The Charge Point Regulations 2023, which are currently in draft form, when the regulations actually come into force will require:
Contactless payment must be offered within 1 year: For all public charge points, including new units with a power of 8 kilowatts or above, rapid charge points, and existing charge points that become public ones.
Roaming payment service within 2 years: Charge point operators must also have enabled a “payment service provided by a third-party roaming provider.
99% reliability: cCharge points must be reliable for an average of 99% of the calendar year. Reliability will only be assessed during periods of when the charge point service is open to the public.
For each calendar year charge point service providers must submit a report to the Secretary of State, detailing things like number of charge points and their reliability levels. Charge point operators must provide a staffed helpline for customers, 24/7, throughout the year and must provide a report on these calls each year.
Clearly displayed prices
The “total price, must be clearly displayed in pence per kilowatt hour”. The price cannot increase once charging has started.
Electrc vehicles has said, Prices should also be on prominent digital signage similar to fuel price ‘totems’ which drivers are already very familiar with. We believe this is needed to make price comparisons easy for everyday EV drivers looking to charge up as cheaply as possible on a journey.
The enforcement authority (for the Secretary of State) can request information from the provider. Failure to provide this could result in enacting ‘power of entry’ to the premises without, or with, a warrant, and inspections of premises and land and hand out civil penalties.
Untill the draft is actually enforced anything can change, such as amendments could be made to the draft, A new PM comming through the revolving doors or a complete change of government! It forms part of the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy announced in 2022 and the goverment vision for for rapid charge network 2020
Like anything the government does, consumers will judge the success of these regulations by whether they see tangible improvements to the charging infrastructure or whether it indeed comes to fruitation!!