Colleague charging electric scooter at work

[Whatt]

One of my colleagues has recently started commuting to work on an electric scooter, which is great for the environment and saves them money on travel expenses. However, the issue is that they've been using the work place plugs to charge their scooter during the day.

Now, I'm all for being environmentally friendly and reducing waste, which is something that our management team has been pushing for lately. They've switched to cheaper hand wash and toilet roll, and they no longer provide bottled water or tea, coffee, and biscuits in the staff room. I understand that these changes are necessary due to the high cost of living and the need to reduce expenses.

However, I can't help but feel like it's a bit unfair that my colleague is essentially getting free electricity to charge their personal vehicle while the rest of us are being asked to make these small sacrifices.

I'm also worried that if our electricity bill goes up, management may take away other benefits and incentives that we currently enjoy, without realizing that the charging of the electric scooter is the cause.

I'm not sure if my colleague is aware of the impact this is having on our electricity bill, but I feel like it's something that management should know about. I don't want to be seen as a snitch or cause any unnecessary conflict in the workplace, but I do think it's important to be transparent and fair.

Yabu = mind your own
Yanbu = they're taking the piss

The London Fire Brigade have said they are a fire hazard as they get called out frequently. I hope for you and your colleagues sake he is not charging it inside the building?

It depends if the company know about it . If not it's basically stealing their electric . If they are cutting back on tea and biscuits their finances must be dire and I'd be more worried about redundancy than anything else

Surely it would get stolen if he left it outside?

so if he needs to charge it to get home then he has to use the electric at work. The batteries in scooters aren’t that big so I couldn’t get excited

A company taking away a few tea bags and biscuits and blaming cost of living?

No tea or coffee, this is abuse, LTBs.

I have never worked anywhere where the tea and coffee provided on site wasn't cheap rubbish. That goes right back to working in prestigious offices in the City in the 1980s when drinks were provided by a tea lady pushing a trolley round twice a day. The answer is simple - bring your preferred beverage with you and make your own drinks.

I remember someone charging her phone at work over 20 years ago, no cost of living crisis, and even then i thought how desperate things must be for her.

I would be more annoyed by the coffee.

Eww. The justification you give for being a snitch is repulsive. Concentrate on your own life and finding other ways to make yourself happy that don't involve messing things up for other people.

Big enough to be a massive fire hazard. One of my colleagues worked somewhere where they lost a whole building to a laptop battery that went into runaway and couldn't be put out in time.

OP, can you at the very least make sure he is charging it away from fire exit routes?

Do everyone a favour and ask to work from home, permanently, op.

Was about to say that!

The OP comes across as nasty

I rarely charge my phone at work but I certainly don't feel guilty if I do. We're expected to have the Authenticator app on our personal phones so we can access the system. If they want me to use my phone for that they can pay to charge it on the rare occasions I forget.

Yep!

I once worked with a man who considered boiling a kettle to make a cup of tea for staff was electricity theft, kettle was only to be used to make beverages for clients. Tosser used to bring in a thermos every day.

Hoophoop has just highlighted what I was going to say, electric scooters are a huge fire risk and should not, if at all possible be charged indoors. So YABU to highlight to management the potential fire risk but YABVU to comment on the cost of the charging.

However, depending on the set up of your office environment (basically how quickly could everyone get out) it may still be better than your colleague charging it at home when he's asleep. In these circumstances, I would probably casually mention to him how dangerous that is as he may not know. One of the huge issues with them is how little fire safety info is on the scooter itself or packaging.

He might need to charge it in order to get back home!

Same at my office - the company has made a huge thing of it to trumpet their sustainable credentials!

@Marmalade71 oops sorry just realised I misread your post and thought you meant he should charge it at home. Apologies.

It costs 30p to charge

https://scooterstreet.co.uk/how-much-does-it-cost-to-charge-an-e-scooter/

How else do you expect him to get home?

The impact it's having on the electric bill ??? I would think it's hardly anything atall to be honest. If this is real you seriously need to get a life

Ah, so it's fine to risk everyone else's lives by doing so?

I could not give a single shiny shit about the cost. But this is something that needs to be taken very seriously. E-bikes and E-scooters use lithium ion batteries that are almost impossible to put out without special appliances. It is not OK to risk your colleagues lives by doing this.

He may not know it's a problem, but it needs to be highlighted.

You're being utterly petty.

No, the utility companies are shit - most companies utility bills have tripled!

Really? That’s a benefit in kind, and therefore taxable.