Yahoo News Drivers face new £112 monthly charge to keep car on road from January
Drivers are set to see car costs skyrocket after Christmas in January after the Ofgem announcement impacting millions. The Ofgem energy cap price hike will see EV drivers collectively spending an additional £46,000 per month on home charging.
It will bring the total monthly charging costs to £3.2million nationwide. The detailed cost analysis found that a full charge for an electric vehicle at home, based on a 60kWh battery, will increase from £14.70 to £14.91 representing a 21p increase per charge under the new price cap structure. It means drivers charging twice a week face a £112 monthly charge.
Plug-in hybrid vehicle owners will also see costs increase, with full charging costs rising from £3.43 to £3.48. Aidan Rushby, founder and CEO of Carmoola, said: "Ofgems price cap adjustments impact households across the UK, particularly as we get deeper into the winter months when energy consumption peaks.
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"Although this latest rise is relatively minor, 21p here and there adds up. Over time, these costs could significantly impact household budgets, especially if the price cap continues to increase.” He added: "We'd suggest that EV drivers aim to charge their cars at home whenever possible, and explore whether their energy providers offer off-peak tariffs to help reduce charging costs by topping up at these cheaper times.”
The price cap is set every quarter by Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, and imposes a maximum on how much suppliers can charge their 29 million household customers per unit of gas and electricity. The cap is higher for standard credit customers – those who pay their bill in arrears – than it is for those who pay by direct debit or on a prepayment meter.
The average price cap for standard credit households will go up by £161 to £1,829. Under the new cap, the standing charge for a direct debit customer rises marginally to 60.99p a day for electricity and 31.66p a day for gas from 1 October.
