Montana exempted HOA-owned EV chargers from its charging-station tax and meter rules
Montana exempted HOA-owned EV chargers from its charging-station tax and meter rules
2026-09-15 · Montana · Legislation
What happened. Montana quietly removed association-owned EV chargers from its public-charging-station regime. Since July 1, 2025, an HOA or condominium association that owns the equipment owes no per-kilowatt-hour tax on it, needs no dedicated utility meter, and does not register with the Department of Transportation.
The carve-out
Senate Bill 228, “Revise laws related to public charging stations for electric vehicles,” introduced by Sen. D. Loge, became Chapter 216, Laws of 2025. Signed April 17, 2025, effective July 1, 2025. It amended §§ 15-70-801 through 15-70-805, MCA.1
The new definition at § 15-70-801(1) is where the work happens:
“‘Charging station’ means equipment with a rated capacity greater than 25 kilowatts that is not installed at a residence or owned by an association of real property owners including a homeowners' association as defined in 70-17-901 that transfers electric current to the power system of an electric vehicle…”
If the equipment is not a “charging station,” none of the rest of the statute applies to it.
What the rest of the statute would have required
- § 15-70-802(1): a tax of 3 cents per kilowatt hour on electricity delivered to a public charging station.
- § 15-70-803: “All public charging stations must have a separate electric meter installed or approved by the public utility exclusively dedicated to the public charging station… The charging station owner shall pay the cost of meter installation.”
- § 15-70-805(1): registration with the Department of Transportation no later than 30 days after the first day of operation, with owner name, address, phone, email, street address and rated capacity.
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Related Montana HOA Topics
- Senate Bill 228 (2025), enrolled bill with strike-and-insert text — Chapter 216, Laws of 2025, adding the association-ownership carve-out (Montana Legislature document store) ↩
- Mont. Code Ann. § 70-17-901 — the homeowners' association definition imported by SB 228 (official) ↩
- House Bill 760 (2025), enrolled bill — Chapter 719, Laws of 2025, solar consumer protection and the three-business-day rescission right ↩
- Montana Legislature Bill Explorer API — SB 188 (2025) veto and VETO_NOT_OVERRIDDEN result; SB 228 chapter number and effective date ↩
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