It looks like the beginning of the end of electric vehicles!

I don't see why - all the regulations ( www.legislation.gov.uk/.../ukdsi_9780348228434_en.pdf ) seem to be asking for is for new private change points to be equipped so that they can interact with the smart grid etc. or default to off-peak hours, if the owner wishes it to.

I can't see anything about EV usage being separately metered for bill payment purposes -  the accuracy looks far to poor for that to me and it as it's measuring at the point of use rather than point of import it wouldn't be able to distinguish between electricity from the supplier and electricity generated on-site.

   - Andy.

(edited as the new forum got confused about the link syntax)

If they start getting stupid with the restrictions, we're going to see people switching to "bootleg" chargers.

Back in the olden days, there was separate billing for lighting and power.  People responded by plugging their irons and toasters into a light socket.

Many cars come with "granny leads" with a 13A plug on the end.  You can also get portable charging leads with adaptors to fit most common power sockets.  So get a 16A or 32A commando socket installed on the outside of your house, then buy a charging lead and the appropriate adaptor.  The charger even knows which adaptor you have fitted, and adjusts the charging current accordingly.

Back in the olden days, there was separate billing for lighting and power.  People responded by plugging their irons and toasters into a light socket.

I thought that rate for lighting was normally higher than the rate for power - as often the local corporation operated both the gas works and the local generating station - so small amounts of electricity used for lighting were competing against relatively expensive gas, while electricity for "power" was competing against rather cheaper coal.

Hence the 15A to 5A adaptors.

BC plugs were popular in rooms that had a light but no sockets (quite common at one time).

     - Andy.

Well, they are going to have to meter themselves, but that does not mean that they will be charged separately. However, if young Sunak is going to recoup the lost revenue from fuel duty, this would be one way of doing it.

Andy's link doesn't work for me, so try this one: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/1467/contents/made

Andy's link doesn't work for me

Apologies - the new Forum software got confused between the link and the following close bracket - should be OK now.

   - Andy.

I am sure my Sat Nav only did it to wind me up, this afternoon it sent me on to the M6 Toll Road at Burntwood despite me telling it to avoid tolls.

So I ended up paying seven quid to drive past the Electrium Building on a toll road that runs parallel with a main road I used this morning.

At least I was only charged as a car rather than the van rate of £12.30 because the booths are not manned and the toll is charged by the height of the vehicle. The idea that I might actually pay £24.30 per day to use the toll road as a van driver being self employed and having to pay it out of my earnings is totally ridiculous.

Even if you run an electric vehicle I can assure you you will eventually end up paying to use the roads one way or another. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-energy-independent-review 

Short-sighted populist energy policy just about sums up the problem. I have no sympathy for the dilemma which the politicians find themselves in. They have brought it upon themselves. They thought it a great wheeze to tax everyone by putting green levies on energy bills whilst they were relatively low. Then, those with plenty of spare cash and their cronies could access the subsidies to get cheaper energy bills at the public's expense. You could get away with it whilst energy bills were relatively low, but not when they become an increasing large proportion of household expenditure.

To top it all you chuck resilience of the energy supply out of the window because the dogma of "free markets" will always come to the rescue at the cheapest cost.

Then add on the cost paring of shutting the Rough storage facility plus failing to stop Nordstream 2 whilst we were in the EU and you get to where we are. It has been all too predictable. I just don't understand why Boris' enemies aren't kicking off big time.

I suppose they they are implicated by being asleep on the job, or worse, they think high energy bills are a good thing and will drive decarbonisation more quickly. Let's have some honesty and put that on the ballot paper if it is the real agenda. Then we will see who gets elected, so long as the costings appear too.

So that's why there are so few commercial vehicles, and not many of any description! But tell me, I have never seen a "safety" camera van there - do they put them out?

£7 to do less than five and a half miles, £12.30 in a van, I am not a regular user of the M6 Toll so I cannot claim to be an experienced user.

I one of the people who pulls off the M5 at junction 2 to fill up at Asda rather than the services, I could easily add a thousand quid or more to my expenses by paying toll and other charges as well as filling up at the wrong garages such as those at motorway service areas.

Charging an EV anywhere other than at home or work usually involves paying for the time you are connected to the charging equipment, rather than the actual electricity used and there are other penalties which aren’t totally obvious, adding road charges etc and EVs start to lose their appeal. 

The idea that people plugged electric irons into lamp sockets to save money is an urban myth.

On the once common "two part" tariff, electricity for lighting was charged at a HIGHER rate than that used for power purposes. In the early days of electricity supply it was used almost entirely for lighting.

The electricity companies therefore had invested a lot of capital in plant that only produced significant revenue between dusk and midnight.

There was therefore considerable interest in "building the daylight load" by offering lower rates for non lighting uses. 

Electric irons were indeed often plugged into lamp sockets, not to save money but because there was either no power socket, or it was already in use for some other appliance, or was not conveniently situated for use of an iron. Use of a power socket would have been CHEAPER if separately metered.