With the UK energy crisis in full swing, charging network operators are hiking prices at EV public charging stations to maintain profitability in their services.
The latest company to increase prices is GRIDSERVE, with medium power charger prices (50kW to 60kW) increasing from 30p to 39p/kWh. However, prices at the company’s Electric Forecourts will stay the same because these have onsite solar generation and battery storage to supplement grid power.
In December, InstaVolt raised prices from 40p/kWh to 45p/kWh, and BP Pulse raised prices from 23p to 32p for standard public chargers (AC 43kW/DC 50kW), and from 29p to 38p for 150kW chargers with registered users.
On average, charging networks have hiked prices by more than 30% since November 2021, but prices at public chargers have been steadily climbing since the end of 2020.
In August last year, Osprey took its charging price per kWh up from 36p to 40p, with prices increasing by 38% over the last 12 months.
Further price increases are inevitable with rising wholesale costs. Unfortunately, there are no signs energy costs will begin to fall in 2022.
The energy crisis is a complex beast, fuelled by a supply and demand imbalance on the global wholesale market. Rising costs are being passed to the consumer, and they just keep going up for gas and electricity.
Households could see a 50% price increase in gas and electricity in 2022, adding hundreds to their bills. This has led to calls for Government intervention to prevent millions of people from being pushed into fuel poverty.
