers. That is unless the customers simply go away, which many businesses are finding out that this is what happens when government assumes the senior partner role in your entrepreneurial enterprise, whatever it may be.
And it’s not just businesses that face these kinds of unnecessary, ideologically driven regulatory costs. The “2024 Vermont Commercial Building Energy Standard AMENDMENTS” – this just the amendments for God’s sake! – are 206 pages long, and also include residential construction and renovation. So, why do we have a housing affordability and shortage crisis in the state? Hmmm.
Of course we need some regulation of building codes for safety’s sake. We can’t turn a blind eye to potential fire hazards or roofs that will collapse under six inches of snow, and we need to ensure that construction projects clean up after themselves. But for non-public safety issues, such as how many electric vehicle chargers will I need to accommodate my customer base, or what’s the best way to heat my space, or what kind of stoves do my chefs prefer to cook with in our kitchens…. government needs to stay the heck out of it. It’s not your business. Literally.
Rob Roper is a freelance writer who has been involved with Vermont politics and policy for over 20 years. This article reprinted with permission from Behind the Lines: Rob Roper on Vermont Politics, robertroper.substack.com
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Categories: Commentary, Energy, Transportation
The idiocy of this could only be dreamed up by over-educated morons who believe themselves to be superior to we, the plebs, serfs, or untouchables, (the way they must view “we the people”) and are doing this for our own good as we are too intellectually challenged to make these decisions ourselves. Hopefully over the next couple of elections “we the people” give these self righteous blood sucking leeches, a lesson in humility, and they get to think about how they regret the way they abused their chance to serve the public, while they are standing in the unemployment line.
Watch the video of today’s Climate Council’s Cross-Sector Mitigation Subcommittee meeting and you’ll learn they are recommending appliance standards and a modified clean heat standard and more standards that the legislature will require or they will go for administrative rule making. Monday’s climate council meeting will be receiving all the recommendations. Tune in and see who is making these decisions for Vermonters, Dec. 16, 11 am – 2 pm. https://climatechange.vermont.gov/event/climate-council-3
At first glance it looks like they are breaking the law 1,2,3,4,6,7,9 for starters. Is there anything they know how to do that isn’t illegal? Filthy climate religion.
_________________________________
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF VERMONT
AS ESTABLISHED JULY 9, 1793, AND AMENDED THROUGH MARCH 31, 2021
CHAPTER I.
A DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE INHABITANTS
OF THE STATE OF VERMONT
Article 1. [All persons born free; their natural rights; slavery and indentured servitude prohibited]
That all persons are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent, and unalienable rights, amongst which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety; therefore slavery and indentured servitude in any form are prohibited.
Article 2. [Private property subject to public use; owner to be paid]
That private property ought to be subservient to public uses when necessity requires it, nevertheless, whenever any person’s property is taken for the use of the public, the owner ought to receive an equivalent in money.
Article 3. [Freedom in religion; right and duty of religious worship]
(snip) … and that no person ought to, or of right can be compelled to attend any religious worship, or erect or support any place of worship,…
Article 4. [Remedy at law secured to all]
Every person within this state ought to find a certain remedy, by having recourse to the laws, for all injuries or wrongs which one may receive in person, property or character; every person ought to obtain right and justice, freely, and without being obliged to purchase it; completely and without any denial; promptly and without delay; comformably to the laws.
Article 6. [Officers servants of the people]
That all power being originally inherent in and co[n]sequently derived from the people, therefore, all officers of government, whether legislative or executive, are their trustees and servants; and at all times, in a legal way, accountable to them.
Article 7. [Government for the people; they may change it]
That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community, and not for the particular emolument or advantage of any single person, family, or set of persons, who are a part only of that community; and that the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right, to reform or alter government, in such manner as shall be, by that community, judged most conducive to the public weal.
Article 9. [Citizens’ rights and duties in the State; bearing arms; taxation]
That every member of society hath a right to be protected in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property, and therefore is bound to contribute the member’s proportion towards the expence of that protection, and yield personal service, when necessary, or an equivalent thereto, but no part of any person’s property can be justly taken, or applied to public uses, without the person’s own consent, or that of the Representative Body, nor can any person who is conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms, be justly compelled thereto, if such person will pay such equivalent; nor are the people bound by any law but such as they have in like manner assented to, for their common good: and previous to any law being made to raise a tax, the purpose for which it is to be raised ought to appear evident to the Legislature to be of more service to community than the money would be if not collected.
Every climate initiative is simply fake news. Look around the world, we’re not moving the needle here in Vermont with our earth saving legislators. All we’re doing is burying hardworking Vermonters and business owners while enriching those shameless enough to jump on this runaway train with their “green” new business. ECI must be swimming in cash as they are in charge of every new (mandated 3 acre bs) stormwater project in VT. Who do they know?? Someone high up I guarantee. Neighborhoods and businesses are forced to redo their runoff plans to the tune of millions of dollars. The state moved the goalposts on us simpletons once again and we foot the bill. Farmers dump manure next to rivers and then it rains two inches, just like the other day. Salt trucks dump ungodly amounts of salt to keep roads ice free instead of simply having people drive more slowly. It pollutes streams/rivers/lakes/ponds. We’re conservative and just like the other article seen today in VDC, we’ll be moving in the near , sadly.