The Township of South-West Oxford’s 2025 report on the EV charging station at the Mount Elgin Community Centre shows a total net revenue of $181.89 for the year. After a 50/50 split, that leaves $90.94 for the Township and $90.94 for the Mount Elgin Community Centre.
The station—installed in 2022 by ChargePoint at the Mount Elgin Community Centre—recorded 928 kWh of usage over 12 months, with several months showing no activity.
While the report is factually clear, it is not sufficient for evaluating performance.
Key information is missing from the staff report, including installation costs, ongoing maintenance and operating costs, and any clear statement of the usage or performance expectations set at the time of approval. Without these baseline figures, Council is not being presented with a complete picture of asset performance.
Instead, the Township is reporting a narrow financial output (“net revenue”) that excludes capital costs and lifecycle operating expenses. The report presents activity data, not total cost of ownership or performance against objectives.
A second gap is usage transparency. The report does not identify whether the charger is being used by residents, visitors, or municipal fleet vehicles. That distinction matters. If municipal vehicles are using the station, costs are still borne by taxpayers through operational budgets. If usage is primarily public, the asset functions differently as a community service. The report does not clarify this.
As a result, Council is being asked to interpret outcomes without the context required for proper evaluation.
This is a reporting limitation, not a conclusion about the asset itself.
More importantly, it highlights a governance issue: staff reporting does not currently provide Council with the information required to properly assess infrastructure performance.
For public assets such as this, consistent reporting should include total installation cost, annual operating and maintenance costs, defined expectations set at approval, and clear usage breakdowns where applicable. Without this, Council is left reviewing partial financial activity rather than effectiveness, value, or alignment with intended outcomes.
This is not an argument against EV infrastructure. It is an argument for complete and structured reporting that supports informed decision-making based on full lifecycle information.
Stand4Oxford is encouraging Council to ensure future staff reports include this context—not just annual net figures—and residents are encouraged to engage with this report by asking a few straightforward questions: what did this project cost in full, what was it expected to deliver, who is actually using it, and does the current reporting allow Council to properly assess whether it is working as intended?
When public infrastructure is reported without that context, decisions are made on incomplete information. Over time, that weakens transparency, accountability, and public trust in how those decisions are made.
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