Tariffs for electric car charging points across South Lanarkshire will come into force next week.
Earlier this year, councillors agreed to introduce a fee for electric vehicle chargers, which will begin within days.
The following tariffs will be introduced on Tuesday (November 1):
■ for 7 Kilowatt and 22 kilowatt charging points, drivers will pay 20 pence per Kilowatt
■ for 43 and 50 Kilowatt charging points, drivers will pay 40 pence per Kilowatt with a £30 overstay fee for exceeding 60 minutes.
The overstay charge will be in place for rapid chargers to allow other vehicle users to access them rather than people using them to park all day. Any overstay charges will automatically be applied by ChargePlace Scotland to the driver’s account.
The tariff levels are in line with the average cost to use electric vehicle charge points within Scotland.
Chair of the council’s Community and Enterprise Resources Committee, Councillor Robert Brown, said: “The council has always been keen to encourage more people to use electric vehicles. That was the reason why it was free for vehicles to charge their cars at our EV units.
“However, the use of electric vehicles has now taken off and it is no longer appropriate that electricity be provided without charge.
“As more people own electric vehicles, the costs have increased substantially year-on-year.
“This means the pressure on the council budget becomes even more significant and this is a cost that we can no longer afford to foot the bill for.
“The tariffs being levied from November 1 will cover the running costs of the infrastructure as well as end of life replacement costs.”
There are 144 dual charging points across South Lanarkshire and a further six are due to be completed in the next few weeks.
Councillors on the Executive Committee agreed to introduce the tariff in August due to the increased ownership of eclectic vehicles and the Scottish Government pledging to phase out the need for petrol and diesel cars and vans across Scotland by 2032.
There’s been ongoing growth over the last three years at charging points. From 2018 to 2019, the total cost of electrical vehicles was £38,039, which rose to £43,731 for 2019 to 2020, increasing again to £51,470 in 2020 to 2021 with a huge rise to £275,676 between 2021 to 2022. This reflects the increased use of these charging points as well as the increase in electricity costs.
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