Vehicle owners will now be required to pay a minimum fee of £2 (previously £1.50) at Stirling Council owned EV charging points.
At slow and fast charge points at Park and Ride sites, the new tariff is set at 35p per kWh (previously 25p). The tariff will increase to 45p per kWh (previously 25p) at other slow and fast charge points, while at rapid charge points it will rise to 59p per kWH (previously 35p).
Since a tariff was approved for using Council charging points in October 2022, the cost of running and maintaining the current charging network has increased. This is due to rises in energy prices, additional charges imposed by energy providers and admin fees from Charge Place Scotland.
A number of local authorities have recently increased their EV tariffs, and the local increase is broadly in line with current average charged at other Scottish local authorities.
As part of the decisions made at December’s meeting of Council, a mechanism to support sustainable tariff setting will also be developed, taking into account sector feedback and insight from key national reports.
The Council currently operates 186 public charging points across 24 locations, with an additional 51 charging points at 10 sites to be completed by the end of 2023.
Cover the rising costs
Stirling Council Leader, Cllr Chris Kane said: “This increase in the tariff enables us to cover the rising costs of operating and maintaining our EV infrastructure and is line with the rates charged by other Councils.
“While we will continue to encourage and support the growth in EV ownership to help achieve our net zero ambitions, we have a responsibility to ensure the infrastructure for charging vehicles remains financially sustainable.
“This increase has been carefully considered and strikes that balance, and it’s also important we develop a flexible process for setting future tariffs in response to usage and energy costs.”
The demand for electric vehicles has risen significantly in the last six years with Stirling Council now ranking second out of all local authorities in Scotland for EV ownership, accounting for 10% of all licensed vehicles.
Full information on the new tariffs will be available shortly on the ChargePlace Scotland website.
The Council declared a Climate and Nature Emergency in October 2019. As part of its Climate and Nature Emergency Plan, the Council aims to be carbon neutral in its own operations by 2035 and achieve ‘net zero’ in 2045.
- Picture credit: Stirling Council.