Your rights when you charge away from home

At any public charger covered by the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023, you don't have to take whatever payment method or price display the operator happens to offer. The regulations set out four specific things an operator has to provide, and they apply across the UK.

Contactless payment on new rapid chargers

Any new charge point rated at 8 kW or above has to accept contactless card payment, alongside whatever app or membership scheme the network also runs. You don't need to have downloaded anything or signed up in advance to pay for a charge at one of these units.

The price shown before you start

The total cost has to be displayed in pence per kWh before you begin charging. That lets you check the price against another charger, or against what the same electricity would cost at home, before you commit to it.

A helpline that's staffed, not just a number

Every public charge point has to come with a helpline you can call free of charge, operating 24 hours a day. If a charger won't start, won't release your cable, or has taken a payment without delivering power, this is the number to use.

A reliability target for rapid networks

Rapid charging networks are set a 99 per cent reliability target under the regulations. It's a target the network is measured against across its estate, not a guarantee that applies to any one charger on any one day, so an individual unit being out of service doesn't on its own mean the target has been missed.

The Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1168) apply across the UK, but only to chargers that meet their conditions on power rating and public access. Three situations sit outside the rules as they stand.

Chargers installed before the rules, or below the power threshold

A slower unit that predates the regulations, or one that falls below the power rating the contactless payment requirement covers, isn't bound by that requirement even if members of the public can plug in. The rated power is usually printed on the unit or on the operator's signage, and it's worth checking before you assume a card reader has to be there.

Private chargers on business premises

A charger reserved for staff, hotel guests or tenants falls outside the definition of a public charge point. The regulations draw the line at public access.

A target is not a guarantee

The reliability requirement placed on rapid and ultra-rapid networks is measured across a network over time. It isn't a promise that the specific charger in front of you will be working when you arrive, and it doesn't hand you a right to compensation if it isn't. The regulations require operators to report their figures; they don't make any one charger's uptime something you can enforce.