InstaVolt is increasing its pricing for electric vehicle (EV) charging from 40p/kWh to 45p/kWh from 1 December as a result of the “unprecedented increases” in the wholesale price of energy.
However, InstaVolt said that the rise of 5p doesn’t reflect the full cost impact of the wholesale prices more than doubling, with the company absorbing the difference while it waits for market price stability.
“As a responsible business we have hedged our forward power requirements to give us stability in the next twelve months as markets show little sign of settling over the winter,” CEO Adrian Keen said.
The rises in wholesale energy costs have also significantly impacted energy suppliers, with 27 supplier exits from the British energy market this year, leaving 28 domestic suppliers in the market. The vast majority of these exits have been in the past few months, with Entice Energy and Orbit Energy the latest to shutter.
The increase in InstaVolt’s prices due to the wholesale energy costs is the second price rise this year, although the company stated that it has kept its underlying price the same since 2017.
This is due to the company increasing its prices to 40p/kWh from 35p/kWh after HMRC confirmed in May that the electricity used for public charging should be charged the standard 20% VAT rate compared to 5% for home charging.
This is a decision InstaVolt said it is also continuing to engage with the government on, in the hope of aligning the VAT rate.
“I wish to reiterate my commitment that if we succeed in reducing the public charging rate to 5%, the benefit will be passed back to consumers immediately,” Keen said.
InstaVolt recently announced a new deal with NFU Energy to rollout rapid EV charging for landowners and members of the farming community. It also has deals in place with McDonalds, Costa Coffee and KFC.