Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 23
14th Report - Public charge points for electric vehicles
Published 12 Mar 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Public charge points for electric vehicles All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
In 2023, the Department introduced the Public Charge point Regulations to address these concerns. These are being introduced over two years to November 2025, but most are already in force. Regulations that are in force include: • Making prices clearer and easier to compare by requiring the maximum price for a charging session to be displayed in a consistent format across charge points • Making it easier to pay, by requiring all rapid charge points and new charge points of 8Kw and above to have contactless payments, and all charge points must have free 24/7 helplines • Improving the reliability of charging, by introducing a requirement that all rapid charge points must meet a 99% reliability standard. • Charge points must provide a range of live data to motorists including where they are located and whether they are available to use, which the Department stated can be aggregated by third party companies to help drivers locate charge points.42
From: Public Accounts Committee, 14th Report - Public charge points for electric vehicles (HC 512), 12 March 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fourteenth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026.
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fourteenth report from Session 2024-25
Published 16 May 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" on each of the six conclusions, with commitments to write to the Committee in September 2025 and to confirm other next steps "in due course".
- On local variation in charge point need, it will "look to take a similar needs-based approach to any interventions required in future" and will pay close attention to outcomes from early LEVI Fund procurements.
- On LEVI and on ultra-rapid charge points at motorway service areas, the department will write to the Committee within six months (target date September 2025) with updates on progress.
- On accessibility, it is reviewing the PAS 1899:2022 standard, and recommendations and proposed next steps "will be confirmed in due course". Target implementation date: December 2025.
- On VAT and charging costs, it will "continue to work with HM Treasury to understand the variance in costs" between public and domestic charging and the extent to which any policy change might affect public charging prices.