As of December, ACM will check for transparency of the charge point and charge card price
From 1 December, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets will check whether providers of charging stations and charging cards are fully transparent about the price of the products. According to ACM, these providers are currently not always transparent about these prices.
ACM wants consumers to be able to see what the charging will cost when charging an electric car. The different price elements of a charging session must also be clear. This information may be made available online or at the charging station. When the consumer has finished charging, it must also be clear how much has been charged and what the total costs are. In this way, the consumer must be able to put this information next to the invoice, in order, according to ACM, to be able to check whether the consumer has received what was agreed. According to ACM, providers of charging cards must also provide more clarity about the costs of the card.
Providers of charging cards and charging stations are legally obliged to be transparent about prices, but according to ACM they are ‘by no means always’. The watchdog explained these rules at a sector meeting on 15 October. ACM gives the companies until December 1 to make the necessary adjustments. If they fail to do so, the regulator says they can intervene. ACM also calls on consumers to report if there are unclear prices within the charging sector. According to ACM, the transparent display of prices is important, because consumers can make better informed choices with this information.
Earlier this month, the government announced that it wants to oblige providers of public charging points to publicly share information about the current price and availability of charging points. This information must be shared via a website or app, but also made available to external app builders. In this way, it should be possible to develop better price comparison apps that can display real-time information about all public charging points in the Netherlands more clearly.