In our weekly series, readers can email in with any financial dilemma and enter the Money Moral Maze.
Are your friends racking up big drinks tabs and then trying to split the bill equally, is your partner spending overspending on your joint account? No matter your dilemma, email in anonymously, and i‘s money and business team will do our best to answer.
This week’s dilemma can be found below – email us at money@inews.co.uk with yours.
The dilemma
My friend has an electric car and we have a charger at our home as we have one too.
Her and her husband live a couple of hours’ drive away and they visit us probably once every two months or so.
When they come, they often ask if it’s OK to charge their car overnight, so that it’s fully charged up for the drive home the next day.
This of course costs us money, which they have never offered to pay before. It’s not a lot, but each time adds up, and I’m starting to wonder whether we should charge them.
My husband thinks we should ask, but I’m unsure as I think it could be a little awkward.
Callum Mason, i deputy money editor, responds
It’s convenient that you also have an electric car and are able to let your friend charge their car when they visit.
Electric car charging rates are fairly cheap compared to petrol or diesel on a per mile basis, particularly if you charge at home.
You don’t say what car they have or what tariff they are on, and so it’s difficult to work out exactly how much it may be costing you, though it’s understandable that this could be quite high if it’s on a regular basis.
Looking purely objectively, them charging their car is an expense for you and therefore it seems fair for you to want to recoup the cost.
However, on the other hand, maybe you should see letting them charge their car as part of hosting.
You likely would not charge your friends for food or drink you provide when you have them round. They will also face their own costs with travel, having to make a journey they would not otherwise make.
Ultimately, the decision is yours to make up based on the cost to you and the affordability. If you do raise it, it could lead to a slightly awkward interaction the first time, but if they are good friends of yours, it presumably won’t damage the relationship.