An cost for charging electric vehicles using council-owned charge points in East Dumbartonshire will be introduced next month.

Installation of charging points began in 2016, with the Council now operating 17 across the area, and was initially funded by Transport Scotland, while the usage until now has been subsidised by the Council to encourage people to invest in sustainable vehicles.

The council says that, with the levels of usage in East Dunbartonshire increasing in the last few years, introducing a tariff will allow the Council to cover operational costs bringing it in line with most local authorities in Scotland.

The tariff was set and approved at the Council’s Place, Neighbourhood and Corporate Assets (PNCA) Committee on 22 June and will mean Slow and Fast Charge Points will cost 40p/kWh and Rapid Charge Points 70p/kWh.

A maximum stay of one hour will be implemented for rapid charge points to ensure that drivers move on from the space once their vehicle is adequately charged. Staying for more than one hour will be considered ‘bay blocking’ and an additional £30 overstay charge will automatically be applied to the user’s account by Charge Place Scotland.

Councillor Pamela Marshall, Vice Convenor “It’s fantastic that the usage of electric vehicles has risen so much in East Dunbartonshire in just a few years. The Council subsidising these costs until now has played a huge part in encouraging people to use electric vehicles.

“Now that usage has significantly increased it was important that we looked at ways to allow the Council to cover costs and ensure that other services would not be impacted. By introducing this tariff – which brings us in line with other Council’s across the country – we can recover the cost of energy and simultaneously ensure effective maintenance of the points for our residents and visitors.”

(Picture – Yay Images)