West Lothian is set to introduce tariffs for its network of electric vehicle charging points.
If the plan is approved next week by the council’s Executive charging for use of the council’s owned EV points will be introduced on 1 February and could help recoup the spiralling costs of providing the network.
The council’s corporate policy and resources policy development and scrutiny panel heard that the council would charge 30p per kilowatt hour for fast and other types of vehicle chargers and 40p per kilowatt hour for rapid chargers. There would be a maximum stay on rapid chargers of 50 minutes and 180 minutes on fast charges. There is no minimum set for other types of chargers.
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There would be a £10 charge for overstay , with a ten minute grace period, on rapid and fast chargers, Peter Rogers, Climate and Energy Manager told the meeting. The minimum charge will be £1.
Mr Rogers told the committee that the soaring cost of electricity was one of the drivers of the move to tariffs for charging points, with the estimated bill for 22023/24 for the charging network just shy of £470,000.
Twenty of the 32 local authorities in Scotland currently charge for EV points. The SNP’s Councillor Lynda Kenna asked Mr Rogers why the council had adopted the 40p per Kw/hour as a tariff as it appeared to be one of the highest in Scotland, alongside Edinburgh, Perth and the Orkney Islands.
The proposed tariffs include future maintenance and replacement of equipment. Mr Rogers said: “They are generally in line with recommendations of the Electric Vehicle Association Scotland, the community Interest company set up with the aim of representing EV drivers in Scotland.”
In response to Councillor Kenna’s question he said that the higher tariffs represented more realistic costs of providing electricity than some of the charges which had perhaps been in place for a longer term.
The tariff would also help in the development of the network as EVs become more popular and demand for charging points grows. Mr Rogers added in the report: “The Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund (EVIF) launched in April 2022 will provide up to £60 million to local authorities over the next four years (2022 – 2026), with £30 million coming from the Scottish Government and a further £30 million anticipated to be invested from the private sector.
Mr Rogers pointed to the infrastructure plan on the development of the network which envisages different models. These include fully council owned, fully privately owned or a joint cooperation between local authorities and the commercial sector. Each, except the fully private network carries a degree for risk and cost for local authorities.
The report added: “A crucial first stage to support all of these models is the introduction of tariffs for the use of charge points as the current free at the point of use model is unsustainable and disincentivises commercial investment.
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