Maine HOA EV Charging

Quick-Reference EV Charging Table

Section 576-A was enacted by LD 1133 (S.P. 457, 132nd Legislature) as Public Law 2025, chapter 280, and takes effect January 1, 2026. The approval clock, the insurance-certificate mechanics, and the scope of covered associations are the parameters most likely to be misstated; pull the current text from legislature.maine.gov and cite by subsection.

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

Maine regulates EV charging in community associations by statute: 33 M.R.S. §576-A, effective January 1, 2026, makes void and unenforceable any declaration or bylaw 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 The section was enacted by LD 1133, S.P. 457, in the 132nd Legislature as Public Law 2025, chapter 280, signed by Governor Janet Mills on June 12, 2025.²

The statute doesn't strip associations of all authority. An association may still impose reasonable restrictions, route the request through its addition, alteration, or improvement process, require a certificate of insurance, and place the full cost of installation, electricity, maintenance, and removal on the owner.¹ The underlying structure comes from separate law: condominiums created on or after January 1, 1983 are governed by the Maine Condominium Act, older condominiums by the pre-1983 Unit Ownership Act, and Maine has no comprehensive planned-community or HOA act, so §576-A is the primary EV rule across the communities it reaches.³

That places Maine among a limited group of right-to-charge states, alongside California and Colorado. As of April 2026, per Yale Climate Connections quoting Plug In America's Jess Senger, "Washington, D.C., and 15 states have passed what are called right-to-charge laws," which distinguishes them from the majority of states where the declaration alone controls.⁴ The sections that follow work through the statutory text by subsection, the condominium framework it overlays, and the operational rules for boards and managers. This page reflects §576-A as effective January 1, 2026.

Section 2: The statutory and regulatory framework

2A. 33 M.R.S. §576-A, the EV-charging statute

Section 576-A, titled "Electric vehicle charging stations allowed," sits in Title 33, Chapter 10, Unit Ownership, Subchapter 1, and was enacted by LD 1133 / S.P. 457 as Public Law 2025, chapter 280, effective January 1, 2026.^1,2 This page cites the current text by subsection.

The core rule is in subsection 2: beginning January 1, 2026, any provision of a declaration or bylaw that prohibits or places an unreasonable restriction on the installation or use of an EV charging station in a unit parking space or a limited common element parking space, or is otherwise in conflict with the section, is void and unenforceable.¹ "Unreasonable restriction" is defined in subsection 1(H) as a restriction that significantly increases the cost of the station or significantly decreases its efficiency or specified performance.¹

The application mechanics are in subsection 3. An owner applies to the executive board to install a station in a unit parking space, or in a limited common element parking space with the written approval of each unit owner to whom that space is reserved. The board must acknowledge receipt in writing within 30 days and must process the application the same way as an addition, alteration, or improvement under the declaration or bylaws. An approval or denial must be in writing and issued within 60 days of receipt. Unless the board reasonably requests additional information within 60 days of receipt, the application is deemed approved if a written denial hasn't been received within 60 days.¹

Subsection 4 sets owner responsibilities. The board must approve if the owner agrees in writing to comply with the governing documents' addition-alteration-improvement provisions; to provide a certificate of insurance within 14 days of approval in amounts the board determines sufficient; to pay installation costs including increased master insurance premiums, the association's attorney's fees, engineering fees, professional fees, permits, and applicable zoning-compliance costs; and to pay electricity usage costs.¹ The owner and each successive owner remain responsible for damage, for maintenance, repair, and replacement until removal, for restoration of the space after removal, for electricity, for common expenses from uninsured losses, and for disclosures to prospective purchasers. The station must meet all applicable health and safety standards under state or federal law or municipal ordinance, except that no liability coverage policy is required for an existing NEMA-standard alternating current power plug.¹

Subsection 5 gives the association affirmative authority to install stations in the common elements for all owners and adopt rules for their use, to create a new parking space where none existed, to require removal before a sale unless the purchaser takes ownership, and to assess the owner for any uninsured portion of a loss.¹ Subsection 6 requires that the prevailing party in any action to enforce compliance be awarded reasonable attorney's fees.¹

On scope, subsection 1(B) defines "common interest community" by cross-reference to Title 38, section 3002, subsection 3, which reaches a condominium, cooperative, or other real property whose owners are obligated by recorded covenant to pay taxes, insurance, or maintenance on other property.⁵ The operative void provision reaches associations with a declaration or bylaws, which extends §576-A beyond condominiums to other residential associations governed by recorded covenants.

2B. How the underlying condominium framework bears on EV charging

The Maine Condominium Act, 33 M.R.S. §1601-101 et seq., Chapter 31, is based on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act and governs condominiums created on or after its January 1, 1983 effective date; the applicability provision is §1601-102 and the effective date is fixed by §1601-116.^3,6 The Act's general provisions on common elements and upkeep, including §1603-107, association responsible for common-element maintenance, owner for the unit, and §1602-108, allocation of a limited common element may not be altered without the consent of the affected owners, are the backdrop that §576-A now overlays for EV charging.^7,8

Condominiums created before January 1, 1983 are governed by the older Unit Ownership Act, Title 33, Chapter 10, §560 et seq., where §576 governs bylaws; §576-A was placed in that same chapter.³ Section 576-A routes an EV application through the association's existing addition, alteration, or improvement process, so architectural or design review still applies to the request. Where §576-A and the general provisions would conflict on EV charging, §576-A controls, because a conflicting declaration or bylaw term is void under subsection 2. The general condominium provisions continue to govern the separate question of where the parking sits, whether a unit parking space, an assigned limited common element, or a general common element.¹

2C. Governing documents, non-condominium associations, and corporate law

The declaration, bylaws, and rules continue to operate, but subject to §576-A. They may impose reasonable restrictions on an EV charging station, but not an effective prohibition or an unreasonable restriction.¹ The order of precedence is: §576-A and other non-variable statutory provisions first, then governing documents consistent with the statute, then board-adopted rules.

Because Maine has no comprehensive planned-community or HOA act, non-condominium residential associations are otherwise governed by the recorded declaration and common law, with §576-A now applying to the extent its common-interest-community definition reaches them.⁵ For associations incorporated as nonprofits, as most Maine associations are, the Maine Nonprofit Corporation Act, Title 13-B, supplies corporate-formality scaffolding such as meetings, voting, and records, but no EV-specific authority.⁹ Common law contract and property doctrine fills gaps where the statute and the documents stay silent.

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

A. Installation rights and prohibitions

An association may not prohibit or unreasonably restrict the installation or use of an EV charging station; a declaration or bylaw provision that does so, or that otherwise conflicts with §576-A, is void and unenforceable, §576-A(2) — a statutory mandate.¹ A reasonable restriction, which is permitted, is one that doesn't significantly increase the station's cost or significantly decrease its efficiency or specified performance, §576-A(1)(H); an effective prohibition or a restriction that crosses that line isn't.¹ The station may sit in the owner's unit parking space, in a limited common element parking space with the written approval of each unit owner to whom it's reserved, or in the common elements by association installation, §576-A(3), (5)(A).¹

B. Conditions an association may impose

The association may require that the request be processed through its addition, alteration, or improvement process and meet architectural standards, §576-A(3), (4)(A)(1) — a permitted option.¹ The board must acknowledge the application in writing within 30 days and issue a written approval or denial within 60 days, and a request for additional information must be reasonable and made within the 60-day window to stop the deemed-approval clock, §576-A(3) — statutory mandates.¹ The board may require a certificate of insurance within 14 days of approval in an amount it determines sufficient, but not for an existing NEMA-standard alternating current power plug, §576-A(4).¹ Reasonable aesthetic and location conditions are allowed so long as they don't significantly increase cost or decrease efficiency, §576-A(1)(H).¹

C. Cost, metering, and maintenance allocation

The owner and each successive owner bear installation cost and its enumerated components, electricity, maintenance, repair, replacement, and restoration of the space on removal, §576-A(4) — a statutory allocation.¹ On the utility side, the Maine Public Utilities Commission regulates utilities, but an entity that sells electricity solely to charge an EV isn't regulated as an electricity provider and may charge a submetered user only for kilowatt-hours used, so an owner charging on a private meter is generally not reselling utility service, Title 35-A §313-A.¹⁰

D. Location, dispute resolution, and enforcement

The question of where the parking sits, whether a unit space, an assigned limited common element, or a general common element, is analyzed under the Condominium Act's common-element provisions as overlaid by §576-A, §§1602-108, 1603-107; §576-A(2), (5).^8,1 Enforcement is by private litigation, and the prevailing party must be awarded reasonable attorney's fees, §576-A(6); Maine has no dedicated HOA regulator and no agency that administers EV-charging disputes for associations.¹ Trial-level disputes proceed in the Maine Superior Court, with certain civil matters in the District Court, and civil appeals go directly to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court sitting as the Law Court; Maine has no intermediate appellate court.¹¹

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

B. Recent Law Court rulings

No published Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Law Court, decision interprets 33 M.R.S. §576-A. Given the January 1, 2026 effective date, that absence is expected, and no earlier Law Court decision squarely addresses EV charging or declaration-based limits on owner charging equipment in a Maine common interest community. HOA civil cases are appealed directly to the Law Court, not through an intermediate court, so any future §576-A appeal would take that path.¹¹

C. Active legislative debates

No pending bill to amend §576-A or add related EV-charging rules for Maine associations has turned up as of the last verification date.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Maine is a right-to-charge state. Through 33 M.R.S. §576-A it joins mandate states such as California, Civil Code §4745, and Colorado, C.R.S. §38-33.3-106.8, in voiding governing-document provisions that prohibit or unreasonably restrict EV charging.⁴ Nationally there are three broad categories: mandate or right-to-charge states, including California, Colorado, and now Maine; states that address EV charging more narrowly; and the majority with no EV-charging-specific statute, where the declaration controls. Per Plug In America's Right-to-Charge Policies tracker, "Only five states (CA, CO, CT, IL, and OR) and the District of Columbia extend protections to owners and renters. The remaining states have policy language that only focuses on protecting single-family homeowners or condominium owners," and Maine's statute protects owners.⁴ For a multi-state operator, the practical point is that Maine, effective January 1, 2026, grants owners installation rights with a deemed-approval clock and statutory owner-cost allocation that no-statute states don't. Because §576-A is new, this page is re-verified each quarter as the Legislature and the Law Court act.

HOA Weekly's Maine EV Charging coverage updates quarterly as the Legislature and the Maine Supreme Judicial Court act, and we re-verify §576-A against current text each cycle. Federal incentives may affect installation economics, but no federal law mandates HOA EV charging access; per IRS Instructions for Form 8911, December 2025, "P.L. 119-21, commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act[,] changed the termination date for the section 30C alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit from December 31, 2032, to June 30, 2026," so the credit doesn't apply to property placed in service after that date.¹⁴

Footnotes

1. 33 M.R.S. §576-A, Electric vehicle charging stations allowed (Maine Revised Statutes, Title 33, Chapter 10) ↩
2. LD 1133 / S.P. 457, Public Law 2025, chapter 280 (enacted chapter, 132nd Legislature), signed June 12, 2025 ↩
3. 33 M.R.S. §1601-102, Applicability (Maine Condominium Act) ↩
4. Plug In America, Right-to-Charge Policies (state survey and owner/renter breakdown) ↩
5. 38 M.R.S. §3002(3), definition of "Common interest community" ↩
6. 33 M.R.S. §1601-116, Effective date (January 1, 1983) ↩
7. 33 M.R.S. §1603-107, Upkeep of the condominium ↩
8. 33 M.R.S. §1602-108, Limited common elements ↩
9. Maine Nonprofit Corporation Act, 13-B M.R.S. §101 et seq. ↩
10. U.S. DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center, Maine electricity laws (35-A M.R.S. §313-A submetering) ↩
11. Maine Judicial Branch, Appeals (Superior Court to Supreme Judicial Court/Law Court; no intermediate appellate court) ↩
12. The Maine Wire, "Residential and Condo Associations in Maine Can No Longer Ban Members from Installing EV Chargers" (June 2025) ↩
13. Marcus Errico Emmer & Brooks, P.C., client alert on LD 1133 and the Community Associations Institute Maine Legislative Action Committee's advocacy (2025) ↩
14. IRS, Instructions for Form 8911 (Dec. 2025), Section 30C termination date changed to June 30, 2026 by P.L. 119-21 ↩