GRIDSERVE has raised the price of electric vehicle (EV) charging on its network after what it said are “unprecedented spiraling costs” affecting the entire energy sector.
For medium power chargers (typically 60kW) the price is increasing from 30p to 39p/kWh, while pricing for high power chargers (up to 350kW) at the company’s new Electric Hubs is 45p/kWh.
Pricing at the Electric Forecourts, however, is to remain at 39p/kWh, even for the 350kW chargers, due to the onsite solar generation and battery storage, which gives the company more control over energy and distribution costs.
GRIDSERVE said it is continuing to invest in new solar and battery storage projects to provide energy to its EV charging network, the company said, helping to protect customers against the type of price hikes and instability that is currently affecting the energy market.
The company added that it believes it is the last major network to announce an increase in prices.
It follows InstaVolt raising its prices from 40p/kWh to 45p/kWh from 1 December as a result of the increases in the wholesale price of energy, while bp pulse also increased its prices from December stating in an email to customers that the charging network is “no longer able to absorb the rising costs”.
Meanwhile, Osprey Charging told Current± last month that it made a price increase in August 2021 from 36p/kWh to 40p/kWh, with this being due to a mix of wholesale prices as well as the confirmation from HMRC that VAT on the electricity used for EV charging should be 20%.
Last month Current± was also told by on-street charging firm Connected Kerb that it had no plans to increase its pricing, although it was monitoring the situation closely, while IONITY also stated they had no plans to increase prices as of early December.
GRIDSERVE’s price increase follows the company acquiring the Electric Highway from Ecotricity and committing to replacing all of the existing legacy chargers, with 75% of these works completed as of 9 December 2021.
The company is also to open 20 of its Electric Hubs by Q2 2022, with 13 currently in construction.
