EV charge price hike is given green light
Highland Council will press ahead with plans to increase the price of electric vehicle (EV) chargers by 130 per cent.
This follows a failed attempt by the Liberal Democrat opposition to stop the price hike.
Councillor Richard Gale led a motion at last week’s Highland Council following “outcry” from Highland electric vehicle drivers.
Councillor Gale, along with former climate change chairwoman Trish Robertson and Councillor Angela Maclean, called on the council to make a U-turn.
They said the price hike “serves as a significant disincentive to promote the use and indeed the purchase of electric vehicles in favour of fossil fuel powered vehicles”.
Instead, they called on
Highland Council to agree a more modest 10 per cent price rise. However, convener Bill Lobban said the motion was not competent because it sought to reverse a decision made by the economy committee only one month ago which is not allowed under Highland Council standing orders. To get around this setback, Councillor Gale asked councillors to suspend standing orders, and press ahead with his motion. Councillor Gale lost that vote, so the electric vehicle tariff changes will go ahead.
The new tariff will see Highland Council fast chargers cost 70p per kilowatt hour – up from 30p – and slow chargers will go up to 35p.
Members of the economy and infrastructure committee voted in February to apply the EV tariff rise. It followed a detailed report from council bosses, which set out that the council could not maintain the network at current prices.
The Highland EV charging network was previously maintained by Transport Scotland, but that subsidy is coming to an end. As such, Highland Council said it needed to charge more to pay for repair and maintenance. However, discussing council performance earlier in the meeting, new chief executive Kate Lackie underlined the need for a price increase. Ms Lackie said private sector providers are currently priced out of the market by the cheap council chargers. Increasing prices, she said, would allow commercial operators to come in and boost the EV charging network across Highland.
Elsewhere questions are being asked about the number of Highland Council EV charging units that have not been made operational yet. A bank of chargers at An Aird, Fort William, have never been used since being installed last year.
A council spokesperson said: “Fort William EVCPs required a stepdown transformer to enable us to commission them. Delivery took much longer than quoted but works should be completed by the end of the month.”