An overview of the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023
As more people purchase or lease electric vehicles (EVs) and chargepoints become more widespread, it’s important to have established service standards in place for chargepoint operators (CPOs).
The UK Government launched a consultation in 2021 to better understand consumers’ concerns around EVs, and to gain insights into what needs to be done to ensure more people are happy transitioning to electric. Read the government response to this consultation. Following this consultation, the UK Government enacted its Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 (PCPR), which came into force on 24 November 2023.
Here, we briefly highlight key aspects of this regulation. To get a better understanding of CPO requirements, you should read the UK Government’s guidance on the PCPR.
All CPOs must demonstrate that applicable infrastructure complies with all parts of the PCPRs (other than roaming) as of 24 November 2024. For roaming, you have until 24 November 2025.
The PCPRs are only applicable to public EV charge points, and the responsibilities they set out sit with the relevant CPO.
The PCPRs defines what a public charge point is and who the relevant CPOs are to remove any ambiguity.
You will need to make sure the pricing at your charging infrastructure is clear to EV drivers before they start a charging session. This should be in p/kWh or £/kWh.
The PCPRs are flexible enough to allow different pricing models such as dynamic pricing, off-peak pricing, the incorporation of different offers, and subscription models.
The PCPRs mandate that all public chargepoints with a power rating of 8kW and above must have contactless payment functionality. This ensures chargepoints are accessible without needing phones or apps, and enables payment in areas where mobile phone signal is not guaranteed.
CPOs must make sure that their rapid chargers’ annual average operational availability is at least 99%. The PCPRs guidance sets out how you should set out the uptime and downtime statuses for your infrastructure, along with a description and interpretation for each.
There are exemptions of a ‘reasonable excuse’ for not meeting this 99% availability metric detailed in the guidance section on enforcement in the PCPRs.
You must have a staffed telephone helpline available and free to use for EV drivers 24/7, 365 days a year.
You must ensure that all reference and availability data for your charging infrastructure is accurate and can be accessed and interpreted using the Open Charge Point Interface. Reference data refers to rarely changing information such as chargepoint location and pricing, while availability data refers to when the chargepoint is available to use.
All public chargepoints that are not free to use must offer payment roaming. This will allow EV drivers to access all the UK’s public chargepoints using a single app or RFID card. You will need to connect your infrastructure to at least one third–party roaming provider to enable this.
CPOs must provide reports demonstrating compliance on the roaming, guidance and helpline parts of the PCPRs. The PCPRs guidance provides details of when you must submit these reports and the format they should take.
Adherence to the PCPRs is enforced by the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS). The PCPRs guidance details the maximum penalties for breaching different parts of the regulations.
