Connecticut HOA EV Charging

Quick-Reference EV Charging Table

Connecticut has enacted EV-charging-specific statutes for common interest communities. CIOA § 47-261g governs communities under the Common Interest Ownership Act; the parallel § 47-90h governs condominiums under the older Condominium Act. Verify pre-1984 applicability for a given community separately.

Section 1: Overview — How EV charging is regulated for HOAs in Connecticut

Connecticut has written an EV-charging-specific statute for common interest communities. Public Act 22-25 (2022), which the Community Associations Institute's Connecticut Chapter titles the "Right to Charge in Condominiums and Common Interest Communities" law,⁴ created two parallel provisions effective October 1, 2022: Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-261g, sitting within the Common Interest Ownership Act, or CIOA, and Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-90h, sitting within the older Connecticut Condominium Act.¹ Both void any governing-document provision that prohibits or unreasonably restricts the installation or use of an electric vehicle charging station in a unit parking space or a limited common element parking space.¹

CIOA, at Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-200 et seq., is Connecticut's modern common-interest framework, based on the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. Its 2008-UCIOA lineage doesn't itself include an EV-charging right — that right exists because Connecticut added § 47-261g through its own state-specific enactment.³ Because the statute exists, the controlling practical questions turn procedural: did the owner meet the application conditions, did the board respond within the statutory deadlines, and where will the station sit relative to spaces the owner controls?

Connecticut belongs in the group of mandate states, alongside California and Colorado, that limit an association's ability to say no, rather than the group where the declaration alone controls.⁵ The sections below work through the statutory text, how it interacts with CIOA's general provisions and the declaration, and what an association may and may not do when an owner applies.

Section 2: The statutory and regulatory framework

2A. EV-charging-specific law in Connecticut

Connecticut has an EV-charging-specific statute. Public Act 22-25, "An Act Concerning the Connecticut Clean Air Act," began life as Substitute Senate Bill 4, and Governor Ned Lamont signed it into effect October 1, 2022.² Sections 2 and 3 of the act created two parallel "right to charge" provisions for community associations, now codified as Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-90h, within the Condominium Act, Chapter 825, and Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-261g, within CIOA, Chapter 828. A separate section created a renters' right to charge at Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-13b.⁶

The core rule stays the same across both association provisions. On and after October 1, 2022, any provision of the condominium instruments, declaration, or bylaws that prohibits or unreasonably restricts the installation or use of an EV charging station in a unit parking space or limited common element parking space, or that conflicts with the statute, is void and unenforceable.¹ The statute defines "reasonable restrictions" as "a restriction that does not significantly increase the cost of the electric vehicle charging station or significantly decrease its efficiency or specified performance," and it borrows the definition of "electric vehicle charging station" from Conn. Gen. Stat. § 16-19f.¹

The two sections divide by community type. Section 47-261g uses CIOA definitions from § 47-202 and applies to common interest communities governed by CIOA. Section 47-90h uses Condominium Act definitions from § 47-68a and applies to condominiums under that older chapter.¹ The result: a statutory override of contrary governing documents, a fixed approval timeline, and a defined ceiling on the conditions an association may impose. Section 4 covers recent legislative activity.

2B. How CIOA's general provisions bear on EV charging

Section 47-261g is the operative EV provision, but CIOA's general provisions structure how it works in practice. CIOA distinguishes between an owner's separate interest and the common elements: alterations of units get addressed at Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-230, while limited common elements, including assigned parking, get addressed at Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-227.⁷ An assigned parking space is typically a limited common element, which is why § 47-261g requires the written approval of each unit owner to whom that space is reserved before a charging station can go in there.¹

CIOA defines the association's authority over common elements. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-249, the association handles maintenance, repair, and replacement of the common elements except as the declaration provides otherwise, and it holds rulemaking authority over the use of common elements under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-250.⁷ Section 47-261g works with that authority: it lets an association install charging stations in the common elements for all owners and develop rules for their use, and it lets the association create a new parking space where none existed to accommodate a station.¹

CIOA applies in full to communities created on or after January 1, 1984, and Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-216 extends specified CIOA sections to communities created earlier.⁸ For condominiums created between 1977 and 1983 under the older Condominium Act, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-68a et seq., § 47-90h supplies the parallel EV right.⁹ The net effect: CIOA and the Condominium Act now compel associations to permit EV charging subject to reasonable restrictions, rather than leaving the question entirely to the declaration.

2C. The role of governing documents, architectural review, and corporate law

The statute doesn't displace the declaration — it channels it. Section 47-261g directs the board to process an EV application the same way it would process an application for an addition, alteration, or improvement under the declaration, so the community's architectural or design-review process remains the evaluation mechanism, subject to the statutory deadlines and the ban on prohibitions and unreasonable restrictions.¹

The order of precedence follows CIOA's structure: CIOA's non-variable provisions control first, then CIOA's default rules as the declaration modifies them, then the declaration, then the bylaws, then board rules.¹⁰ Section 47-261g operates as an override at the top of that hierarchy, voiding conflicting document provisions no matter where they sit.¹

Associations organized as nonstock corporations also operate under the Connecticut Revised Nonstock Corporation Act, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 33-1000 et seq., which supplies corporate-formality scaffolding — board action, meetings, recordkeeping.¹¹ That act doesn't create or limit EV-charging authority; the substantive EV rules come from § 47-261g and § 47-90h. Where the declaration stays silent and the statute doesn't speak, common-law contract and property doctrine fills the gaps.

Section 3: What HOAs can and cannot do regarding EV charging

A. Installation rights and prohibitions

An association may not prohibit installation of an EV charging station in a unit parking space or a limited common element parking space. Any declaration or bylaw provision that prohibits or unreasonably restricts installation is void and unenforceable under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-261g, and § 47-90h for older condominiums — a statutory rule.¹ The statute limits a prohibition directly: the board must approve an installation if the owner agrees in writing to the conditions the statute lists.¹ The distinction that matters is between prohibiting installation, which the statute bars, and conditioning it, which the statute expressly permits.

B. Conditions an association may impose

The board processes the application the same way it would any addition, alteration, or improvement under the declaration, so architectural review of method, equipment, and routing applies — statutory, tied to the declaration.¹ The statute lets the association require a licensed and insured contractor and compliance with applicable health and safety standards under state or federal law or municipal ordinance.¹ It lets the association require a certificate of insurance within 14 days of approval, in amounts the board deems sufficient, and require the owner to bear liability and indemnify the association for damage.¹ The ceiling on conditions is statutory: restrictions can't significantly increase the station's cost or significantly decrease its efficiency or performance, and they can't amount to a prohibition or unreasonable restriction.¹

C. Cost, metering, and maintenance allocation

The owner bears the cost of installation, including increased master-policy premiums, attorney's fees, engineering, professional, permit, and zoning-compliance costs, and the owner pays all electricity usage costs — statutory.¹ The owner, and each successive owner, carries responsibility for maintenance, repair, replacement, and any damage to the station, common elements, or units resulting from the station until it's removed.¹ On the utility side, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, or PURA, regulates utilities, and Connecticut law provides that an owner of an EV charger isn't defined as a public utility — so an owner charging on a private meter generally isn't reselling utility service.¹²

D. Where the station may be installed

The station may sit in the owner's unit parking space or in a limited common element parking space, but a limited common element space requires the written approval of each unit owner to whom that space is reserved.¹ The association controls the common elements and may itself install stations in the general common elements for all owners, may create a new parking space where none existed, and retains authority over alterations affecting common elements under CIOA.¹ Approval to install in a limited common element parking space doesn't transfer ownership of that space to the applicant.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

No Connecticut Public Act from the past 24 months amended § 47-261g, § 47-90h, or the renter provision § 47a-13b, or otherwise changed EV-charging rules for community associations.¹³ One measure is worth flagging anyway, because it's easy to conflate with association EV rules even though it doesn't touch them.

B. Recent appellate rulings

No Connecticut Appellate Court or Connecticut Supreme Court opinion in the past 36 months touches EV charging in common interest communities or construes § 47-261g or § 47-90h.¹³ One recent CIOA decision is worth a look for context on how Connecticut courts read association duties, even though it doesn't concern EV charging.

C. Active legislative debates

Connecticut's recent common-interest legislation has targeted solar installations, condominium deposits, and association financial records rather than EV charging, and no primary source identifies a pending 2026 bill that would create or restrict EV-charging rights for associations.¹³ Trial-level EV disputes would proceed through the Connecticut Superior Court, with appeals to the Connecticut Appellate Court and discretionary review by the Connecticut Supreme Court.¹⁶

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Connecticut sits in the mandate tier of the national EV-charging landscape. Like California, whose Civil Code § 4745 makes void and unenforceable any governing-document provision that "either effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts the installation or use of an electric vehicle charging station within an owner's unit or in a designated parking space,"¹⁷ Connecticut bars associations from prohibiting or unreasonably restricting owner installations and sets a statutory approval process. Colorado reaches a similar result through a differently structured statute: C.R.S. § 38-33.3-106.8 provides that an association shall not "prohibit a unit owner from using, or installing at the unit owner's expense for the unit owner's own use, a level 1 or level 2 electric vehicle charging system," subject to bona fide safety, registration, and reasonable aesthetic conditions.¹⁸ All three sit well ahead of states that address EV charging only narrowly or not at all, where the declaration controls by default. Connecticut reached this tier through a state-specific enactment, Public Act 22-25 — not because CIOA's modern UCIOA basis conferred any EV right on its own; the model act contains no EV provision. For a multi-state operator entering Connecticut, the practical implication is that Connecticut governing documents can't be used to block charging, and board procedures need to be built around the 30-day acknowledgment and 60-day decision deadlines, with deemed approval as the penalty for delay. This remains a fast-moving area, and Connecticut's status is worth rechecking every quarter.

HOA Weekly's Connecticut EV Charging coverage updates quarterly as the legislature and courts act, and we re-verify the threshold question — whether a statute exists — each cycle. Federal incentives such as the Section 30C credit may affect installation economics, but no federal law mandates HOA EV charging access.¹⁹

Footnotes

1. Public Act No. 22-25, §§ 2 and 3 (2022), codified at Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-90h (Condominium Act) and § 47-261g (CIOA), Connecticut General Assembly. ↩
2. Alternative Fuels Data Center, "Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger Policies for Condominiums," Connecticut (enacted May 10, 2022; effective October 1, 2022), U.S. Department of Energy. ↩
3. Conn. Gen. Stat. Chapter 828, Common Interest Ownership Act (§ 47-200 et seq.), Connecticut General Assembly. ↩
4. Community Associations Institute, Connecticut Chapter, "EV Charging Stations & Solar Panels," describing Public Act No. 22-25 §§ 2 & 3 as "Right to Charge in Condominiums and Common Interest Communities." ↩
5. Plug In America, "Right-To-Charge Policies," identifying California, Colorado, and Connecticut among states extending protections to owners. ↩
6. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-13b (2024), Installation of electric vehicle charging station by tenant (renters' right to charge). ↩
7. Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 47-227 (limited common elements), 47-230 (alterations of units), 47-249 (upkeep of common interest community), 47-250 (meetings; rules), Chapter 828, Connecticut General Assembly. ↩
8. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-216, Applicability to preexisting common interest communities, Chapter 828, Connecticut General Assembly. ↩
9. Conn. Gen. Stat. Chapter 825, Condominium Act (§ 47-68a et seq.), Connecticut General Assembly. ↩
10. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-203, Variation by agreement and waiver of rights prohibited (order of precedence within CIOA), Chapter 828, Connecticut General Assembly. ↩
11. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 33-1000 et seq., Connecticut Revised Nonstock Corporation Act. ↩
12. Alternative Fuels Data Center, Connecticut Laws and Incentives ("An owner of an electric vehicle charger is not defined as a public utility"), U.S. Department of Energy. ↩
13. Connecticut General Assembly bill status and Office of Legislative Research analyses (2024-2026 sessions); no Public Act amending § 47-261g, § 47-90h, or § 47a-13b located, and no Connecticut Appellate or Supreme Court opinion construing those sections located via jud.ct.gov and the Connecticut Law Journal. ↩
14. Public Act No. 25-173 (2025 Substitute Senate Bill 4), "An Act Concerning Energy Affordability, Access and Accountability," signed July 1, 2025, Connecticut General Assembly. ↩
15. Canner v. Governors Ridge Assn., Inc., 348 Conn. 726, 311 A.3d 173 (2024), Connecticut Supreme Court (officially released April 2, 2024). ↩
16. Connecticut Judicial Branch, Supreme and Appellate Courts overview (Superior Court, then Appellate Court, then Supreme Court). ↩
17. Cal. Civ. Code § 4745, electric vehicle charging stations in common interest developments (California, comparison only). ↩
18. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-33.3-106.8 (added by SB13-126, signed May 3, 2013), Colorado (comparison only). ↩
19. 26 U.S.C. § 30C, Alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit ("This section shall not apply to any property placed in service after June 30, 2026," as amended by Pub. L. 119-21), Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives. ↩